Review 556: I, Robot

I, Robot is not a terrifically good film, but the it’s well crafted and directed with a lot of panache and fans of Will Smith's work will surely get a thrill out of 

Inspired by the short stories I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, In the year 2035, robots have become man's best friend. Employed by everyone to do the manual taks that everyone hates to do, all the while protected by the Three Laws of Robotics. When the co-founder of U.S. Robotics Dr. Alfred Lanning (Jmaes Cromwell) ends up dead, it's declared a suicide. Det. Del Spooner (Will Smith) is skeptical due to his prejudice against robots

Deapite baring the title of Asimov short stories as well some characters names and the Three Laws, the film has very little in common with them. The film started out as an Agatha Christie style murder mystery entitled Hardwierd that had been kicking around Hollywood since the mid 90s. But eventually wound up at Fox where elements from the Asimov short stories were 

There is good chemistry between Smith and Moynahan and their interplay and constrasting personas help to ground the films sillier elements.

Director Alex Proyas' direction is stylish, making excellent usage of low angles, overheads, close ups, mid shots and intelligent uses of slow motion. All of which lend to superb world building.

His staging of the films visualy impressive action scenes is also noteworthy. In particular, right before a highway chase between Smith's Det. Spooner and a group of rogue robots, we're slowly introduced to the componets and the geography of the scene and when things get going, its very exciting and edge of your seat. The action scenes are well crafted, exciting and  From a human-and-robot chase inside a storage  to an edge-of-your-seat car chase through 

The cinematography is winsome, the production design is splendid; an excellent blend of retro interio designs and futuristic tech to create a Chicago cica 2035 . The costumes are terrific, the score by Marco Beltrami is charging, churning and thematic.

Will Smith mostly sleepwalks through the role of Del Spooner.  We come into this world through the eyes of Del. He has a deep-seated mistrust of robots  He use to be a fun outgoing guy but  His mannerisms and body-langue, like the way he struts around the films beautiful sets as though he owns the place, make him come across as arrogant and unlikeable. It feels like he's just coasting along and the film has to fall back on his charisma. 

Bridget Moynahan fears a little better playing Dr. Susan Calvin, a character from short stories. 

James Cromwell is only in  but they're of central importance and he brings a kindness and a  to them.

Bruce Greenwood   He's the smarmy 

Alan Tudyk is easily this films MVP playing Sonny, an advanced robot with burgeoning intelligence and (possibly) guilt. 

I, Robot only uses about 20% of its brain. Still, that’s more than lot of other films in its genre, 3/5.

The Anonymous Critic.