Just noticed the review formatting has returned, thank god for that
Just noticed the review formatting has returned, thank god for that
Member since:29.08.2002
Reviews:625
Members who trust:281
I’ve been a fan of Will Smith since the early days of the Fresh Prince. Even though I’ve seen it millions of times I still find myself laughing at parts of it. As a musician he created good pop pieces of music that really suited the summer. His music is upbeat and although not really my kind of thing, still quite enjoyable. It was when they announced Will was going to be a movie star I began to grow doubtful. With the exception of “Wild Wild West”, just like everything else he’s tried Will has succeeded. I missed seeing I, Robot at the cinema so I finally caught up and saw after borrowing the DVD.
It’s 2035 and just about everyone has a personal Robot in their homes. Doing odd jobs for them and generally helping them to run their lives. Everyone except Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith), who is incredibly wary of Robots. On the eve of the biggest Robotics release ever, which will see every single person have a personal Robot, the head designer of US Robotics commits suicide. He requests that Det Spooner deals with the cause of his death and it soon becomes apparent that it wasn’t suicide, well to Spooner at least.
He
suspects that a Robot was to blame for the death of his good friend Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) but no one else believes him. The Robots have a set of 3 rules that prevent them from harming humans but Spooner has always doubted whether these rules can be broken. It’s now down to Spooner to solve the case and work out if Robots have been successful in altering their programming.
I’d never read Isaac Asimov’s original book so didn’t really have anything to actually compare the film to. So instead I sat down to watch it with no expectations at all, except perhaps that it would be another big Will Smith blockbuster. It’s from director Alex Proyas who also brought us “The Crow”, so it already captured my attention. The film is firmly routed in the Science Fiction category and allows Smith to follow up on huge success in “Men In Black” and “Independence Day”.
The film is visually stunning with a great deal of work going into making it look fantastic. A great proportion of the film is done using CGI and it’s done in a very clever way. Each Robot looks fantastic and really brings the idea to life. A lot of creative detail has been put into the designing of these Robots and it really shows. A lot of the acting was done against a blue screen and really shows just how good an actor Smith is. The story is written to play to his strengths and really show of Smith’s abilities but at the same time it is transferred from paper to screen incredibly well.
A lot of the locations and scenes are artificially created but I don’t feel that the movie loses anything by this as other films seem to. The locations all look incredibly well designed and work fantastically well into the story. Even the parts of the film that aren’t created using CGI have been done in a clever way. Like a number of similar films, “Judge Dread” for example, a concept car has been created by Audi along with various other items by other companies. Overall the movie is something special both visually and storyline wise.
The director also does a good job of working with Smith. I’ve enjoyed the majority of Smith’s films and have to say he is perfect for the part as Spooner. The role of Spooner is almost ideal for Smith it mixes a lot of action with qualities he’s shown time and time again in various films. My only worry is that Smith is becoming Typecast as either a cop or a Sci Fi investigation type figure. That out of the way he is totally fantastic and his exchanges with Sonny (the prime suspect and Robot) work incredibly well in another testament to his acting ability.
The other parts in the film are pretty much bit parts with no-one really standing out. Everyone plays their parts incredibly well but apart from Smith there are no real stand out performances. His love interest is played by Bridget Moynahan and to begin with she appears stuck up and certainly the wrong person to be in the role. After a few exchanges between them she starts to become more believable but I personally don’t think there was much chemistry between them.
Overall it’s a pretty good film and certainly lives up to the Blockbuster tag. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has loved any of Smith’s other work. As already mentioned I can’t compare it to the original novel but as a film it works really well. It is perfect Saturday night viewing and a film I’d definitely recommend to anyone who is unsure whether it’s worth watching.
Pictures of I, Robot (DVD)
Sonny
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2006 - Science Fiction - Director: James Hawes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Penelope Wilton, David Tennant, Billie Piper
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith displays both his trademark quips and some ... more
impressive pectoral muscles inI, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind--he's just not ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith displays both his trademark quips and some ... more
impressive pectoral muscles inI, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind--he's just not ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith displays both his trademark quips and some ... more
impressive pectoral muscles inI, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind--he's just not ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith displays both his trademark quips and some ... more
impressive pectoral muscles inI, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind--he's just not ...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![I Robot - Single Disc Edition [2004] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78502584.jpg "I Robot - Single Disc Edition [2004] [DVD]")
![I Robot (Collector's Two Disc Edition) [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78511494.jpg "I Robot (Collector's Two Disc Edition) [DVD] [2004]")
Dec 18th, 2004
exceptional by (1%):
very helpful by (96%):
helpful by (3%):
