Overall Rating
 Awesome: 8.67%
Worth A Look: 23.47%
Just Average: 35.2%
Pretty Crappy: 22.45%
Sucks: 10.2%
11 reviews, 130 user ratings
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| I, Robot |
by Scott Weinberg
"CTRL-ALT-DEL"

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It's not the deviation from source material that bothers me all that much; it's the disrespectful way in which Isaac Asimov's insightful tales have been trampled, trounced and all but transmogrified into the one thing we really don't need: another hollow action flick with lots of CGI craziness, tons of desperately unwelcome tough-guy one-liners, and a story culled together from about eleven much better movies.I discovered a movie called Dark City the day it hit DVD. I felt really bad for not being able to catch the movie theatrically, but it's since become a high ranking member of my Top Ten Sci-Fi films of all time. So clearly I had some high hopes when news came that the DC director, Alex Proyas, was about to take charge of an Isaac Asimov adaptation for Fox.
Once again, the need for ridiculously simplistic storytelling and C-grade schlocky banter has overwhelmed a great director and a fantastic piece of source material.
Because I, Robot is, above all other things, simply very boring. The nutshell of a plot involves a futuristic Chicago in which a deluge of high-grade robots may or may not be on the eve of a revolution. Wedged haphazardly into the mix are a future-noir whodunnit concoction that goes nowhere fast, a none-too-subtle attempt at flimsy social commentary (Ohh, black hero, white robots...I get it!), a few frenetic action sequences (each of which are visually impressive and narratively insubstantial), tons of that tough-guy banter, and a handful of plot concepts stolen from A.I., Blade Runner, Minority Report and, hell, let's say Westworld to boot.
This is a movie in which the first half hour consists of dialogue like: "Hello, Bob! I haven't seen you since you returned from your sudden trip to Guam, where you contracted a horrible skin rash, which then led to your wife's affair with her piano teacher!" Every familiar point that there is to make about "the dangers of making robots smart" is stated, repeated and then repeated again, slowly. One suspects that a first-time screenwriter, offered a chance to adapt a beloved sci-fi tale into a viable piece of filmed entertainment, would come up with something infinitely more fascinating than what these writers (one of 'em an Oscar winner!) have concocted.
Will Smith is a likable guy. The worst thing that could have happened is precisely what did: Smith appeared in a few (rather moronic) action/sci-fi type movies that proved very successful at the box office, and the die was unjustly cast: Will Smith was your new sci-fi/action hero. Only problem is...the guy's just not very good at it. After dispatching an influx of aggressive robots, Smith is heard uttering line after line of bravado-laden bluster. Audience members giggled at the faux-sincerity of such a silly movie. (I can't be the only one who'd like to see Will Smith do a comedy with someone like Jack Black, Bernie Mac or Jim Carrey...can I?)
I, Robot is a lovely movie to look at. The futuristic landscapes and eye-popping vistas are as captivating as any CGI artwork laid out in any movie, TV commercial or video game out there. But without a cohesive and challenging narrative, it's all just a bunch of visual masturbation. But it's here that I, Robot earns sincere praise, despite its frequent flaws in simple storytelling. The action sequences, albeit somewhat few and far between, display a kinetic mania and an affection for the stylistic flourishes that action fans know and love. Proyas' camera dips, dives and spins throughout the gun battle and the car chase, and it's all just diverting and exciting enough to make you wish you cared a little more about the movie as a whole.Take away the incongruous and frankly off-putting lead performance by Will Smith, the endless scenes of overwhelmingly stilted plot exposition, and the unendingly familiar plot points that trot by every 20 minutes..and you're left with two or three high-quality action scenes, period. "I, Robot" is a movie destined for fast-forward buttons the world over.
link directly to this review at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=10202&reviewer=128 originally posted: 07/16/04 00:53:53
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USA 16-Jul-2004 (PG-13) DVD: 24-May-2005
UK N/A
Australia 22-Jul-2004
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