I, Robot DVD / Blu-ray Review
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
| The Movie |
The Extras |
Reviewed by |
| 6/10 |
4/10 |
Liam |
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I, Robot is yet another Will Smith summer box office smash. In it, Smith visits a not-so-distant future (2035) where robots are all the rage. They do everything from walk your dog to taking out the trash. And they are built with a perfect sense of logic not to harm humans. However, there's one cop who's eternally suspicious - Will Smith as Detective Del Spooner.
And Spooner's lucky day comes one afternoon when he receives a call to go to the head offices of U.S. Robotics. There, the company's lead scientist (James Cromwell) has plunged to his death - an apparent suicide. As it turns out the scientist and Spooner have a bit of a history - and Spooner is reluctant to believe that he'd kill himself. After a bit of investigation at the offices of USR, Spooner finds a robot in hiding. A chase begins and soon enough, the robot is caught and brought in on suspicion of murder. But it's not that simple. Since murder is considered the act of one human killing another human, the robot (named Sonny) is released into the hands of the head of USR (Bruce Greenwood) for decommission. Not willing to let it go there, Spooner continues his investigation. And what he uncovers may possibly lead to robots taking over the world.
There's nothing really wrong with "I, Robot". It was an okay movie. It just wasn't spectacular. I was really expecting something more, so I came away feeling pretty much let down. For a summer box office smash, it really didn't impress me that much.
And if the movie itself wasn't a let-down, the DVD was just plain weak. For a movie that has potential for so much in terms of special features, we get next to nothing. (I smell "Special Edition" somewhere down the road.)
For features, there's an audio commentary by director Alex Proyas and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. The two give a feature length discussion mostly dealing with the story and their various battles over what they wanted the movie to be. They go into how the studio kept wanting them to make the movie something different from their vision - including more humor, more romance and more action. Maybe they should have listened to the suits! At one point during their conversation, Proyas details how he set out to make the definitive robot movie - which I found to be a bit of a laughable statement. It seems the movie they set out to make didn't really become the movie they eventually released.
The only other features are a "making-of" featurette, which is more of a promotional piece than an in-depth feature and a brief photo gallery. Also, a preview for "Arrested Development" and a Fox First Look at "Elektra" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".
So overall, the movie isn't so bad, but it isn't so good either. And what really ended up hurting the DVD the most was the lack-of/lackluster special features. I really think they could've done better.
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Features
Commentary by Director Alex Proyas and Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, "The Making of I, Robot" Featurette, Still Gallery, Fox's Inside Look, Trailer - Arrested Development
Video
Widescreen
Audio
English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
Subtitles
Closed-Captioned
Release Date
December 14, 2004
Rating
PG-13
Length
115 mins.
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