I, Robot

To its credit, I, Robot does try to be a more cerebral summer movie; the thinking man’s version, if you will. And it does so by daring to introduce some fairly thought-provoking concepts.

Will Smith stars in this futuristic science-fiction thriller as Del Spooner, a Chicago homicide detective who has a prejudice against what he terms needless technology, in particular robotic life forms.
I, Robot features some of the best uses of CGI special effects ever. Put this alongside the Star Wars prequels and The Lord of the Rings as a primer for the seamless incorporation of special effects. There’s a lot of computer work in I, Robot, but it’s never obvious or evident. It rarely calls attention to itself, and it is not clumsily inserted. When Will Smith interacts with a special effect, we forget that it’s an actor posturing with something drawn in by computer. After seeing a lot of cheap effects work that looks like it was exported from a computer game, it’s refreshing to see something of such high quality.
But those expecting a wonderful realization of a brilliant man’s dreams in fancy CGI will be disappointed. Those expecting two hours of fighting robots, big explosions and a few cracking one-liners will get a lot more than they bargained for. Just go for a good time and you’ll have one, as sometimes expectations are a bad thing.