1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robots fetch things when needed, they do the hard work at home such as cooking the meals and cleaning the homes.  Who would not like to have a robot, which would do the laundry and shopping while the owner could go about doing what they enjoy the most?  The freed up time would hopefully also lead to people searching for a greater meaning in their existence as they hopefully would not become more sedentary and cerebrally lazy.

There is one person, homicide detective Del Spooner (Will Smith), who wants nothing from robots as he takes pleasure in retro clothing as he wears throwback Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars and loves to turn up his stereo's volume loud, by himself, with a remote control.  Spooner's dislike for robots seems to stem from a recurring nightmare where a robot smashes in the car window and leads to him waking up drenched in sweat.  His dislike for robots borders prejudice as he wishes nothing from them as he only sees them as a threat to humanity.

At work Spooner's coworkers make fun of him and his distrust of robots as everyone is fully aware of the three laws of robotics.  Robots simply do not harm people as they never have or will.  However, the rules of robotics seems to have been broken when Spooner receives a personal phone call in regards to a suicide of the engineering genius, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell).  There is one robot, Sunny (Alan Tudyk), who displays feelings such as anger and confusion.  Sonny even admits that he has dreams, and he could even have been capable of murdering Dr. Lanning.

The investigation of Dr. Lanning's proclaimed suicide leads Spooner into a mesh of conspiracy theories as someone seems to be plotting to kill him as well.  Spooner realizes that he cannot do it all himself as he seeks help from an employee, Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), of the U.S. Robotics who is specialized in psychology as she tries to make the robots more human like.  Together Spooner and Calvin set out to find out who is behind the so called suicide, but they seem to have stumbled upon something much bigger than they expected.

I, Robot is based on Isaac Asimov's stories where the robot-psychologist Susan Calvin is the main character in most of the stories.  The film is loosely adapted from the stories, unfortunately film does not deliver the same level of complexity as the stories.  The film should have given Asimov more credit than what it did as Asimov was not just a writer, but also a futuristic philosopher who created the three laws of robotics as he was tired of reading about evil robots.  Nonetheless, the film addresses several interesting notions such as Descartes' "I think, Therefore I am", the philosophical and psychological aspect of consciousness, and evolutionary philosophy.

Alex Proyas has previously displayed his cunning skills in creating a haunting futuristic atmosphere in Dark City (1998), which is a brilliant cinematic experience.  In I, Robot Proyas brings current Chicago into a futuristic landscape where the audience still can see the Sears Tower and the Hancock Building.  However, the tallest building in the film belongs to U.S. Robotics, which is located somewhere between the two older skyscrapers.  The Chicago touch brings the film closer to the audience as the can identify with the story, especially if you live in the Chicago.  For example, the West Loop area seems to have gone through a great change, which is currently underway as well.

I, Robot is a breathtaking action adventure placed in the future where deep conspiracies brew underneath the surface.   The story line interchanges between dangerous stunts, cool CGI effects, entertaining one-liners, and lethal car chases while being subjected to a science fictionalized philosophy.  However, the notions presented in the film have already been presented through HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), Ash (Alien), and Red Queen (Resident Evil) to name a few.  Regrettably, the use of similar themes hurts the overall cinematic experience, and if the film had remained true to Asimow it might have been a brilliant film.  Nonetheless, I, Robot offers a truly excellent cinematic experience, which offers a little for everyone.

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USA

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