Product: I, Robot [Region 2] (2004)
Rating: 4.0
Fresh, yet surprisingly intelligent
A murder mystery set in the not-so-distant future forces a young detective to come to grips with his hatred of robots. Chicago Detective Del Spooner (Smith) has a distrust for machines in a technological era that runs on robots and other thinking machines. Robots seem compelled to please, and not remotely human looking...until the advent of the NS5. USR, the Microsoft of the robotic age, plans to unveil (or unleash in Spooner's estimation) the new robots all at once. With days to go to the critical moment, Dr. Lanning, the robots' sage creator is found mysteriously killed - shattered in USR's vast lobby. USR rules the death a suicide, but for Spooner it's the case of his lifetime - the first possible instance of homicide by a robot. As he probes deeper, he tangles with USR staff but finds an unlikely ally with Dr. Calvin (Bridget Moynahan, who played something of a cold-hearted automaton as Natasha on "Sex in the City"). Even as he finbds signs that something horrible is brewing with the new machines, Spooner finds himself putting his prejudices to the test with Sonny, a prototype NS5.This was a great movie - easily one of those big Hollywood flicks that's better than it has any right to be. As expected, the flick offers some great CGI scenes, but the movie belongs to Will Smith and whoever he's talking too at the time, whether Moynahan, or Shia Lebouef as a streetwise wannabe-tough guy. Asimov fans might revolt, but there's nothing here that requires you be a fan of Asimov or even have read any of his stuff. "I'Robot" has its share of surprises, even if it often feels as if it was prodcued by robots, but never disappoints.