I, Robot (2004) Dir: Alex Proyas
- Ridley Coote
- Jul 5
- 3 min read
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I, human, have seen this Alex Proyas directed science fiction film a few times over the years, but not for at least six or seven. It is based on Isaac Asimov's classic collection of science fiction short stories from 1950, though done-so with a contemporary twist. I can remember really enjoying it as a teenager, but my tastes have, inevitably, changed a lot, and my knowledge base has broadened. As such, I felt it was more than worthwhile to rewatch this film.
It's safe to say that the film has some steadily aging CGI. It doesn't look great in comparison to some of today's films, but it's certainly no worse than other more contemporary blockbusters; 'cough-cough' Marvel. I digress, whilst it was abundantly clear that a great deal of the film was constructed with green screens, I still found it adequate enough from a visual perspective.
I had mixed feelings, in regards to the narrative. Something told me that this wasn't a totally loyal adaptation, although I have not yet read Asimov's work to have a fully informed opinion on the matter. I liked the broad strokes of the plot, as well as the general themes addressed within it, but I found elements of its execution to be rather sloppy, if I'm honest.
The story had twists and turns, but they all felt very predictable. With that said, I'm willing to put an asterisk next to that point, in that, my vague recollections of the film will no doubt have at least partially informed that. Even in spite of this, however, I felt that the script was not particularly well-written. It very much felt as though it was over-simplifying, or even dumming down, a lot of the narrative details for the audience.
Will Smith provided exactly the kind of performance that Will Smith has been providing on a virtually constant basis since the 90's. That being, of course, Will Smith, but with an extra flair or personality trait to make it go down easier or relate him to the plot a little more. For the time, and for what he does, Smith is a decent enough actor, but the problem I found was that he just didn't translate well into the kind of story this was.
Alan Tudyk's voice acting has always been very good, and he has done voice work for all manner of people and beings over the course of his underrated career. This is one of those performances that perhaps goes a little under the radar for Tudyk. He is, however, very good in the role. He has the robotic intonations down to a point, but succeeds in adding more personality to it, which made him stand out that little bit more.
Bridget Moynahan's key supporting performance was pretty disappointing and awkward, in truth. It definitely did not help her that her character was written to be as bland and dull as white paint, but I wasn't exactly enthused by her acting either. It made sense to me very quickly why she was the element of the film I remembered the least about - her character was extremely forgettable, despite having a fair chunk of screentime.
The supporting cast had a couple of talented names, in James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood - both of which provided fairly solid performances, albeit neither of them blew me away, per-se. They were the most notable supporting cast members, with the only other being, for some reason, Shia Labeouf, who played the same-old annoying and arrogant character he would make a name from for the next decade.
Overall, I think I was a little letdown by this most recent viewing. The film had its moments, and it wasn't devoid of some cool sci-fi entertainment, but it was a far-cry from what I was hoping for. It actually makes me hope for some sort of remake in the future - something that very rarely happens for me. Whether that happens or not is uncertain, but what is certain is that this wasn't as good as I remembered - not by some distance.
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