Stream I, Robot Online
Monday, June 21st, 2010
Those who grew up, as I did, with Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, and the rest of the SF grandmasters as their constant companions may gain this movie too action-oriented, with too minute emphasis on ideas, with not enough ratiocination to define having Asimov’s name associated with it. But at the same time, I found this movie to be quite enthralling, in places visually comely, and, while not following the format or record line of any of the current stories contained in the book I, Robot, does hew fairly closely to the larger fable line about robots that Asimov eventually developed in multiple related books.
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The novel book was based upon the then (1940) unheard of notion that robots, rather than being creatures prone to accelerate amuck and raze their creators, would be constructed with built-in laws that would not only gain them sterling, but a enormous boon to all humanity. The stories were careful microscopic logic mysteries, dealing with the potential problems that can occur when there are conflicts between the governing three laws, the residence, and commands given the robot.
Will Smith plays a detective here, one who does not trust robots, who is tremulous there is something decidedly spoiled about these grand and nearly ubiquitous machines which are driven only by logic, without any impress of emotion to leaven their choices. Clearly this places him on the sinister side of general (and his commanding Lieutenant’s) thought. But nevertheless he is called upon to investigate the apparent suicide of Dr. Lanning, co-founder and chief scientist of USR (Asimov’s name was U. S. Robotics, but that has since been customary by a valid company) . Susan Calvin (played by Bridget Moynahan), the company robo-psychologist, is assigned to back him with his investigation. Early suspicion falls on Sonny, a prototype NS5 robot, as possibly having something to do with Dr. Lanning’s death.
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The legend line through this early piece of the movie is decidedly Asimovian in nature, leading me to beget that it really would follow the type of tale construction contained in the new book. But later sections of the movie occupy it far beyond the problems of one robot, and into the realm of management of human society for a greater reliable, a theme that Asimov did tackle in later stories. It’s almost as if this movie crammed about six different Asimov stories into this one, with a decidedly uneasy result: fragment action, allotment mystery, portion character peek, piece utopian/dystopian world image, but none fully developed.
Will is OK in this fraction, although there are a couple of places where his actions are decidedly wonderful (pin-point accuracy shooting two revolvers from a motorcycle that has fair bounced into the air? ), and there are a couple of times when he doesn’t seem to be totally comfortable in the detective role. The portrayed character of Dr. Calvin, though, came as a shock, as the depiction by Ms. Moynahan here is almost the antithesis of Asimov’s Calvin. For those who have never read Asimov, her portrayal is pleasurable, with unprejudiced enough mixture of clinical logic and overboard emotionality to be fairly convincing - but the clash with my mental characterize of Calvin as dry, unemotional, and not conventionally ravishing made it difficult for me to truly evaluate this performance. James Cromwell as Dr. Lanning was almost perfect, though a very diminutive role. Sonny the robot is played (or at least voiced) beautifully by Alan Tudyk, and the CGI work here is genuine - in many ways this character steals the exhibit.
A mixed bag: better than average visuals, some decent acting, even a state line that at least understands the recent book material (no determined thing when it comes to Hollywood thought accurate science fiction) ; but a lack of cohesiveness, action for action’s sake, and some ideas not fully developed. Better than the normal Hollywood attempt at adapting an SF classic, suitable for a couple hours of entertainment, but not a grand movie.
— Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
My first reaction as this film began was “Wait! This isn’t Asimov.” The Asimov I grew up reading was a weaver of ideas, more mind candy than adventure record. But here I found myself in Will Smith’s bedroom, and then suddenly catapulted into a wild dawdle after a purse grabbing robot. A far roar from the delicacy weak by Asimov. It took a while for the shock to wear off but eventually the conflict between Smith’s gritty performance as Del Spooner and his fresh inspiration in the reminiscences of Dr. Susan Calvin (played by Bridget Moynahan) wears off and the understanding settles into a film that is inspired by Asimov, but does not imitate him.
The sooner that happens, the better, because this is an exceptional film in its bear true, even if it does travel with the hasten of a video game. Smith creates a wisecracking character with a deep mistrust of robots. He is called in to to investigate what appears to be an impossible killing - robots can’t raze humans, it’s the first law of robotics. But Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) lies wearisome and the only suspect is ‘Sonny’ a Series 5 robot with some surprising circuitry (played by Alan Tudyk) .
The death is declared a suicide, but Spooner refuses to give in. suddenly the automated world turns on the detective, whose unlikely ally is Dr. Calvin, a robopsychologist responsible for the psyches of masses of robots about to be distributed around the planet. One hair-raising elope after another propels the memoir along until viewers catch themselves at a surprisingly reflective conclusion. Not exactly classical Asimov, but a vast narrative nonetheless.
Will does a noble job as Spooner, but he is upstaged by Moynihan’s performance. And both are blown away by Tudyk and the animators performance as Sonny. As you inspect Sonny build from being slightly more simpatico than the scenery into a full-blown personality there are countless moments of surprise. Moynihan and Smith do their best, but from the moment Sonny turns to Spooner and says “Thank you… you said someone not something.” The film belongs to the robots.
Excellent animation and CGI beget a world that is a retro version of the future - perhaps exactly what Asimov imagined rather than what we would now. The result is a compelling mix of the outré and the mundane that sticks in the mind objective as Sonny’s wink does.
This is not unprejudiced an action film. Threaded through it are the same questions that Asimov raised about the nature of self and intelligence. Robots may never be human, but there are far more than furniture. And if their understanding processes are alien, they are more than the sum of their programming. The result is one of the more carefully notion out science fiction films in unusual times.
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