Too familiar

Rating: 5/10 (27 July 2004)

This film, very loosely based on the Isaac Asimov book, has Will Smith as a police officer in the future trying to unravel the truth behind the death of a scientist who invented robotics (James Cromwell). A robot emerges as the prime suspect, something no one else will believe... and Smith winds up on the outs with his bosses... This is all pretty familiar material, owing more to "Blade Runner' and "RoboCop" than it does to the source material. Still, Smith is an engaging personality and the film has some fun action sequences, though the animation of the CG robots is very hit and miss. All in all though, its a very forgetable film that seems cobbled together from parts of other, better, movies. GRADE: C+