Are Three Laws Enough? (I Robot (DVD))

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	I Robot (DVD)
Date:	30/07/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent story and acting, amazing effects

Disadvantages: None from me

I really don't know why I had this sitting on my DVD pile for over 12 months and never watched it. Finally I took the plunge and I am so glad I did not just because it stars the gorgeous Will Smith but the whole thing was amazing.

Will Smith plays the role of Detective Spooner who is living in the year 2035 where humans and robots are co-existing together. The robots are programmed with 3 laws and this means that they are unable to harm humans and have to obey commands given to them. Thing take a turn for the worse for Spooner when he gets a call that one of the Doctors at the Robotic Centre has been found dead. Spooner heads on out there as he has a special connection with this Doctor. When he arrives he finds that the Doctor has committed suicide but he does not believe this and when he finds a hellgrammite message he knows that he did not kill himself.


Spooner is teamed up with Dr Susan Calvin who is a robot psychologist and the pair set to work investigating the death of the Doctor. Spooner soon discover that there is a rogue robot in the Doctors lab and sets out to chase him. They soon discovers that the robot is not like the others and he has dreams and feelings which should not happen. Just what will Spooner and Dr Calvin discover from their new robot friend Sonny and will they discover the truth from the trail of breadcrumbs which the dead Doctor has left them and just why does Spooner hate the robots so much?

At the beginning of this film I was not particularly interested and thought it would be another bad attempt at a futuristic film but how wrong was I. After the frost 15 or so minutes the film really did pick up the pace and I was hooked. I found the storyline to be excellent despite being a bit far fetched at times I thought it had tried to be as realistic as possible. The robot which were used did all look good and they were not portrayed as being massive and strange things, they looked very human and looked as if they could become a reality for life in the future.

I thought that Will Smith did an excellent job playing the role of Spooner and he did make the film so much more watch able for me. He seemed to make the character very mysterious at times with his hatred for the robots and I enjoyed how we were left guessing why this was so. He did work very well with Bridget Moynahan who played the role of Susan Calvin and I enjoyed the platonic relationship they both had a screen. I was please that there was no love story between them as this would have put me off slightly and moved away from the initial storyline. Both of these actors worked well with the effects which were created for the robot Sonny and made he looked a real part of the film and not just an added effect.

I liked the effects throughout the film and thought that a lot of time, effort and money were put into all of them. The robots really looked authentic and as if they could be living normally among us and I liked how human they were made to look. The fight scenes with the robots were excellent and I liked how they were given sort of spider movement with the crawling and jumping, this really added to the effect of them all for both me and hubby. I also though the futuristic cars and vehicles were excellent and despite asking hubby said he will not buy me one. I also found the inclusion of Spooner's motorbike excellent and enjoyed seeing him riding it.

I did think that there was a slight touch of humour to the film and loved how Spooner would always make a comment on his authentic 2004 Converse shoes, this did make me chuckle at times. The relationship with Spooner and his Grandmother also added to the story for me and showed a different side to his character and give him a little bit of depth.

The music throughout was really good and did add to the mood of the places which it was used. None of the tracks really stood out to me apart from the one which Spooner had on his record player but they were all very appropriate for the places they were used.

The one downside to this film for me was the silly black hanky type hat Spooner would be wearing as I thought he looked stupid in it and it did start to drive me mad. He looked so much better without it. This really is the only downside to the whole film from both me and hubby.

The DVD which we have doe shave some bonus material which includes:-

Three Audio Commentaries including Director Alex Proyas
The Making of I Robot
Still Gallery
Inside look - Alien v Predator, 24, Elektra

I am not a fan of bonus material so I have not taken the time to watch any of these so I am unable to give comment and tell you whether they are worth watching of not.

The running time of this film is 109 minutes which I found to be a great length as the film kept moving at a great pace and I was not loosing interest at all. The certificate on the film is a 15 as it does contain moderate violence but I would say that an older 13 or 14 year old may thoroughly enjoy this film.

We bought this many many moths ago and I cannot remember what we paid for it. I am sure you will be able to pick this up for under £5 if you try places like Amazon and EBay. I do highly recommend this film as it has a great story, great acting and it is not to far fetched like other robot films.

Summary: Spooner has to uncover the truth behind the Doctors death