the robot apocalypse will be surprisingly bright and sunny [movies]

i, robot

wasted opportunity, but not as huge of a mess as you'd expect
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i like this movie because it's safe and it's easy. is it anywhere near the level it could have been? absolutely not. does anyone but the geekiest of us care? not so much. listen, i'm a weird guy...on one hand i love sci-fi...real sci-fi, the stuff that critiques the world in that special way that only good sci-fi can, the stuff that transports you to a different time and place with it's sheer creativity and uniqueness, but at the same time, i can appreciate a good old fashion story, even if it does insult my intelligence a little. movies are first and foremost about entertainment and something doesn't necessarily have to be a masterpiece to be entertaining. this is the league i, robot is playing in. it's not amazing by any means, but you could do much worse with your 2 hours.

if you're a fan of isaac asimov's i, robot stories, chances are you hate this movie. i can't say i blame you, it steals the name and the general concept of asimov's stories and reworks them into a fairly straight forward, mystery-driven conspiracy movie format. i'm not going to go as far as saying it pisses on asimov's grave (like i've heard some claim) because it doesn't. actually, when you break it down it is really very similar to something he might have written. it's got the elijah bailey-esque biased detective spooner (will smith) who investigates a robot related crime and ends up becoming friends with a r. daneel olivaw-esque robot named "sunny" despite his machine-hating nature. there's also the lovable young street urchin (played in typically annoying fashion by shia labeouf), who could be seen to resemble raych from the foundation prequels.

it doesn't break any new ground or present any concepts the most remedial of sci-fi fans aren't overly familiar with already, but that's not the be-all, end-all of making a good movie. the story itself is well constructed and flows nicely, creating an all around neat package. director alex proyas does an almost complete 180 from his dark city, crow aesthetic, which is at once interesting and slightly disappointing. the style he brings to this film is very polished and clean, presenting a future where humanity is sort of at the brink of deteriorating, but still has the glossy sheen that allows people to keep up the illusion that everything is a-ok. you get the sense that in 10 years time this metropolis could look like a very different place. however, the film lacks a certain amount of artistic flare, something that caught me a little off guard considering proyas' style-heavy previous outings.

the main problem that holds this film back is, unfortunately, will smith. not because he's a bad actor - he brings a certain amount of charm and charisma to all his characters, but because he simply isn't right for the role. i could see the part working much better in the hands of a less charming actor, someone who could bring that gruffness to the character that i think smith was missing. his supporting cast doesn't do much to help him out either. bridget moynahan is pretty much wasted space, bringing almost nothing to the role of dr. susan calvin, one of the only characters taken directly from the asimov stories. she's stiff, uninteresting and doesn't show any of the complexity of the character as asimov wrote it. shia labeaof shows up for a few minutes here and there in an utterly useless role and does nothing as an actor to make the cameo worth the time it took to watch it. however, chi mcbride, james cromwell and alan tudyk (the voice of "sunny") all deliver with their performances.

in the end, i, robot is a movie that you walk away from thinking "hmm, that wasn't too bad". it's a good movie to watch if you're bored, but i can't see it going on anyones top 10 lists. there's nothing outright that sends it barreling into sucksville, but there also isn't anything elevating it above the level of mediocrity. with a few minor tweaks it could have been great, but as it is, it's merely good.