It's the year 2035. Robots are integrated with society as loyal servants to the human population and are programmed to protect and never harm a human being. Detective Spooner is perhaps the only man in Chicago who doesn't trust robots, due to an accident in his past. When the co-funder of U.S. Robotics is found dead and believed to have commit suicide, Spooner believes that a prototype robot named Sonny is involved, due to him programmed with free will, which previous models weren't capable of. What follows though is a much grander conspiracy and philosophy that challenges Spooner's viewpoint as he figures out the truth. Even though the story can be seen as cookie-cutter or formulaic, it manages to be really engaging due to the narrative beats and twists. I will explain more when I go over the characters, since it is their involvement that benefits this story. I also love how the robots are presented, whether it's how they get integrated into society or how the antagonist plans to use them. The movie also contains a heavy amount of dialogue, some of which is character-building, though most is exposition. This is an issue for those who expected a lot more action, which there is, though the film focuses much more on the mystery, themes and characters.
It's impossible for Will Smith to ever do a bad job when he is onscreen, though his role as Detective Spooner is one of his weaker performances. Smith is doing a fine job, but I felt that another actor could have done a better job, similar to his performance in "Gemini Man". Despite this, there is still some charisma and one-liners that only Smith can deliver with style. I also would have liked if Spooner was all into vintage lifestyle in order to show a more physical resistance towards this new world of the future, which is done half and half in the film (Spooner wears Converse, owns a gas-powered bike, and owns an old music player, yet has a futuristic gun and car throughout the runtime). Dr. Susan Calvin, who is played by Bridget Moynahan, is a really forgettable character who while does important things in the story, comes across as stiff and boring like she herself is a robot. Alan Tudyk voices and motion-captures Sonny, the new NS-5 model, who is programmed with free-will emotions by his creator. Although he doesn't appear in the film as much as you'd expect, he manages to steal the show with some great scenes of character moments as well as him created to be a Chirst-esque figure for the robot population. Lastly, there is the twist villain, VIKI, an advanced AI who plans to control the NS-5 models and monitor the human population in order to ensure mankind's survival in the long run using a complicated loophole, while also dispatching older NS models due to being programmed to protect humans. It's a great plan and revelation, though VIKI should have been integrated much more in the film in order for the twist to truly pay off. Side characters include Lawrence Robinson, the shady CEO of U.S. Robotics, Dr. Alfred Lanning, the deceased creator of Sonny and Lt. John Bergin, Spooner's superior that has an awesome action moment during the climax. The cast isn't the strongest, but Spooner, Sonny, as well as VIKI's role in the climax really adds some depth, even if they could have been a tad improved.
Alex Proyas presents both his best and worst qualities as a director with this film being the most evident. In terms of his filmmaking, he generally made a in-depth future and setting. It might not be that accurate in today's standards, but it is a concrete vision from how the robots are used, the cityscape, and the technology, which is also in thanks to the cinematography that captures this living, breathing world. Proyas uses some nice lighting and colour hue in the more futuristic settings and interiors, while being more grounded and natural in the more realistic interiors and cityscape. These qualities align to those of the director's earlier work, "The Crow". Marco Belmati also offers an energizing score that fits well for the sci-fi flick. The main issue that Proyas did though was to overuse CGI. It's weird to say that the effects are that bad, since they were nominated for an Academy Award, but the issue is that if you use too much CGI in a live-action film, it becomes very fake-looking and almost lazy, which resembles the director's latest film, "Gods of Egypt". An example is that all of the robots are CGI. While Sonny requires motion-capture to read Tudyk's facial expression, the older models could have easily been made physically. It also doesn't help when the action sequences feel a bit like a video game with the use of CGI. While there are some cool moments, the actors are clearly in a green screen pretending to fight robots. The scene where Spooner escapes from a mansion being destroyed is so fake due to Smith being artificially thrown or launched around the set. The action sequences also had a lack of potential to them. A good example is when a mob of humans try fighting the army of NS-5's. What could be an awesome scene gets really downplayed in the grand climax, which is really disappointing. So, Proyas did a fine job overall, but he needed to really not overexploit CGI in these type of films, since they tend to age poorly as time goes on, similar to the "Star Wars" prequels.
"I, Robot" is a peculiar film. On the one hand, one can see it as a pretty bad film due to the overuse and quality of the CGI, the story being rather familiar, the action sequences being uninspired, and the majority of the cast being forgettable. On the other hand though, there are some really good things in the film. The story in general brings up some interesting concepts and themes, Spooner is a decent character to which Smith plays well enough, Sonny as a whole is a great inclusion despite his limited screen-time, VIKI's ideology, the world-building, visual flair, cinematography, and soundtrack. It's a film where I can completely understand why one would either love or hate it. For me, I think it's pretty good and worth a watch if you like Smith or futuristic sci-fi!
Verdict: 7/10. Good, but not great. Would like to see this remade with better CGI though.
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