‘I, Robot’ Falls Short For Fans Of Smith And Asimov

Even more predictable than the outcome at a Harlem Globetrotters game is a Will Smith victory at the box office when school’s out. Coming into this year, the likable superstar had five consecutive summer films open at number one, and sure enough, his latest, I, Robot, followed suit and became the first movie to topple the reign of Spider-Man 2 at the top of the charts.

Now as it nears the $100 million mark, the question is not whether Smith has drawing power (he does) or if the film will make any money (it will), but whether it’s worth your time and your dime.

I, Robot, set in the year 2035, follows the exploits of Del Spooner (Smith), a sour Chicago detective who is cynical of society’s reliance upon robots, which are now commonplace. A loner with a haunted past, Spooner jumps into action when he suspects that the alleged suicide of a prominent robotics pioneer (James Cromwell) may actually be murder... and he believes the prime suspect to be a sleek automaton that is one of the new, top-of-the-line models being readied for public consumption by a mega-corporation named U.S. Robotics.

The film, which was directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City), states in its credits that it is “suggested by” Isaac Asimov’s book of the same name. But perhaps it would have been better served to avoid that connection altogether, especially considering the strong following megastar Smith seems to have.

The main surviving link to Asimov’s tales is the conceit that robots have been hardwired with three main laws burned into their circuitry: 1) They can never harm a human; 2) They must follow every human command, as long as it doesn’t break the first rule; and 3) They must protect their own existence so long as it doesn’t countermand either of the first two laws. However, very little else remains, and thus, the very association the filmmakers presumably are leaning upon to bolster the audience base – namely, one meant to garner the support and interest of Asimov fans – will likely turn them off instead.

But also to the film’s detriment is the fact that while it veers extensively from Asimov’s work, it doesn’t really utilize anything all that interesting or original in its place. Director Proyas and his team do a serviceable job and there are some intriguing moments in the film, but there’s very little that either makes us gasp with excitement or stare with wonder at this crafted sci-fi world.

Smith is given the all-too-familiar part of the rogue cop who is actually always right but for some reason no one ever believes him. And while the actor does a decent job as the protagonist here, the filmmakers also fail to utilize one of his best assets, his whiz-bang ability to interact with and build chemistry among his co-stars. The role calls for him to almost always be glum, which takes away from his electric personality, and as a loner, he has very few characters off of which to play... and as for those with which he does interact, the jury is still out on co-star Bridget Moynahan as far as I’m concerned. She plays a skeptical scientist at U.S. Robotics who ends up helping Spooner, and although she doesn’t do anything to embarrass herself, she also doesn’t seem to bring anything special to the role or her chemistry with Smith.

I, Robot is rated PG-13 for intense, stylized action violence and brief, partial nudity. Although it is intermittently entertaining, in a summer that has given us the finer efforts of Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Spider-Man 2, it falls short of being a wholly satisfying summer distraction.