Set in a future Earth (2035 A.D.) where robots are common assistants and workers for their human owners, this is the story of “robotophobic” Chicago Police Detective Del Spooner’s (Smith) investigation into the murder of Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), who works at U.S. Robotics, in which a robot, Sonny (Tudyk), appears to be implicated, even though that would mean the robot had violated the Three Laws of Robotics, which is apparently impossible. It seems impossible because.. if robots can break those laws, there’s nothing to stop them from taking over the world, as humans have grown to become completely dependent upon their robots. Or maybe… they already have? Aiding Spooner in his investigation is a psychologist, Dr. Susan Calvin (Moynahan), who specializes in the psyches of robots.
I’ve been meaning to watch this movie for a long time, I missed the cinema release as I was away in some mud-hut somewhere, so I picked up the DVD which I just managed to watch last night.
The movie is kind of based of Isaac Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics:
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 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.
The movie evolved around this, what makes humans what they are, and what divides robots?
What happens if robots evolve and decide these laws aren’t the best thing for humans? It’s kinda matrix-esque in theme but not so extreme.
Will Smith was good as the ‘hero’, I’ve always liked him though ever since the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air days (Man I loved that series big time!).
The special effects were nice, especially Sonny, the ‘unique’ robot, the action scenes were pretty good and a decent story with a decent twist.
The screenplay for this movie was actually written in 1978, a joint effort of Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison.
Definately worth watching, whichever way I look at it.
I give it a solid 7.5 out of 10
I watched the movie right after reading the book. I think the movie did reasonable justice as the next logical short story in the iRobot series. However, Susan Calvin should have been really really old by then.
if i didnt fall asleep watching it the 2nd time, it must be good!
Nice movie.. and yeah Bridget Moynahan too 😉
The book talked a lot about conflicts and the movie goes against the concept of the book. Even though the robots wanted to control humans to protect them, they could never have harmed anybody while doing it. That causes a conflict which is mentioned a lot in the book…..making the robots go crazy and malfunction.
It depends, if you love the book and truly understand the concept of the book, you’ll hate the movie. If you just want to enjoy an action packed, special effects hollywood style big budget stuff, it’s actually above average.
I love the book, I love Isaac Asimov (but I haven’t read return of the black widowers), so i think this movie pretty much suck donkey balls :p
I guess it’s just not my kinda movie.
I agree with you to a point, but sometimes you have to detach the movies from books, especially in cases like this, when the movie isn’t intending to directly represent the book.
If we compared books and movies directly, the movies would always come out sucking sweaty donkey balls.
fun to watch. come lend me the CD!
I didn’t realise Asimov worked on the screenplay. Nice to learn that, as I haven’t seen the movie. All other Asimov fans I know told me to avoid it … not that I was going to – I generally try to get around to watching most Sci Fi no matter how bad it sucks.
SF never translates too well into Sci Fi without modifications, so doesn’t surprise me it has little resemblance to the books.
I’ll look for it next time I’m at the Video store.
“When machine begins to feel, who is to decide what is human?” – tagline of GITS2.
Yes, my usual stupid commentary. LOL
Yeah it’s a good movie. Behold the power of the robotic engineer!
Is that Sonny one creepy mother or what?