July 18, 2004 -- “I, Robot” is a glossy science fiction adventure with plenty of action, starring Wil Smith at his laconic, wisecracking best playing a tough police detective relentlessly on the trail of a killer robot.

Smith plays Chicago Police Detective Del Spooner. He is called in to investigate the death of an old friend, Dr. Alfred Lanning (played by James Cromwell of “The Sum of All Fears”), founder of U.S. Robotics, a huge company planning a massive rollout of millions of new robots (the story is set in the year 2035). Spooner immediately suspects a robot killed Lanning, but no one will believe Spooner, since he has a well-known issue with robots. Spooner is aided in his investigation by robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan of “The Recruit”), who begins to believe that Spooner is on to something.

Although the story has a lot of science fiction trappings, it is really at heart a murder mystery. The story goes through some pretty extreme contortions to avoid revealing the answer to the mystery too soon. Some of these contortions include having a robot character named “Sonny,” (voiced by Alan Tudyk of “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”) who behaves inconsistently. Sonny is an interesting robot, with many human characteristics. Spooner and Calvin are also well-rounded characters. The relationship between these three characters provides a lot of this film's strength and charm. Smith's hard-boiled wisecracking detective character can trace its roots back to classic detectives like those developed by legendary mystery writers Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. Smith performs this kind of role as well as anyone. He delivers some sizzling one-liners. Moynahan provides an excellent counterpoint to Smith's performance, showing vulnerability, but intelligence and independence as well. Chi McBride of “The Terminal” turns in a nice performance as Lt. John Bergin, Spooner's boss. His character gets a more multi-faceted and sympathetic role than is usual for this kind of stock character. Another good character is Spooner's grandmother, played by Adrian Ricard of “Bulworth.”

In addition to action and comedy, the film also explores some interesting ideas about robots and consciousness. It also explores the troubling idea that we can never be totally safe from our own mechanical creations. These ideas were explored decades ago by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who invented the “three laws of robotics” which form the foundation of this story. Asimov's “I, Robot,” a book of short stories about robots provided the inspiration for this movie. I thought it was funny the other day when I saw a review of the movie which said it didn't follow the novel. Of course, there was no novel for the film to follow.

This movie is only mildly thought-provoking and it certainly isn't artistic, but it is entertaining, thanks mainly to a fine performance by Smith and solid supporting performances. Good character development and the great on-screen chemistry between Smith and Bridget Moynahan also give this movie a big boost. The film looks great, with excellent production design by Patrick Tatopoulos (“Dark City”). The special effects are also excellent, with lots of gleaming robots created by teams led by visual effects supervisor John Andrew Berton Jr. (“The Mummy”) and digital effects supervisor Tyler Foell (“Daredevil”). Despite the abundance of blue screen effects, the live action and animation are well-integrated. The film is directed by Alex Proyas (“Dark City,” “The Crow”). This is not one of Proyas' best films, but it is a good effort. This is also not as imaginative as either “Dark City,” or “The Crow,” but it is a lot of fun to watch. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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