Opening

87% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
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—— Populaire May 17
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60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
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—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24

I, Robot (2004)

tomatometer

58

Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 194
Fresh: 113 | Rotten: 81

Bearing only the slightest resemblance to Isaac Asimov's short stories, I, Robot is a summer blockbuster that manages to make the audience think, if only for a little bit.

47

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 20

Bearing only the slightest resemblance to Isaac Asimov's short stories, I, Robot is a summer blockbuster that manages to make the audience think, if only for a little bit.

audience

73

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 912,137

My Rating

Movie Info

Director Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow) helmed this sci-fi thriller inspired by the stories in Isaac Asimov's nine-story anthology of the same name. In the future presented in the film, humans have become exceedingly dependent on robots in their everyday lives. Robots have become more and more advanced, but each one is preprogrammed to always obey humans and to, under no circumstances, ever harm a human. So, when a scientist turns up dead and a humanoid robot is the main suspect, the world is

Dec 14, 2004

$144.7M

20th Century Fox - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (203) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (84) | DVD (48)

For all its flaws, I, Robot is arresting to look at.

July 23, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By adeptly combining action and ideas, it proves that Hollywood can still produce astonishing entertainment.

July 20, 2004 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Strives to be so many things that it ultimately falls away to nothing, a heap of expensive metal parts.

July 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com
Salon.com
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Rather than a thoughtful adaptation of a venerated piece of sci-fi lit, we get a dumbed-down litany of deliberate clichés and digital white noise.

July 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
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... a slick, consistently entertaining thrill ride ...

July 19, 2004 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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For the most part, this is thrilling fun.

July 16, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Will Smith almost redeems generic man vs. machine actioner.

December 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Pretty to look at but there's not much under the hood in this Isaac Asimov-based futuristic murder mystery...

July 11, 2010 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comments (3)
ColeSmithey.com

It feels like an anonymous Hollywood studio film that overwhelmed the director with the demands to fashion a blockbuster vehicle for its star.

July 8, 2008 Full Review Source: ESplatter
ESplatter

For a sci-fi flick, I, Robot is pretty by-the-numbers, if you think about it. But the crisp action, the wonderful special effects, and Smith's believable performance make this one a keeper.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

The movie is at least a bit less annoying than director Alex Proyas' previous two genre attempts.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment (1)
eFilmCritic.com

Smith's occasional sullenness suggests he is itching for another Ali-like chance to prove his acting chops even as he slums his way through another high-tech shoot-'em-up.

September 25, 2006
Christianity Today

If you are looking for proof that Hollywood has completely run out of ideas, check out I, Robot.

July 25, 2005 Full Review Source: www.kcactive.com | Comment (1)

Not high art by any means, [but] the movie is an enjoyable romp with enough creative vision to sustain repeat viewing...

May 26, 2005 Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine

all kinds of fascinating philosophical and logical conundrums swimming frantically amid a sea of CGI-created mayhem

May 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk
Q Network Film Desk

Audience Reviews for I, Robot

So Hollywood took a classic collection of sci-fi literature and turned it into an action packed bullet time fest for Will Smith, hmmmmm. I think this film had some incredible promise being based on Asimov's short stories and could of been a classic sci-fi offering in the realms of '2001' or 'Blade Runner' but unfortunately Hollywood decided to stick Smith in the fold as the main character just to get bums on seats in the cinemas.

The casting of Smith was really a huge let down for me, a terrible and obvious piece of soulless money spinning simply to make this film into something that would appeal to the younger mass audience. Within the first five minutes of the opening sequence you can see how bad this decision was, we see Smith acting overly masculine as he swaggers about like the film revolves solely around him, his silly looking bobble hat thing which is tipped to the side trying to be cool and trendy, ear studs and a ridiculous outfit combination of black leather pants and a quarter length black leather coat. I mean really, is this a film based on some classic science fiction short stories or just trying to make Will Smith look as slick as possible with a gun, shades and motorbike. Must also point out this film has a small role for the annoying Shia LaBeouf -_-

The film does have some very good aspects in terms of effects that can't be denied, sure we have seen it all before and there isn't anything really outstanding on offer in the sense of 'things looking flashy and futuristic' but it all looks very clean smooth and realistic. The addition of the super sleek Audi concept car looked very nice I must admit but did we really need such a blatant advert in the film? the sequences just looked like car adverts, Audi paid for it yes, fine, but was it needed?
I did also like the robot designs, the older 'protector' robots looked a bit like something from the 'Star Wars' prequels but the newer 'NS-5' robots were well crafted and do have a realistic believeable look to them.

The problems I see with this film, it attempts to compete with classic 'epic' sci-fi films, it tries to be bold and boast a strong plot by constantly referring to the Asimov laws of robotics and using character names from the books as if this will make the film better, serious and closer to the much superior source material. Most of the nine stories by Asimov weren't really action based but simply more about robotic behaviour and mainly how the laws are used to solve problems, simply errors or malfunctions that the robots encounter in their daily routines. This film doesn't follow any of the nine stories I might add, its actually based on another separate story with Asimov's 'I, Robot' notions slapped on top after the rights to the stories were acquired.

The only aspect which connects to one of Asimov's stories ('Robbie') is the way Smiths character dislikes robots, the way they replace human jobs and seem to be taking over the world. Smith of course being a black man also gives the chance to turn the tables on the prejudice hot potato with his character basically being completely against robots and their 'kind', he sees them as trouble, not to be trusted, he wants the robots to be trouble so maybe people will all turn against them. A basic angle yes but reasonably intriguing, a more suitable actor like Washington would have been the better choice to carry this across in my opinion.

This film is big, flashy with destruction, car chases, bionic arms, guns, over the top fights, an overly stupid ending which does spoil plus allot of over used slow-mo action, much focusing on the robots which looks nice but what's the point of bullet time sequences on fully cgi characters?. Whether or not Asimov would have liked this kind of approach I don't know but I'm sure a slightly more subdued slow intelligent piece of work was more in mind.
You do have classic spy novels that have been made into films/TV drama's that aren't filled with all this needless in your face action, at the end of the day this is yet again just another glossy Hollywood action/thriller film which has been thinly veiled with an attempt of serious sci-fi. Yes its a reasonable sci-fi film and better than most other offerings but if you want a film more closely based on an Asimov story then I suggest you watch 'Bicentennial Man'.
March 30, 2012
phubbs1

Super Reviewer

What bothered me about "I, Robot" was how pretentious it was to have Will Smith as the main character. The humor didn't flow smoothly but the action set-pieces is entertaining. Will Smith is great like always but "I, Robot" is one forgettable movie.
September 8, 2011
Albert Kim

Super Reviewer

    1. Dr. Alfred Lansing: That, Detective, is the right question.
    – Submitted by Andrew O (4 months ago)
    1. Del Spooner: [digging into pie with a spoon] Mmmm. Sweet potato pie.
    2. Granny: Put that on the plate.
    – Submitted by Aaron L (4 months ago)
    1. Dr. Susan Calvin: Please tell me this doesn't run on gas. Gas explodes you know.
    – Submitted by Carlo Roy R (5 months ago)
    1. Dr. Susan Calvin: What happened to you? Do you ever have a normal life?
    – Submitted by Carlo Roy R (5 months ago)
    1. Lt. John Bergin: Spoon, nice shoes.
    – Submitted by Carlo Roy R (5 months ago)
    1. Lt. John Bergin: So, what's the look?
    2. Del Spooner: What look?
    3. Lt. John Bergin: That look.
    4. Del Spooner: This is my face. What look?
    – Submitted by Carlo Roy R (5 months ago)

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