I, Robot - 07/20/04

Written by: Isaac Asimov (suggested by book), Jeff Vintar (story, script), Akiva Goldsman (script)

Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell, Bruce Greenwood

Official Site

Some spoilers...

I, Robot was a group of short stories collected into a volumn in or around 1950. The stories comprising the collection all came out in the 40's.

"Suggested by book" is a pretty crappy credit, in my opinion, for a man who wrote over 500 books in his lifetime. Regardless of whether he's passed on or not, the estate should have had it changed to 'Based Upon'.

I have not read my Asimov. I have a hard time getting into his writing... so I cannot tell if this movie is based on one of his short stories (specifically Robbie), or if it's just a modernized version, utilizing the three laws that Asimov created for his... creations.

I was always amazed at Robert Heinlein, writing Starship Troopers in the 1950's, but one has to be in complete awe at the imagination of Asimov, creating this world at the beginning of The Information Age, as so many have dubbed the 20th Century.

Now, originally, a script was written by Harlan Ellison, another pioneer in the sci-fi world, though not half as accomplished as Asimov. Written in the 1970's, it provided for such a large production budget that it never got off the ground... even though films like Alien and Blade Runner would be made in the future, with enormous success.

Asimov was pleased with the script, siting it would be "The first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made." Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day.

Jeff Vintar's first mainstream work was on the disasterous Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within. Disasterous because of the $138 million dollar budget, and the $32 million it took in at the box office (domestically).

Three years later he gets I, Robot.

Also on the project was Akiva Goldsman who won an Academy Award for his work on A Beautiful Mind.

Looking at his past history, I cannot say that I'm a fan of the man's work. His work on the Batman films (after Burton) were just awful. Lost in Space was a terribly written story. I didn't bother to see Practical Magic, and both of his other successes (The Client and Beautiful Mind) were adaptations.

He has produced some films in the past few years, including Deep Blue Sea, Starsky & Hutch and Mindhunters, which has yet to be released.

I can see how he was brought on to this project as a script doctor... but there were a number of plot issues and character issues that, I'm wondering if they were Goldsman's fault or not...

For instance. The character Farber, the young boy, had absolutely no point. His character was used for some fancy stunt work later in the movie, but meanwhile, we're introduced to this character that brings nothing to the film.

Moynahan's character, in the beginning, plays like a robot... her character is wooden and cold, trying to trick the audience (for some reason) into thinking she's a machine... but why? Why the switch halfway into the film, when she actually starts acting like a real person?

I found that the reasoning behind Will Smith's prejudice was a big injustice in the script. I don't think his reasoning was a good one for all the bias he had towards the robots, and all it did was make his character come off as racist and stupid.

But the biggest problem I had with the script was V.I.K.I.'s idea that people couldn't take care of themselves, so robots were going to do it for them.

When you set a film in the future, but you really don't change much of it except for the technology (cars, guns, robots, but the streets are the same except for the fast moving tunnels and all), you cannot use this arguement for the robots logically.

Not once does Goldsman and Vintar show us something that has happened, that makes the robots want to put the control of the planet in their hands. Not one disaster, not one war, nothing. You give the audience no frame of reference or reasoning or empathy for the robots decision to take control.

That makes the entire plot wishy-washy all over, and ruins the momentum of the film.

The performances were all good (save Moynahan's, in the beginning). I enjoyed watching an HBO First Look of I, Robot, describing the work that Alan Tudyk did for the character of Sonny. I thought he did an excellent job.

One thing I will say is this film had an enormous amount of product placement, including JVC, Converse and Audi... it was pretty blatant, especially in the first few minutes of the film.

I found that some of the technology came straight from Minority Report, which was interesting. The cars, the robots... certainly not lifted directly, but definitely inspired by...

I'm a big fan of Proyas, who gave us the first Crow film, along with Dark City, one of the more original and entertaining dark sci-fi thrillers... but Proyas fell off the map for a little while, filming Garage Days in Australia. Let's hope his next project is something he'll enjoy filming, as he did here.

For cinematographer Simon Duggan this was one huge jump. Having worked with Proyas on Garage Days, he goes from a $6 million dollar film to a $100 million dollar film, with huge special effects, sets, stunts... this film has it all, and for an inexperienced DP (in regards to large budget, not talent or skill), I find it a risky, though impressive, pick on Proyas part. Proyas and Duggan have a history, especially with Duggan shooting Proyas personal film... and it worked out. I'm sure we'll see Duggan get some additional high profile work in the near future.

It's not a bad movie, but it has a certain amount of weakness, in plot, in acting... it had a very good weekend and I'm sure it will make back it's budget, and then some ($105 million).