I didn’t see this film when it first came out because, well, it looked silly. Just from the previews I could gather that somehow robots start committing crimes…Will Smith is some sort of cop…and I could easily predict a “happy” ending with the triumph of humans over machines and the restoration of law and order. But recently I saw “I Am Legend,” in which Will Smith is the last human left in New York City, strangely immune to some virus that has turned everyone else into flesh-eating monsters, and I realized that, predictable ending or not, a Will Smith film is like pizza—even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.
This film starts out with the requisite shots of Will Smith working out. Is this in his contract or something? We quickly learn that in the year 2035 Converse All-Stars are considered collector’s items (I hate annoying product placement) and that Smith’s character, Spooner, doesn’t like robots. He suspects one of snatching a woman’s purse when it was actually running to return the purse to her; his suspicion is ridiculed because the very idea of robots committing crimes is ludicrous.
Or is it? The premise is that each robot is programmed to follow Three Laws: 1) not to harm humans or by inaction allow them to be harmed, 2) they must obey humans unless the human orders violate law #1, and 3) they must protect their own existence unless doing so violates #1 or #2. When it becomes clear that a new generation of robots is able to disobey the Three Laws, Spooner has to figure out how, and why. The answer is surprising, in that it logically makes sense, and it’s almost not a bad idea…
I, Robot (2004)
DVD Date of Release: December 2004