10 Summer Blockbuster Movies That Should Never Have Happened
6. I, Robot
The very best sci-fi movies spin fantastic tales that not only dazzle us with their vision of the future but also comment upon the present. Then there’s I, Robot, a movie “suggested” by the works of Isaac Asimov, which squanders its ideas in favour of special effects and product placement.
Within the first three minutes, we get gratuitous plugs for JVC, FedEx and “Converse All Stars, vintage 2004” which is how it goes for the rest of the film, with particular attention paid to Audi, whose fine automobiles will be the only vehicles gracing American roads in 2035. If you find that hard to swallow, then get a load of I, Robot’s plot.
After imbuing a robot named Sonny with human thoughts and feelings, Dr Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) tells his creation to throw him out of a window, knowing that his death will be investigated by Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith, playing Will Smith, with all his usual Will Smith-isms). A card carrying technophobe, Spooner is the only person capable of stopping VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), a computer with its own agenda.
Which he does, but wouldn’t it have been easier just to get him on the phone and say, “Hey, Del, I’ve got a problem”?