Product: I, Robot [Region 2] (2004)
Rating: 4.0
Asimov + explosions + Will Smith = FUN!
It is good to see that Will Smith can pick a blockbuster to star in that is smarter than the likes of Men in Black 2. Fans of Isaac Asimov, a pioneer of science fiction writing on robots, were disappointed with the film for not sticking closely to any one of his stories. I disagree entirely. Proyas and his screenwriter have taken the core element of Asimov's writing - the problems that creating a conscious, intelligent being would create for the world (and the being itself), and the famous "Three Laws of Robotics" - and used them as vehicles for a fun summer blockbuster. What you end up with is a summer movie that rises above the rest of the shallow, corn-popping action flicks that surround it. It is questionable whether or not humanity will ever be able to achieve the level of artificial intelligence that Asimov wrote about. But if we do, then his writings (and this movie) will suddenly become much more poignant, and it is almost certain that Asimov's three laws would be implemented to control the behaviors of those intelligences. Also, stuff blows up real good in this movie, and the robots jump around like superheroes.