I, ROBOT review by Fletch...

I, Robot is set in the not so distant future, Robots are in humans lives as manual labour, they are there to collect your rubbish and take your dogs for walks but when a new model robot is set to change your life, detective Del Spooner is a little wary of the creators motives.

Director Alex Proyas follows up cult classics The Crow and Dark City, with an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s story and hits the mark with this well made Hollywood actioner. He handles the complexities of making a futuristic film with such ease, the amount of special effects is astounding and Proyas manages to blend all the layers very well.

Will Smith is as good as ever as the cop with an attitude and doesn’t ever look out of place with all the obvious green screen performances around him. It is quite clearly his film as you struggle to remember who the other cast members are. The computer doctor on hand to help is Bridget Moynahan and she looks the part as the character with the inside track on all that is going on. The bad guy is really the system, but the face of global power is played by Bruce Greenwood who is calmly nasty enough.

Competing with Will for most of the film is the jaw dropping sfx. I can’t remember a film with so many levels of cgi, there’s the robots (for a start) all the endless exterior shots and so many set piece moments that include car and bike chases. As you can imagine with a film like this, product placement is on overdrive with some companies getting some major exposure for future designs – Let’s hope it cost them a fortune !!!

Comparisons to Minority Report are obvious but this is a film that can stand alone, It has the feeling of a great thriller that just happens to be set in the future and the leading character has issues and a past that we slowly get to learn about, but it doesn’t ever cheat the audience or try to complicate things from the opening to the closing shot and if anything this film just gets better and better right up to the fantastic inevitable finale.

It’s not the best film this year and to be honest it probably won’t get into many people’s top 10 for 2004 but what is refreshing is that a summer blockbuster can live up to it’s expectation. I, Robot does deliver and the box office should be healthy for Twentieth Century Fox because all involved have made an intelligent popcorn flick.

I think you should 7/10

Minority Report meets Bad Boys

SAW review by Fletch...

Two men locked up in opposite corners of a room. A third is already dead in the middle of the room out of reach of the others. How did they get there? Why are they there? The traps have been set, now all the characters need do is play the game.

As the story continues they slowly work out with the help of timed pointers how to escape as they realise they are the next two victims in someone’s deadly game.

Danny Glover plays a cop again but is very different from his Lethal Weapon role as he tries to stay in touch with what is going on and at no point does he yell “I’m too old for this sh*t!”

Plot twists and turns in this little gem of a film keep you guessing right up until the end, baiting you and challenging you to out think the script and work out what is going to happen next as cat and mouse jumps between scenes.


The two main leads overact at times but on the whole they are convincing as the terrified victims of the mysterious serial killer. Added sub-plots and character twists put the meat on the bones (as it were) as the story fills out. There are many moments in the film that are hard to watch as it does get very grisly in some scenes, so horror and blood fans will have their feed with this one!

The film is shot and edited very well with snappy cuts to keep you jumping and the lighting works well, mixing up the set pieces of action and horror to great effect.

If you enjoyed “Seven” or “The Game” and laughed at “Chucky” or “Freddy’s Nightmares” then this has all of them influencing the outcome. It is far from perfect but what this film does have in abundance is raw talent and the balls to get it on screen.

I am not sure when it will surface but put a reminder in to catch this when it does. The image that will sell the film is a freaky looking doll that would give Stephen King nightmares and with the right fan base it could take off. My only problem is the title “Saw”. I understand why they have called it what they have I just don’t believe it is a name that does it justice, but hey I don’t have an alternative so what do I know!!!

Don’t expect too much and you may be surprised

3/5