Review of I, Robot (2004) by Ben L — 22 Mar 2012

I knew I was going to enjoy this movie, because I've always been fascinated by sci-fi movies and murder mysteries and this is both. This particular futuristic world seems to be somewhat plausible because they keep some connection to their past (and our present.) I was only mildly familiar with the content of Asimov's stories, so I had no illusions about what this movie would look like. So, while some will say the movie drops the ball, it still is entertaining.

Will Smith has proven he is a quality actor, and this movie just reinforced that opinion. He does a spectacular job of presenting Spooner as an angry man whose anger is only overshadowed by his desire to discover the truth. I was also extremely impressed by the actor who played Sonny, the most important robot in the story. His childlike emotions combined with the logical mind was perfectly balanced. I know a lot of credit for that goes to the CGI department, but I'm sure the actor must have influenced the role to some degree.

What holds this back from being one of my favorite films is the fact that it lacks some originality. There were certain aspects that surprised me, but the overall plotline and climax were not hard to predict. And the reason they felt predictable is because, frankly we've seen this before. There was also some overly cheesy scenes between Spooner and his boss that felt like they were pulled out of a hundred other cop films. These aren't huge complaints, because I Robot is a fun film that I always find enjoyable to watch.