I, Robot

I try to avoid reading reviews before I see a movie. If they say it's great, I nitpick while I watch because my tastes are a little different from most people; and if they say it sucks, I also nitpick when I watch because I know they're probably right. I like having no preconceptions before I see a movie. I can enjoy it or shake my head at its stupidity and not have to compare what I'm seeing to what I expect.

But I caught a couple of reviews of I, Robot before I went today. They were generally negative, so me and my movie-fanatic buddy weren't expecting too much. The effects would be cool though, and I always like checking out how filmmakers imagine the future. Bring it on!

(No real spoilers follow, but read on at your own risk.)

So how was it? Ehhh... not too bad. It started out great, I was enjoying the plot and found things generally held together and made sense. Not a lot of sense, but enough to keep you interested. I was enjoying myself. Then someone in Hollywood pushed the STUPID button and a bunch of clichés came spilling out of the screen. A totally gratuitous, unconnected-to-the-plot (though kinda cool) action scene, the 'hand in your badge!' scene, the completely unnecessary plot twist, and the revealing your tortured and sensitive soul to the hot chick scene (complete with the absolute worst syrupy violins you've ever heard). They came one after each other very quickly, and I just sighed and sank into my seat.

But things improved after that. Maybe it was because my expectations were lowered, but I enjoyed the last bit of the movie. There were some great (though pretty far-fetched) action sequences and some genuinely interesting plot developments. I actually found the crash course in Utilitarianism I took last night was useful for helping me enjoy the philosophical hinge to the movie, which I won't get into.

So, I'd say it's worth seeing. The view of the future is quite interesting, the action is great, the hot babe is the type of hot babe I go for, and deep down under the clichés is an interesting plot. And if you have two toddlers at home, you'll probably even enjoy it more.

Posted by Bruce Gottfred at July 17, 2004 10:23 PM | TrackBack