Saturday Night Premiere: I, Robot

Saturday, September 24, 2005

This week's Saturday Night Premiere comes to us on the HBO network in the form of I, Robot. This film stars Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan. Set in 2035, it tells of an earth much different than our own, even if it is only thirty years in the future. During the film, we follow police detective Del Spooner as he investigates a death. The future in this film shows many technological advances, specifically with robots. Robots are owned by many of the world's citizens, and they look to have become a part of many families. With any technological item, there is advancements that are made, and in this movie we are seeing the release of the NS5, the 5th series of robots made. This series of robots is totally unlike any of the previous series of bots, and some issues do come up. Well, if you can call them trying to take over the world an issue!

The creator of the robots, Dr. Alfred Lanning played by James Cromwell, turns up dead of an apparent suicide. Or is it? This leads to an investigation by Detective Spooner, who just happens to hate robots, even though he is part robot himself, and knows Dr. Lanning personally. A nice little twist to the film if I do say so myself.

Upon beginning his investigation, Spooner finds an NS5 unlike any of the other robots created in this series of robots. This robot being Lanning's personal bot. Sonny, as he names himself, is definitely interesting to watch. He seems to be able to think and feel unlike my most robots, and he becomes central to helping Spooner and Dr. Calvin in solving the case behind these new strange robots that seem to be able to defy all laws put forth into their programming.

For almost two hours, this movie keeps coming at you. Action scenes are throughout the film, and they are quite fun to watch. Will plays his role perfectly of a man that just hates the new technology. He lives in the past, or if you look closely - our present. One of my favorite scenes is when a demolition robot goes to tear down the doctor's home with Will and the doctor's cat inside. The cat gets into as much action as Will does. Another memorable scene is a tunnel sequence when all the robots corner and attack Spooner.

While I was watching, I found myself thinking of other movies in which robots played a part. We have Terminator and the succeeding films in that series and A.I. Those are the two that immediately come to mind. I, Robot stands on its own in my opinion. Fun and action packed that kept me entertained the entire way through. Will Smith is such a great actor. He's a visual actor however.

Previously in this blog, I had reviewed his cartoon film appearance, Shark Tale, a cartoon that just didn't live up to my expectations of it. After thinking about it, I realize that this was because we couldn't see Will. Will is a very visual actor with his facial expressions and movements playing a huge part in his performances. In a cartoon format, we don't see this. I, Robot doesn't have this problem. I thoroughly enjoyed Will Smith and this movie. I'd highly recommend it.

To check this movie for yourself check the following retailers: Amazon or J & R or rent through Netflix.com