Last night I watched
I, Robot, starring Will Smith and directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City)
My initial belief of the movie was that it was loosley based on Asimov's "The Caves Of Steel" but had radically departed from the story. I mean, it had a detective, a murder, and robots. I was pleasently surprised that the movie did not take from the book, but rather was a new story of it's own, but in a style closer to the Robot short stories involving Sulsan Clavin, Donovan and Powell, and the rest of US Robotics. Especially with Powell and Donvan, the stories involved the Three Laws, and what happens when circumstances strike up against the Three Laws and lead to unintended consequences.
Overall, I really liked it. I mean, Will Smith is Will Smith and if you can handle Will Smith in Independence Day or Men In Black, then it works here. The special effects were very well done and, as an Asimov fan, I was most pleased with two aspects a) They started with the Three Laws and showed where they could go wrong and b) they actually tried to delve into the philosphy around self-existance and self-awareness and sentience. It's mostly an action/adventure movie so they don't delve too deeply, but it's better than most recent sci-fi fair. I think they did a good job of honoring the spirit of Asimov's work, dressed up in a sfx, action movie.
On the downside, one aspect of Asimov's work was that there was no real 'bad guy', in the conflicts, and for awhile it looked like Robertson was going to be the bad guy and that had me irritated. Although he was exonerated, posthomously, he still came across as a jerk. And like many movies, a little communication would've covered a lot ground. Per example, I have a hard time believing that Spooner's interview with Sonny was not being recorded, much less observed, and just showing the tapes or the dented tabled to Calvin and Robertson would've made a *big* difference. A cup of coffee and a few hours to compare notes and lay it out on the table between Spooner and Calvin I think would've solved a lot of problems; Spooner had some hard-evidence that something was wrong and he could've been a little less "Will Smith" and a little bit more "police detective"
