I, Robot

Posted on Paul Katz's Place for Entertainment
13 August 2004

IN SUM: It is entertaining to see an African-American action hero without the spectacular bulk of Snipes, Diesel, and The Rock, and even more promising to finally see an African-American hero in a not-so-distant-future sci-fi setting.

ALONG with the otherwise splendid independent film Russian Arc, I, Robot is the least suspenseful movie that I have seen this year. The other recent robot-with-humane-sensibility movie Terminator III works better with the same, sinister premise of Machine dressed as Man and the similar, frightful attack of robots in the end. Those surprises fail in I, Robot: you always know what is happening next. After the tunnel chase scene somewhere in the middle of I, Robot, I already knew how the movie would end.

Will Smith is good, though. Funny and good. His Converse 2004 sneakers and washboard abs are on constant display—so constant, in fact, that they seem to be making a world premiere performance on the big screen. Nevertheless, it is entertaining to see an African-American action hero without the spectacular bulk of Snipes, Diesel, and The Rock, and even more promising to finally see an African-American hero in a not-so-distant-future sci-fi setting.

As for Bridget Moynahan, it is time she let go of those jaw-dropped, eyebrow-arched, oh-did-you-just-say-something mannerisms that she displayed in Sum of All Fears. Previously, they worked; now, they irritated. She makes her character, supposedly smart and incisive, look clueless and in a continuous state of surprise. On that thought, perhaps the mannerisms do work: I was in continuous state of surprise myself while watching her performance.

Urban Cinefile called the movie “the meanest, meatiest, coolest, most engaging and exciting science fiction movie in a long time”. I cannot find moments that warrant any of those hypertense adjectives in I, Robot. Unless I count Will Smith's Converse 2004 sneakers and washboard abs.