I, Robot

I, Robot (2004)

Image From IMDB

Will Smith running around in classic Converse trainers––or is it sneakers––chasing some kind of unique martial art semi-emotional robot because a robotics engineer committed suicide reading Hazel and Gretel all while Will’s chief basically tells him he’s a ‘loose cannon,’ is what movies use to be all about, and I for one, wish that would come back.

Back in the day you couldn’t go wrong with Will Smith in a sci-fi movie. With Independence Day and Men in Black to his name I was excited when I, Robot was announced, more so with Alex Proyas of The Crow and Dark City fame directing. Then, the movie came out, and I liked it well enough, but it didn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations. Having now rewatched it, I think I like it more than I originally gave it credit for. In my mind, it’s largely aged well.

The story follows Detective Spooner (Smith) as he hunts for famed robotic engineer Dr. Alfred Lannings (James Cromwell, who I always love) killer. The problem is, Spooner believes the killer to be a robot, which is impossible because robots are programmed not to kill humans as part of an unbreakable set of three laws given to them. But, as they say, laws are meant to be broken.

I haven’t read the books in a very long time––but am planning to correct that–-so i’m not going to compare anything to Issac Asimov’s famous works. Instead, i’m looking at it purely as a massive sci-fi fan.

I, Robot is action packed with enough of a mystery to keep you interested throughout. The set pieces are wild and ambitious for the time, especially the tunnel sequence. I liked Detective Spooner, and Bridget Moynahan’s Calvin plays like a Sandra Bullock Demolition Man type sidekick which is always a great character. Loved the scene when she was trying to get the old record player to work.

Will Smith is cracking one liners, and injecting that Marvel humour long before it was known as that, but does also play the role with a bubbling rage and vulnerability. He switches between funny and dangerous on command, and is a character I would’ve have minded him returning too.

The films a little heavy handed with its narrative at times, but its heart is always in the right place. While everything doesn’t land, and product placement is rife, you can still see that everyone wanted to make the best movie they could, and respect the genre. I always love when Noir meets Sci-Fi, and this was a great example of it.

Alex Proyas goes a little crazy with the camerawork which was interesting to see, but as always, he excels at world building. The CGI has aged, but I don’t care about shit like that, it works perfectly fine for me and i’ll take the chase through the tunnel and the robot on robot brawl for all over most modern CGI battles.

Overall I, Robot isn’t without its faults, but it’s a fine action movie that has enough about it to make it extremely watchable. Will Smith is excellent in the lead role, and the sci-fi world building is fantastic. As mentioned, I don’t know how it compares to the original text, but as its own thing, it’s an exciting watch, and for me, a movie those themes and aesthetic has aged well, with the theme obviously becoming more relevant than ever.