90% Judge Dredd, 9% TRON, 1% Asimov

Rating: Null/10 (24 April 2012)

At first, I was upset that the name for the great book "I, Robot" was used for this movie, which has almost nothing in common with the book. We have Asimov's robot laws, we have one specific situation which is somewhat similar (faulty robot hiding in a mass of robots), and a few names, that's all. Most surprisingly, the movie doesn't even use the robot jokes!
But from a totally different point of view, this is a pretty good movie. In particular, this is what the Judge Dredd movie should have been about! Robot crime and robot uprisings, that is a big part of Judge Dredd, which was all too overlooked in the movie. Here we have a robot uprising, not as violent as in Dredd, but complete with the robot that takes side with the humans and helps them to victory. Of course, we don't have any revengeful Call-Me-Kenneth here, but a Master Control that wants to control humans to protect them. But the story still has much Dredd qualities.
That brings us to the other similarity. I call the big robot brain Master Control for a reason. Here, it is called VIKI (with interesting implications towards Wikipedia, maybe?) but what I see if Master Control, the control program and ultimate villain in TRON. The whole ending is very similar to TRON, complete with something that the heroes must insert into Master Control to turn it off, it just isn't a Frisbee.
I'll be nice and consider that part a tribute to TRON rather than a rip-off. TRON is, after all, the mother of all modern SF, especially with computer graphics, so including it as part of this movie is called for.
I refuse to rate this movie, because there is no single rating that fits. As a movie version of Asimov's book, it is no more than a 2 (complete failure), but as the "real Dredd" movie it is more like a 7, a well done and fun movie (but missing some details, like the "right" hero). As an independent action movie, maybe somewhat lower (due to all the things that makes me think of Dredd and TRON), if you notice them. It all depends on your point of view, but more than usual.
All in all, the movie is worthwhile and entertaining. But don't expect any connection to Asimov's book, and you might even enjoy the few minor connections that there are. Recommended to Dredd fans!