Over the weekend instead of playing our usual D&D with too many missing players, we checked out the new movie, I, Robot, starring Will Smith. Maybe I was in the right frame of mind for this movie, because it met my expectations well.
In the film, Will Smith stars as Detective Del Spooner, a cop whose bad memories of robots in his past has left him bitter toward them. The movie centers around Spooner’s investigation of the death of Alfred Lanning, played by James Cromwell (The Green Mile), who was thrown out the window of his locked room, the contents of which seem to be devoid of human life. Of course, there are robots involved, and Spooner is put in the cliche position of working against his own personality and placing trust (warranted or not) in the ability of robots.
The movie has many places where the “twist” takes a turn you’ve been expecting. The weird thing is that all of the twists fit very comfortably into my expectations for the movie. Rather than being trite or overplayed, I was pleased that it had taken the path I imagined it following in my mind. And even so, there were a couple of unexpected and pleasant surprises.
Will Smith, it turns out, isn’t that bad of an action actor. I tried to convince Berta of this by citing some of his other roles, like in Independence Day or Men In Black, but as she pointed out, those were all somewhat comedic roles. As an action star, Smith had yet to prove himself. Now, don’t get me wrong - He’s not Wesley Snipes, but he has a style and personal presence that I still find appealing. And while this movie brought about visions of the future similar to those in Minority Report, Smith doesn’t have the presence of Tom Cruise. Nonetheless, if he was in another similar action film, I would go see it.
Interestingly enough, the movie is very loosely credited to the book by Isaac Asimov. Actually, the book is a collection of several short stories. Asmiov is who got me into science fiction in the first place, so I will always remember his books fondly, but they have since become less cherished than the sci-fi dinge evoked by likes of Gibson or Stephenson. Still, this movie incarnation of that writing brings about an enticing illustration of robots in Asimov’s clean and cheery future.
This site has some details about the differences between Asimov’s books and the movie. If you have the inclination to read and not to watch, you should probably check out Asimov’s stuff. It’s somewhat thought-provoking, even if it’s not sci-fi thriller material.
Thanks to Dan and Dave for relenting to see this over the Bourne Supremacy, of which they are welcome to borrow a VCD copy. :)
