Forget the hype. Alex Proyas' I, Robot is just another sci-fi popcorn flick.
Despite the glossy computer graphics and the fact that it stars the charismatic Will Smith, the film falls flat.
The story is based on Issac Asimov's book of the same name. By 2035, robots form a crucial component of cosmopolitan cities like Chicago. While most humans trust the robots, who work as servants, cop Del Spooner (Smith) holds a different view.
Spooner is sent to investigate the death of Dr Lanning (James Cromwell), the inventor of modern robots. While the death is thought to be a suicide, Spooner believes that robots are involved, and he discovers that one of them named Sunny is different from the rest of his kind.
Though I, Robot topped the box office when it opened in the United States, it's nothing special. Even the design of the robots is not new. They look like they have walked out of a Bjork video. And the computer-generated landscape of a futuristic Chicago holds no surprises. Smith is a competent actor, and Proyas tries hard to divert our attention from the graphics to the supposedly gripping mystery, but it doesn't save I, Robot from being the kind of film that will be forgotten tomorrow.
