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I, Robot
We, Not Overly Impressed

Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, James Cromwell, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk
Director: Alex Proyas
Screenwriters: Jeff Vintar ,Hillary Seitz ,Akiva Goldsman

Reviewed by Dawn Capp

Set in the year 2035 and suggested by the Isaac Asimov book, I, Robot revisits the age-old question, 'What does it mean to be human?' Will Smith plays Spooner, a techno-phobic cop who lives in a world where sophisticated robots play servant to humans.

Robots just don't understand.

These human-like robots operate three laws, the first and most important of which is that a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. However, when the founder of USR, the corporation that churns out these robots, plummets to his death, Spooner investigates and begins to suspect that one of the newest models of robots did what everyone else believes to be impossible -- killed a human being.

The movie has a solid foundation for a film. It does, after all, owe its premise to Isaac Asimov, who many deem to be a science fiction genius. Unfortunately, modern Hollywood lacks anything even resembling genius, so it's no surprise that I, Robot churns out one cliché after another as it stumbles through what could have been an engrossing story.

One of the biggest problems with the film is the reason Spooner hates the robots -- one of them saved his life when he was involved in a traffic accident, but in doing so, the robot allowed another person to die. After all, even superhuman robots can't be in two places at once, and this particular robot calculated the odds and found that Spooner had a much greater chance of survival than the other victim. Spooner took that incident as proof that robots are cold and unfeeling and should not be trusted. No one seemed to point out to the reason-disabled detective that, of course, had there not been a robot, both he and the other victim would've perished.

Hence, Spooner's dislike of the robots seems to stem from the fact that they aren't human. Well, duh. They aren't human. They're machines.

In mind-boggling contrast to his disdain for the robots, he seems to resent anything that makes them appear more human. So, he doesn't like robots because they aren't human, yet he also doesn't like the idea of making robots more human. Though, of course, since this movie is filled with clichés, Spooner comes to reevaluate his own 'prejudice' against robots when he befriends one.

Although it wasn't stated in the movie, it seems likely Spooner also suffered brain damage as a result of the accident.

Of course, the end of the movie tries to cleverly move the plot full-circle by placing Spooner in another situation where a robot must calculate the odds and make a life-and-death decision. The only problem is, in the end, the choice isn't simply between two lives. Rather, this robot must choose between saving all of humanity or risking humanity to save the life of one person.

As a member of humanity, allow me to cast my vote for saving the five billion or so of us that inhabit this planet. After all, without crowds of humans living freely to spend their money, who'll be around to see I, Robot 2?

Rating:

(2 out of 4 stars)

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