I don't intend to make a habit of doing the "armchair movie critic" thing, but since I, Robot has a strong focus on technology (AI, specifically) and I had the oppurtunity to see it on opening day, I thought it might make for an interesting post. No spoilers here, this is a "safe" post.
I, Robot begins and never lets you go. For a two hour movie, it has a brisk pace taking you to the end before you think that much time could possibly have gone by. Will Smith does an excellent job playing himself, much like in many (but not all) of his previous roles. Bridget Moynahan plays Susan Calvin, a long-anticipated believable female scientist who can be a nerd, but still be convincingly feminine (nothing sexist intended here). The character who really steals the show, though, is Sonny, the robot.
From the beginning, you know that Sonny isn't like the other robots, that his creator, Dr. Lanning, meant for him to be different. The joy in the movie is unraveling how Sonny is different and, more importantly, why Sonny is different (which has a lot to do with Dr. Lanning, much like a child takes after his parents). Like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, Sonny is believable and rich in backstory that surfaces only in pieces.
I, Robot, provides a solid story but leaves you free to investigate the subtleties of not only the plot, but also each major character. Even after the movie ends, your mind still works to shine light in every nook and cranny of the story. It's the kind of movie you could go see again just to find the foreshadowing that you didn't see the first time around, to pick up on the utterances that didn't mean anything, and to analyze each character from the perspective of knowing where they "end up." Luckily, nobody really ends up anywhere--life is a journey, not a destination--even if you're a robot.
What role robots will play in my journey or your journey is unknown, but I, Robot provides one possible reality that feeds off not only Isaac Asimov's rules for robots, but also humanities own hypocrisy and endless warring. We all should remember the danger of machines is that they have only logic, and while logic may be undeniable, logic is overridable (think about that for a minute). Mr. Smith (the Matrix) called love "insipid," but he's sadly mistaken. Only a robot could mistake life for something insipid. Whether real future robots view humans as insipid is completely up to us, not by necessarily how we create and program the robots, but how they observe us living. Like a child.
Bottom line: see the movie. It's as much about you and me as it is about the robots.
I will go to see it, it will be in theaters 26th july in france
I hopefully will see it sometime soon, this post makes me want to see it even more now. I had been deciding on either "I, Robot" or "Terminal" (which I also hear is good) for a movie to go to on thursday night.
Rather different genres. I saw The Terminal a few weeks ago, and while it had some good moments, I felt it got a little long in the tooth. It's clever to see how Victor entertains himself for all that time in an airport terminal, though. I'd recommend I, Robot over The Terminal, but you may want to make the decision based on who else is going with you and what kind of movie they would enjoy. Both are good enough that you won't feel it was a waste of money to see either. :)