| Product: |
I Robot (DVD) |
| Date: |
14.09.05 (126 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: An action film with some intelligence behind it!
Disadvantages: More action than intelligence maybe?
When Isaac Asimov created the 3 laws of robotics I don’t think he could ever have expected how far they would infiltrate the mainstream world. They have been adapted so fully that you know that if or when humanoid robots are finally invented they will have these 3 laws as part of their programming.
Law 1: A Robot may not harm a human, or by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Law 2: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
Law 3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
I, Robot is loosely based on a number of Asimov’s short stories, taking the basic premise of them, and some of the characters and certain situations from his writings and forging a new narrative. The stories are all set in the future, in a world where robots exist to be our servants and in many cases constitute our workforce.
The clever intricacies of the 3 laws in the short stories, and how they have an effect on the robots in certain situations are mainly dropped, as you would expect from a Hollywood summer blockbuster. Though the heart of the film is based around the chase and action sequences there is, underneath the hype, flash and bombast, the existence of an intelligent film.
Major themes running through the film include technology running rampant, fear of technological advance and prejudice. Not the sort of things you find in an average blockbuster built around the action scenes.
Spooner (Will Smith) is a detective stuck in the past, his newly bought pride and joy a pair of trainers, vintage 2004. He prefers to manually drive his vehicle than let the computer control it and he listens to ‘old’ music on a remote controlled CD player (rather than the voice activated kind that is commonplace in his time). Though this does lead to an amusing scene when Bridget Moynahan’s scientist visits his apartment and tries to activate his music system the idea that a black man, rooted to the past, would have such blatant prejudice against another ‘species’ adds another dimension to I, Robot. He seems to know a lot about, and concentrate on, an age when there was still a lot of prejudice against his own race. Is this a clever way of highlighting prejudice today by making Spooner the man practising it?
Even though Spooner has a reason for his dislike of robots, and this dislike is an integral element to the story, the discovery of what is the genesis of this animosity is either downright stupid or a clever attempt at adding another level of depth to the character which just fails.
Jeff Vintar’s screenplay highlights the obvious prejudice Spooner has against the robots and could be said to be putting forward the idea that racism will not only never die but will always be targeted at those perceived to be different from the majority.
Director, Alex Proyas has come to mainstream Hollywood with a bang. He has brought some of the dark edginess of his two main earlier films, Dark City and The Crow, to a blockbuster without upsetting the apple cart of studio formula. Whilst the edginess may be hidden amongst the action it is prominent enough to be one of the reasons I, Robot is enjoyable
Acting-wise the show is stolen by Bruce Greenwood, who is still under rated in my opinion. Greenwood plays the evil executive of USR, Lawrence Robertson. Once again he manages to portray a distinct level of menace, as in Rules of Engagement and Double Jeopardy, without going over the top. Whilst I doubt that he will ever make it to a headline star, if his name is in the cast list you know he will challenge the headliners for star turn of the film yet again.
Whether or not you will enjoy I, Robot will depend a lot on what you are looking for. It is an entertaining action movie: one of the most cohesive story wise to come out this summer, and has enough below the surface action to a least make you think a little. During the movie you can revel in the intricately constructed plot whilst afterwards you can argue about the use of prejudice and technology. Of course alternatively you could just go on about the first rate set pieces!
For those that love a good action film, which I will confess to being every so often, I, Robot has one of the most stunning car chase/fights I’ve seen in a long time: a race through an underground tunnel that is a real edge of your seat thrill. A real bonus is that the CGI doesn’t stand out as obviously as it does in most films. The robots not only look incredible but for the majority of their screen time they mesh with the background and the actors well enough that it is not completely obvious it is CGI. This is odd, as you know that they are CGI - they have to be after all - but it is done in such a way that it isn’t immediately noticeable. Maybe other filmmakers should look at this and see that CGI can be made unobtrusive if they try hard enough.
If you like Asimov’s writing, and the thought of his intelligent science fiction being turned into an action movie fills you with dread, fear not. Go and see I, Robot. For once the screenwriters have not played completely fast and loose with the source material. In fact they may even persuade younger viewers to dig out some of Asimovs books and try them out. I know they have persuaded me to dig out my old copies of his Foundation trilogy!
The extras:
A Commentary by director Alex Proyas and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
A second Commentary by loads of off screen staff
Another Commentary by composer Marco Beltrami
The Making of I, Robot
A Gag reel
A Stills gallery
Summary: A treat for action fans and those who like a bit more.
|
|
