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    Unique ID Code: 0000068172
    Added by: DVD Reviewer
    Added on: 24/1/2005 15:04
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    I, Robot (UK)

    9 / 10
    3 votes cast
    Rate this item
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    Laws are made to be broken
    Certificate: 12
    Running Time: 115 mins
    Retail Price: £24.99
    Release Date:

    Synopsis:
    Chicago, 2035. Techno and robophobe Detective Agent Spooner (Will Smith) is appointed to investigate the alleged suicide of friend and father of modern robotics, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell). At a time when robots have become commonplace in homes, Spooner suspects robots have turned against Lanning`s first law, "A Robot Must Not Harm a Human Being" and that the suicide may in fact be murder.
    When Sonny (Alan Tudyk), a robot that has been taught human emotions, runs from the scene of the crime, Spooner enlists the help of ice-cool robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) to track him down. Spooner deduces that scientist Lanning has left a trail of clues and has reprogrammed Sonny to help them uncover a suspected conspiracy. The events that follow lead them right to the heart of the multimillion-dollar corporation, U.S Robotics for an awe-inspiring showdown!

    Special Features:
    Disc One: Commentary by director Alex Proyas and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. Commentary by production designer, editor, visual effects supervisors, associate producer, Digital Domain animation supervisor and CG supervisors. Commentary by composer Marco Beltrami. The Making of I, Robot. Gag reel. Stills gallery. Trailers for Alien Vs Predator, 24 and Electra.
    Disc Two: Day Out of Days: The I, Robot Production Diaries. Post production. Sentient Machines: Robotic Behaviour. About Science Fiction and Robots. The Filmmakers` Toolbox and Visual Effects. Extended and deleted scenes. Easter eggs.

    Video Tracks:
    Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

    Audio Tracks:
    Dolby Digital 5.1 English
    DTS 5.1 English

    Subtitle Tracks:
    CC: English

    Directed By:
    Alex Proyas

    Written By:



    Starring:
    Bruce Greenwood
    James Cromwell
    Alan Tudyk
    Bridget Moynahan
    Will Smith

    Your Opinions and Comments

    8 / 10
    Introduction
    I grew up with Isaac Asimov. Not literally obviously, but Literal-ly. I stumbled across the first of his books at an early age, and I liked what I read. Luckily, he liked to write so there was plenty more where that came from. I think he wrote over 500 books.

    I liked it so much I scoured the local librarys, which had a dearth of his work. I then started investing in a collection as pocket money would allow - a collection I still have to this day.

    The robot stories are very good. For the most part they are short stories, and a vaguely chronological sequence of these were collected together into the book "I, Robot".

    When I first heard of the film, I couldnt think how they had adapted the book, it might lend itself to a series of episodes, but not to a film. Anyway, this is the case. They took the title, the odd bit of storyline from some of the "I, robot" short stories, some of the characters, and some of the infrastructure.

    The plot is all their own work for the most part.

    The Plot
    The chief scientist at US Robots has been killed, and a police officer (Will Smith) is called to try and track down the killer. A robot hating police officer at that.
    Dr Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) (of USR) is assigned to help him with information (incidentally Dr. Susan Calvin features in many of the robot stories, as the first robo-psychologist, but she was never described as a babe!).



    The Cast
    Will Smith plays his roll well. I felt the character was slightly contrived, but only slightly.
    Bridget Moynahan is also fine, but doesn`t match up at all to my image of Susan Calvin.

    The Visuals/Audio
    Visuals are good, and the Audio fine too. I think we used the DTS track and it came over fine.
    Nothing too memorable though.

    The Extras
    A lot of extras on this two disk version. Almost too many in some cases.
    I still haven`t watched all of them.
    There is a making of on the first disk, which is more or less standard stuff.
    There are also commentaries which I haven`t had the energy to listen to yet.

    On the second disk there is a whole load of stuff, divided up into about 4 categories
    [list]
    [*] Extended and deleted scenes.
    Just a few of these and an alternate ending. Sort of interesting.
    [*] `Day Out Of Days - The I, Robot Production Diaries` featurette
    This is a large collection of film taken on the set. Its all as it happens an without
    commentary. I found this interesting at first, but by the time you`ve sat through the 5th or 6th
    of these, the novelty begins to fade. There are some interesting bits here and there, but I found it
    difficult to keep enthused.
    [*] `Post-Production` featurette
    [*] `Sentient Machines: Robotic Behaviour` featurette
    This was one of the more interesting bits for me, where real robot makers and researchers
    talk about whats happening in the real world. However I was slightly disappointed with it as
    although they had lots of eminent people talking about stuff, I found on a couple of them they would
    talk in glowing terms about a given robot, and there would be only a brief picture of it, leaving you
    with a sense of anti-climax.
    [*] `The Filmmakers` Toolbox & Visual Effects` featurette
    Lots of before/after stuff about digital effects, green screen (whatever happened to blue
    screen - did it get too expensive!) and so on. Again, maybe a bit too much of this, as
    after you`ve seen 7 or 8 scenes disolve from raw footage into finished without commentary it begins
    to pale.
    [*] Three Laws Safe, four featurettes on the legacy of Isaac Asimov
    This is interesting, as it goes in the Asimov history, the evolution of robots in
    science fiction from Frakensteins monster, to the less scary.
    Includes comments from Isaacs daughter and his publisher.
    I`m not sure, but I think they reflect by views on the film. A good enough film, but not really much to do with the books.
    [/list]

    Summary
    Its a pretty good film. Its not the film of the book, and they admit this upfront.
    In some ways I don`t think it follows the Asimov heritage very well, their are echoes of his story, but some of the basic premises are distorted. It entertains though.
    posted by Julian Onions on 25/1/2005 13:39
    10 / 10
    i am just typing this so that people know that this film rocks
    i give it 10/10
    beats lotr (mabye)0
    posted by Ralph Wiggum on 1/2/2005 15:02