I, Robot

Film Rating: ****

(Directed by Alex Proyas; Written by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman; Based on the book by Isaac Asimov; Starring Will Smith; 2004; 115 minutes; Rated PG-13 for intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity.)

“I, Robot” takes place in Chicago during the year 2035. The city looks much the same as it does now, but with a few futuristic additions, most notable of which are the robots that fill the streets alongside the humans. These robots are engineered to follow three laws.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

As our story begins, Del Spooner (Will Smith), who is a detective with the Chicago police, is called to the U.S. Robotics center, where Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) is lying dead on the floor from an apparent suicide. Of course, just like Det. Spooner, we have our doubts about Dr. Lanning’s death being a suicide. Spooner is your typical wise cracking cop that is the only one who believes the case is not a suicide. Will Smith pulls off this character well and keeps it from feeling too much like a cliche. After failing to convince his superiors (or anyone else for that matter) that a robot might have killed Dr. Lanning, Spooner sets out on his own to figure out what is really happening. We learn early on that Spooner has a deep hatred for the robots, which is part of the reason no one will believe his theory about Dr. Lanning’s death. Eventually Spooner gets some help from Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), who works for U.S. Robotics, and was close to Dr. Lanning.

There are moments in “I, Robot” that can easily be filed under “typical over the top cliche action scenes”.  But with that aside, “I, Robot” is still a good film, because those over the top moments did not take away from the enjoyment of the film. A lot of the film is CGI, but it fits well in the scenes. Sonny (Alan Tudyk), the main robot in the film who has developed emotions, is an excellent character, every moment with Sonny on the screen is time well spent. There were several elements to the story in “I, Robot” that reminded me of other Sci-Fi films, including Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Since Isaac Asimov’s work was in print long before Arthur C. Clark’s novel, it is interesting to see how Clark’s writting was influenced by the works of Asimov.