Will Smith should be covered. He's been to the past ("Ali"), and alternate present day ("Men in Black"), did an animated film ("Shark Tale"), went to a futuristic past ("Wild Wild West"), and now he's made his way into the future. "I, Robot" is a typical summer blockbuster, filled with all sorts of fancy effects and one-liners. It's entertaining compared to other films of the same vein, just not one that's very insightful even though it could (make that should) be.
In the not too far future, robots have become commonplace. They perform basic tasks to aid people while living by the three rules of robotics, which basically forbids them from ever harming a human. Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is not too fond of the change in technology and soon believes a robot has committed murder. Rejected by his squad mates, he now must try and figure out exactly what happened to the founding father of robotics, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) and if a robot named Sonny killed him.
Though it's based on some thoroughly interesting theories by Isaac Asimov, "I, Robot" is as brain dead as summer blockbusters get. It doesn't really do anything particularly interesting with the subject except offer up tons of action and a dry mystery. Basically, it creates a lot of fun without requiring any deep thought.
At the top of everything are the special effects. Not surprisingly, there's massive use of CGI and it's actually quite good. Everything is clean and sharp without that fuzzy quality that you can usually spot. It makes the action sequences, no matter how ridiculous they get, exciting and energetic.
Will Smith is always a great choice regardless of what role you're tossing at him. He's charismatic and always entertaining. Here he develops a small character with a back-story solid enough to get through the movie. The obligatory love interest is played by Bridget Moynahan, a woman deeply rooted in the development of this new line of robots. Her performance is fine; her lines are not. You have to cringe when she explains some of the science early on.
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Article comments
1 - Matt Paprocki
As I expected, the movie IS going to get the 2-disc treatment. IGN article can be found here:
http://dvd.ign.com/articles/590/590720p1.html