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[Oni Jazar]

I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

The humor was god awful; The girl looked like Sandra Bullock's stand in from Demolition Man; and Dr. Alfred Lanning has the longest hallway ever created.

Ironically the overall plot structure could be seen as faithful to Asimov's tales if you squint a bit.

 

[Azih]

"Asimov ulitmately viewed Robot stewardship of humanity (made inevitable by the Three Laws) as a positive thing..."

Er... not really. He portrayed it as fear inducing to the point of crippling civilization on one end (Earth), and stifling of the development of humankind on the other (spacers). Early in Asimov's career (the I, Robot stories) he portrayed robots as having a positive impact on society, on the scale of any other technological development (as opposed to the more traditional view that they will become violent and revolt). However, *ultimately* he saw the creation of a gaurdian race of highly intelligent robots as stifling and negative.

Well there I was talking specifically about the view of robots in "I, Robot", which was one of Asimov's earlier works. So y'know, we're both right.

 

[Prince of Space]

I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

The humor was god awful; The girl looked like Sandra Bullock's stand in from Demolition Man; and Dr. Alfred Lanning has the longest hallway ever created.

Ironically the overall plot structure could be seen as faithful to Asimov's tales if you squint a bit.

And here I was starting to think I was the only one...

 

[Gantz]

And here I was starting to think I was the only one...

Another one here too. I, Robot is going to be this year's ID4 unfortunately.

 

[Firest0rm]

It was definitely movie of the summer, and beats out Spider Man 2 imo.

 

[Iceman]

Complaints about the CGI are *&%# bull@&#. Those scenes were flawless.

Agreed.

 

[ManaByte]

The girl looked like Sandra Bullock's stand in from Demolition Man;

Get off the crack. Bridget Moynahan is hot.

 

[Prospero]

And here I was starting to think I was the only one...

I'm actually really surprised by the amount of unconditional love this movie is getting in this thread. Was it worth the price of a matinee ticket? Sure, I suppose, if it's hot outside and you want to sit in an air-conditioned theater for two hours. But is it the best film of the summer, or movie of the year? No. Is it as well-written or as visually original as Proyas's Dark City, or The Crow? No.

 

[Ghost]

I dont see any unconditional love, just people who take it for what it is, not strain to compare it to other films or bitch that it doesnt follow the book it was based on.

 

[Prospero]

When you call it the "movie of the year," as several people in this thread have, that implies that you're comparing it to the other films you've seen this calendar year.

I'm not arguing that people don't have the right to their own opinions--however, I'm still saying that I find the adoration of the movie in this thread to be surprising. It's really only the last 35 minutes or so of the movie that I found to be interesting.

 

[effzee]

I'm actually really surprised by the amount of unconditional love this movie is getting in this thread. Was it worth the price of a matinee ticket? Sure, I suppose, if it's hot outside and you want to sit in an air-conditioned theater for two hours. But is it the best film of the summer, or movie of the year? No. Is it as well-written or as visually original as Proyas's Dark City, or The Crow? No.

is it a good movie regardless? yes.


it doesnt have to be better than the crow or dark city.

 

[AssMan]

The movie was definately better than I expected. One of the best this year so far, and that kid from Even Steven's was hilarious!

I'm actually really surprised by the amount of unconditional love this movie is getting in this thread.

What do you expect when half the GAFs thought Dodgeball was hilarious.

 

[DMczaf]

The movie was definately better than I expected. One of the best this year so far, and that kid from Even Steven's was hilarious!

Hahah yeah

"Holy shit! She shot at you with her eyes closed!"

 

[Lord Error]

50% on Cream of the Crop / RottenTomatoes... I guess I'll just wait to rent it on a DVD or hunt down some really cheap showing.

 

[MIMIC]

Hahah yeah

"Holy shit! She shot at you with her eyes closed!"

It WORKED, didn't it?

 

[DMczaf]

That was fast.

 

[Prince of Space]

What gets me is people saying it's better than Spider-Man 2. WTF at least that movie had HUMAN interaction; the robots are more human in this movie than the actual people! And what's with all the pointless rambling dialog? Did a more-out-of-it-than-usual Woody Allen contribute here too? "How can you not have read Hansel and Gretel as a child?" "Is that really relevant right now?" NO!! And yet pointless exchanges like this litter the entire film! More proof that Akiva Goldsman should have his word processor privileges revoked.

Also, what's with the comparisons to Minority Report? That movie was a legitimately interesting crime drama that just so happened to take place in the future. I, Robot is the mother of all mysteries that weren't. Anyone with half a brain could tell who was "behind it all" in the first 5 minutes. By the time we get to "Alex Proyas time!", my interest had sunk so low, I couldn't care who came out on top (my money was on the robots - would've been more interesting). And if you'd told me Alex Proyas was the director before I saw the credits, I wouldn't've believed you - this is his Planet of the Apes.

Movie of the year? Only if it's the ONLY movie you see this year...

 

[AeroGod]

What gets me is people saying it's better than Spider-Man 2. WTF at least that movie had HUMAN interaction; the robots are more human in this movie than the actual people! And what's with all the pointless rambling dialog? Did a more-out-of-it-than-usual Woody Allen contribute here too? "How can you not have read Hansel and Gretel as a child?" "Is that really relevant right now?" NO!! And yet pointless exchanges like this litter the entire film! More proof that Akiva Goldsman should have his word processor privileges revoked.

Also, what's with the comparisons to Minority Report? That movie was a legitimately interesting crime drama that just so happened to take place in the future. I, Robot is the mother of all mysteries that weren't. Anyone with half a brain could tell who was "behind it all" in the first 5 minutes. By the time we get to "Alex Proyas time!", my interest had sunk so low, I couldn't care who came out on top (my money was on the robots - would've been more interesting). And if you'd told me Alex Proyas was the director before I saw the credits, I wouldn't've believed you - this is his Planet of the Apes.

Movie of the year? Only if it's the ONLY movie you see this year...

LOL. I, Robot made Spider-Man 2 look like Gigli with superheros.

Will Smith>>> Tobey McGuire>>>>>> YOU

 

[Pimpwerx]

JUST got back from seeing this movie. This is the movie of the year so far. Hands down, bar none. When the credits started rolling, I looked at my sister and said, "How good is the book if people are panning this movie?" Seriously, that book has to be the shiznite, b/c this movie is the bomb baby. Will Smith kicks ass. He plays the cliched wise-cracking cop as everyone says, but he's the comic relief for this movie. He adds a bit of levity to an otherwise sterile environment. I mean, we're talking about robots, so I'm glad they used Will's character as a bit of a foil. Not to mention, the laughs were geniuinely good, and well timed. Only a couple of times (with his mother) did I think it was a bit excessive. Otherwise, I laughed out loud on more than a few ocassions.

The action...sweet. And this isn't a movie that uses action just for the sake of it. I think it was quite appropriate. Good use of CG, good everything. I honestly cannot complain. I was disappointed the movie ended as soon as it did, b/c I was really enjoying it. Made me laugh, made mee think, made me happy I spent $4.50 to go to a matinee. I was scared when I read the reviews of this movie and saw it getting such low scores, but I'm glad I went to see it. I say it again, movie of the fucking year. I, Robot >>>> * (2004). PEACE.

 

[AeroGod]

JUST got back from seeing this movie. This is the movie of the year so far. Hands down, bar none. When the credits started rolling, I looked at my sister and said, "How good is the book if people are panning this movie?" Seriously, that book has to be the shiznite, b/c this movie is the bomb baby. Will Smith kicks ass. He plays the cliched wise-cracking cop as everyone says, but he's the comic relief for this movie. He adds a bit of levity to an otherwise sterile environment. I mean, we're talking about robots, so I'm glad they used Will's character as a bit of a foil. Not to mention, the laughs were geniuinely good, and well timed. Only a couple of times (with his mother) did I think it was a bit excessive. Otherwise, I laughed out loud on more than a few ocassions.

The action...sweet. And this isn't a movie that uses action just for the sake of it. I think it was quite appropriate. Good use of CG, good everything. I honestly cannot complain. I was disappointed the movie ended as soon as it did, b/c I was really enjoying it. Made me laugh, made mee think, made me happy I spent $4.50 to go to a matinee. I was scared when I read the reviews of this movie and saw it getting such low scores, but I'm glad I went to see it. I say it again, movie of the fucking year. I, Robot >>>> * (2004). PEACE.

This man is a smart.

 

[Dead]

I liked it a lot. Great action. some pretty bad dialogue though, you can tell akiva goldsman participated in it.


In the end its just a more pedestrian version of The Second Rennaisance from the Animatrix.

and the ending, well if a sequel is done, it will again be a complete ripoff from the second rennaisance

 

[Prince of Space]

I, Robot made Spider-Man 2 look like Gigli with superheros.

No.

 

[Dead]

The car chase was fuggin awesome. And the whole part on the catwalk at the end was supremely well done.

Also, the Score was excellent. Beltramis so far put out 2 damn good scores this year, Hellboy and this. Pretty surprising, hes gotten much better lately and getting better projects, all the luck to him.

 

[Matrix]

Good movie and better than I expected it to be.

Spoiler

I want my own robot arm

 

[Oni Jazar]

JUST got back from seeing this movie. This is the movie of the year so far. Hands down, bar none. When the credits started rolling, I looked at my sister and said, "How good is the book if people are panning this movie?" Seriously, that book has to be the shiznite, b/c this movie is the bomb baby. Will Smith kicks ass. He plays the cliched wise-cracking cop as everyone says, but he's the comic relief for this movie. He adds a bit of levity to an otherwise sterile environment. I mean, we're talking about robots, so I'm glad they used Will's character as a bit of a foil. Not to mention, the laughs were geniuinely good, and well timed. Only a couple of times (with his mother) did I think it was a bit excessive. Otherwise, I laughed out loud on more than a few ocassions.

The action...sweet. And this isn't a movie that uses action just for the sake of it. I think it was quite appropriate. Good use of CG, good everything. I honestly cannot complain. I was disappointed the movie ended as soon as it did, b/c I was really enjoying it. Made me laugh, made mee think, made me happy I spent $4.50 to go to a matinee. I was scared when I read the reviews of this movie and saw it getting such low scores, but I'm glad I went to see it. I say it again, movie of the fucking year. I, Robot >>>> * (2004). PEACE.

Oh boy.

Lets just say you wouldn't like the book.

 

[ManaByte]

I just got back from seeing it, and I must say the trailers completely marketed the movie wrong. It made it look like an all-out action movie with NOTHING to do with Asimov, but that's not it. The movie is filled with action, but the Asimov spirit is there giving it depth. The Three Laws of Robotics is the entire basis for how events in the movie play out.

Firstly, you CANNOT turn the Asimov Robot books into a movie and expect them to make any money. If you did a direct adaptation, they'd be amazing but bomb harder and faster than Solaris did (another excellent "old school" science fiction movie Fox did - they need to get Foundation running NOW since they have the rights).

What you CAN do, is take Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and apply them to a movie about robots. Hell, the Robot books were mostly short stories and personally I always viewed them as the "bible" as to how Robots should be handled in Sci-Fi. If a sci-fi Robot violated Asimov's Laws, then it always felt strange to me.

#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.

With that in mind, I think the movie turned out very well. If they did it as Hardwired, as it was before they applied the Asimov laws to it, I think it would've just been your standard crappy summer action movie with killer robots. Applying the Three Laws to the story is what makes it more than that.

 

[Phoenix]

Get off the crack. Bridget Moynahan is hot.

You picked a set of pictures which underlies the fact that she is NOT hot. Try again.

 

[Phoenix]

I'm actually really surprised by the amount of unconditional love this movie is getting in this thread. Was it worth the price of a matinee ticket? Sure, I suppose, if it's hot outside and you want to sit in an air-conditioned theater for two hours. But is it the best film of the summer, or movie of the year? No. Is it as well-written or as visually original as Proyas's Dark City, or The Crow? No.

Come on dude, people on GAF also thinks that Spiderman 2 is the best movie ever man.

Firstly, you CANNOT turn the Asimov Robot books into a movie and expect them to make any money. If you did a direct adaptation, they'd be amazing but bomb harder and faster than Solaris did (another excellent "old school" science fiction movie Fox did - they need to get Foundation running NOW since they have the rights).

Solaris bombed because it looked stupid and boring on its trailers and it WAS stupid and boring!

 

[Willco]

Come on dude, people on GAF also thinks that Spiderman 2 is the best movie ever man.

YOU GO TO HELL. YOU GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE.

 

[Phoenix]

YOU GO TO HELL. YOU GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE.

I knew that would draw you out

 

[Dead]

Solaris is pretty underrated.

 

[Willco]

I knew that would draw you out

What can I say? I love to lurk.

 

[AeroGod]

Solaris isnt as good of an example as Master and Commander is. A movie which(im guessing) remained faithful to a popular book series. What, 150 to make and another 30 or so to market and it made less then a 100 million in America. Sure, once you factor in things like overseas and DVD it probably made a bit of money but strictly speaking from a domestic standpoint. Also, add the fact that Master and Commander got pretty good reviews and had, what i thought, was a pretty misleading trailer that hooked the unaware into it. I'Robot also came out after Spider-Man 2, which IMO, was astupid ass move. They should have pushed back later in July or even August.

 

[maharg]

Firstly, you CANNOT turn the Asimov Robot books into a movie and expect them to make any money. If you did a direct adaptation, they'd be amazing but bomb harder and faster than Solaris did (another excellent "old school" science fiction movie Fox did - they need to get Foundation running NOW since they have the rights).

Easy answer, don't do it. It's not like Asimov is the pull that's making people go see this. The people who know wtf I, Robot actually is are mostly too pissed to go see it. Asimov has no mainstream pull. This ain't Lord of the Rings, best selling novel in history.

What you CAN do, is take Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and apply them to a movie about robots. Hell, the Robot books were mostly short stories and personally I always viewed them as the "bible" as to how Robots should be handled in Sci-Fi. If a sci-fi Robot violated Asimov's Laws, then it always felt strange to me.

There is the one book of short stories, "I, Robot" and then there are 5 or 6 detective novels set in the same universe, along with the 2 crossover Foundation novels.

Anyway, if the opinion remains overwhelmingly positive, I'll go see it once the box office numbers die down.

 

[Matrix]

You picked a set of pictures which underlies the fact that she is NOT hot. Try again.

HOT!

 

[Iceman]

Spoiler

I want my own robot arm

TRUTH!

Were there any hints earlier in the movie about this btw? before the tunnel war?

 

[AeroGod]

TRUTH!

Were there any hints earlier in the movie about this btw? before the tunnel war?

Yes.

Spoiler

When he is talking to his grandmother and he tells her about the doctor who died she said something about "he gave her her baby back", which means the cybernetic surgery saved his life.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Why are people judging this movie based on the book? It seems to have been established that this movie doesn't match the book in many ways, but I don't think that means jack. I notice most of the great reviews of this movie are from people like me who know jack about the book. I didn't know this was titled after a Asimov book until today. I've read two of his books (titles escape me) and know he's an awesome sci-fi author. But this movie nothing matching the book says nothing of its quality. Quite frankly, I agree with a previous poster who said a direct adaptation would probably be sterile. Asimov's writing style doesn't lend itself well to movies IMO. Most of the great sci-fi books are fairly worthless with direct conversions. The science-fantasy ones are the ones that make good movies. Good sci-fi, IMO, is more interesting for its science and future worlds.

I think the movie should be judged on its merits as a movie. Don't pass on this movie just b/c it's not faithful to the book. It's a hell of a good movie, and blends sci-fi and action better than any sci-fi movie I've seen in many moons. I was skeptical of this film from the the trailers. I watched the Japanese one and it gave me much more faith, although the whole premise didn't quite excite me even then. And I've developed a bit of a dislike for Will Smith since Bagger Vance and WWW. Bad Boys 2 was awesome, but that's a different kind of role. This movie gave me faith in his ability to be a Summer draw. It seems to be love/hate with Will Smith. If you liked him in ID4, MIB and Bad Boys, you'll like him in I, Robot. I think this one saved his ass. I think he was another crappy movie away from being irrelevant. PEACE.

P.S. AvP, a movie I've been anticipating for a fucking decade, looks like it's gonna suck from that trailer. I am so underwhelmed.

P.P.S. I was wondering about that scar too. There were a number of different things the movie kept you wondering about until later in the movie. I liked the way it all came together later.

 

[Malleymal]

dont care about all the quarrels on the board about this movie... I liked it, thats it, end of story.... I am glad I didnt come into this thread before I saw it

 

[maharg]

Why are people judging this movie based on the book?

Maybe, if you read the thread, you might find some rationale that has nothing to do with quality. OMG.

 

[Supasso]

I like it. The only thing that is wrong about the movie is its trailer.

 

[Schmo Florez]

I'm tired of people comparing books with their movies. You know what I like about the movie...NO READING!

 

[maharg]

Wow, yeah it sure is obvious you don't read. Otherwise you'd have GOTTEN THE POINT.

 

[Prospero]

Why are people judging this movie based on the book?

I think the problem that people who've read the book probably have with the movie is that the movie doesn't have anything to do with the book whatsoever except for the title.

To put it a different way--David Lynch's Dune is unfaithful to the book, and Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is unfaithful to the book to the point of making fun of it, but at least those movies at least had plots that were remotely similar to things that happen in the books. (Even though those movies are unfaithful, I'd defend them both against all comers, by the way--I even prefer Lynch's Dune to the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, which is faithful to the book, but boring as hell for the first four hours).

If you go through Asimov's canon looking for the story that I, Robot is based on, however, you won't find it. It's pretty clear that the producers has a fairly generic SF screenplay that they wanted to make into a film, and that they stapled the Asimov license onto it after the fact. But the film doesn't really have anything to gain from the license--the only things in the movie that come straight from Asimov, other than the names of a couple of characters, are the Three Laws of Robotics, and those have been co-opted by so many other science-fiction books, films, and TV shows over so many years that they're practically in the public domain--ST: TNG, for example, took it for granted that you already know the Laws of Robotics when they started to develop Data's character.

So it's not like the producers took an Asimov story and sexed it up with fight sequences and Will Smith (which I could conceivably be fine with), but more the reverse--they're taking a film with fight sequences and Will Smith, and trying to give it additional SF-fan legitimacy by taking a license onto it that it can't support. It doesn't make any sense for them to use Asimov's name on the film, when they could have just called it "Hardwired" (wasn't that the name of the original screenplay?) and gotten just as many Will Smith and summer-movie fans in seats. As maharg said, "Asimov has no mainstream pull." In the summer-movie marketplace, how much is cred with hardcore Golden Age SF fans worth? Not much. So why spend the money on the license in a transparent attempt to draw those fans in, when they probably would have gone anyway?

 

[AndreasNystrom]

i thought the CG was really awfull. sorry =(

 

[Oni Jazar]

i thought the CG was really awfull. sorry =(

Dont be sorry. There's too much hater hating going on in this thread.

 

[Bob White]

Fuck talking about the book and the movie.

Talk more about SONNY and his ass kicking nature.

 

[DJ Demon J]

To put it a different way--David Lynch's Dune is unfaithful to the book, and Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is unfaithful to the book to the point of making fun of it, but at least those movies at least had plots that were remotely similar to things that happen in the books. (Even though those movies are unfaithful, I'd defend them both against all comers, by the way--I even prefer Lynch's Dune to the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, which is faithful to the book, but boring as hell for the first four hours).

WTF?!

SCI-FI CHANNEL DUNE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DAVID LYNCH DUNE


Saw I, Robot on Saturday, was very impressed. I was not expecting much more than an ID4-style explosion festival. Turned out to be much more cerebral (for an action movie) than I thought it would be. Very low cheesy dialogue factor. Overall very smooth, well done movie. Not the best movie of the year but definitely worth seeing. Also, really perfect sci-fi scene in the end, something every sci-fi fan has probably dreamed of (and probably pictured in one of Asimov's books).

 

[Razoric]

I thought I,Robot kicked ass. Can't anyone just enjoy a good summer action flick anymore?

 

[tedtropy]

I, Robot was a very pleasant surprise for me. Wil Smith was thankfully pretty restrained and I enjoyed the story. I thought the CG was a little questionable in some spots, particularly as Wil's character is walking amongst the warehouse full of robots, but it honestly didn't detract from my positive opinion of the movie.