The Critics Speak

I, Robot

Critic: Steph Lewis
On a scale of 0 to Awesome, I rate this: Fun
Released: July 16, 2004
Director: Alex Proyas
MPAA RATING: PG-13, intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity

Synopsis: It's the year 2035, and the community now has the help of robots. These robots have three laws integrated into their system. One, they cannot harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Two, they must do whatever they're told by a human being as long as such orders don't conflict with law one. Three, they have to defend themselves as long as such defense doesn't conflict with laws one or two. One day, the writer of the three laws, Alfred Lanning, apparently jumps out of the tenth-floor window of U.S. Robotics. The majority of the Chicago Police Department believe that he committed suicide, but Detective Del Spooner (Smith), who hates robots, thinks he was murdered, and the number one suspect is a Nestor Class-5 robot who calls himself Sonny. However, if it was Sonny, then that means he would've had to have broken the three laws. With the help of Dr. Susan Calvin, Spooner must now discover the truth before it's too late. --Summary written by Ridley Lavine, Taken from imdb.com

My Take: This movie had sweet special effects and tolearable acting. The only trouble was that Josh and I predicted the entire plot before we watched it. We had never seen a trailer or even read a review of it. We just knew it was called I, Robot, was starring Will Smith, and had seen the cover of the DVD. That was enough clues for us to guess the main points of the plot. Josh even guessed that there would be a moment where Will Smith had to confront an evil robot, the evil robot would do something, and Will Smith would say something like, "Oh no... you did not just do that!" And then blow the robot up. Well... that happens. So, the movie is neat to watch, there's just no special story twist or anything like that. You get what you expect.