I, Robot

Finally given a lead role, Will Smith comes tumbling out of Martin Lawrence’s shadow…no, just kidding. That is no way to start a review. Let’s start again:

Based on an Isaac Asimov book title, and only retaining his three laws of robots, this puts in place a very definite three act structure, Hollywood action-thriller frills and a leaning towards special effects. For one though, it all works well, and with a few nice surprises thrown in to keep even the most intelligent viewers on their toes.

The story follows Smith’s homicide cop who hates robots. There are some light touches of prejudice scattered throughout, and with a larger than normal black cast it’s not hard to see what the film-makers were up to here. No-one understands why he hates robots though, and even come the end and reveal, it’s still a little hard to sympathise with his hatred, but this isn’t a character movie, this is all about giving you bang for your buck. Do they deliver? On the whole, yes.

After a slow start, with a quick foot-chase to settle the action hungry audience, the film (and action) finally kicks in after 20 or so minutes. Making up for this though is some remarkable art direction and visual effects that set the future up. Gone are the dark days of Blade Runner or shiny happy people of Star Trek, this is more along the lines of Minority Report – a feeling of realistic ‘could be’ is more the watch word. Look out for the stunning statue of a robot in the head quarters of the ‘are they/aren’t they bad’.
Set pieces are the backbone of any summer blockbuster, and an audience expects them to prop up the obligatory character/story development (proving Joel Silver’s 10 minute bang theory). There are some corkers in I, Robot. There’s a car chase of course, but with a spin (well, quite a few spins if you’re counting). There’s the big smashing up of a location scene, again with a nice angle on it. There’s also the final kick off at the end of course, and with the excellent use of a gyro camera that literally circles round the action, it leaves you on a high (despite being somewhat standard Hollywood on the page).
Sequels have been mooted, and certainly the ambiguous ending leaves that taste in your mouth, but personally I think they should work out a better storyline second time round.

Smith isn’t pushing any acting barriers here (as he did with Ali), but he’s very watchable and instantly likeable. Not sure about the first five minutes where we get to see him semi naked in bed, working out and then taking a shower. Hmmm.
The rest of the cast are uniformly good, but this is a Will Smith film so he gets the lion’s share of scenes and dialogue. Of note is Bruce Greenwood and his sneer, used to good effect in most things he has done, but he’s got to get out of this ‘cameo villain’ role, it’s not good for his career.

All in all then, a good film. Great special effects win the prize for best thing in the film, but unlike a lot of summer movies (Godzilla anyone…) the other elements aren’t far behind. Worth watching, and if you’re into sci-fi, effects or Will Smith then this will end up in your DVD collection.

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