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I, Robot

Movie I, Robot Director Alex Proyas Cast Will Smith, Bridget Moyanahan, James Cromwell

By Subhash K Jha

Rating: **1/2 The rather- complicated relationship between humans and machines has been the subject of many notable and irrelevant films. I, Robot achieves a sense of one-ness with the theme of cultural incompatibility seldom seen in the cinema. Will Smith who for some unknown reason, continues to be known as a comic actor in spite of his splendid turn as Mohammad Ali in the recent bio-pic, is here cast as a clichéd cop who has nothing but sneering contempt for robots who have become a part of the human civilization. This feverishly flaming flick about robots and other man-made creatures, is set in a future time. And boy, does the director enjoy the challenge of putting robots and humans within the same range of vision! Director Alex Proyas is no stranger to dark films about futuristic battles between familiar and alien forces. I, Robot is certainly more light-hearted and deliciously adventurous in tone than Proyas’ The Crow. Though the frames are suffused with the colours of doom there’s a sense of triumphant flamboyance to the storytelling. The original story by Isaac Asimov is fleshed out with a great deal of gusto, converting what’s otherwise a crowded but slight fiction into a designer-epic with terrific visual value. The film opens with the cop Del Spooner waking, eating and showering to what looks like a routine (fast burn-out) day…until he steps into the daylight… right into the face of a polite robot whom Smith pushes away without a preamble. It’s a clever beginning, and one that establishes both the futuristic flair of the narration and the cop’s aversion to robots. Yup, we’re hooked and ready to follow the plot into its darkest recesses in search of some give-as-good-as-get truths. Though the film’s weighty edges never translate into a sturdy centre, it makes for reasonably sinewy entertainer that throws in a warning message about the uneasy relationship between man and machine without toppling over under the weight of self-importance. Throughout the movie Proyas focusses on getting the visuals right. Simon Duggan’s cinematography is invigoratingly convincing. The way robots are shown mingling with the suburban commuters of Chicago is so casual as to appear cool. Great pains are taken over the futuristic blueprint. Unlike The Crow, Proyas here keeps the proceedings bright and bouncy. Where the film falters is in trying to make the Smith character cocky and profound. When he meets the hi-tech tycoon of the robot-manufacturing company of the first time and is politely offered a cup of coffee by the magnate, the cop says, “Is it free?”. Smith’s dialogues are so staccato, you wonder why he agreed to say them. Luckily for all those involved (audience included) I, Robot doesn’t depend on the spoken word to get its point across. Some of the human-robot interaction, with the robot Sunny (who has developed feelings he wasn’t meant to) milking the machine-made emotions with an udder-wordly intensity, after the plot cuts across the cop’s robot-phobia, is so charged with emotion, you almost begin to get a lump in your throat. In a film where machines literally take over the proceedings (the climax with hundreds of robots rampaging in Chicago would be funny were it not alarming) the humanbeings are expected to act casul hip and savvy. Will Smith does all of this, and even manages to hit a few notes beyond A and B in the sequence where he tells the girl why he hates the girl. Ah, the girl! What would our movies be without a romantic interest? Bridget Moynahen (wasn’t she Colin Farrel’s pet cuddle in The Recruit?) as The Girl doesn’t get to do any smoochie-smoochie scenes with Smith. She wears the expression of grimace like an expensive face-pack. Maybe self-important women who help create robots in Chicago in the year 2035 loook like her? Though the action sequences are exceptionally good the lighter moments don’t exude the air of nonchalant chic. Will Smith’s grandmother’s character is one sidelight that lights up the edges of the topheavy plot. It’s providential that I, Robot doesn’t topple over with the residue of sci-fi synergy. Though parts of it are unintelligible to the layperson the film can be enjoyed on a purely fun-and-games level. You don’t need to be clued in to enjoy Will Smith’s efforts to grapple with his machine-age prejudices. Just take it easy.