I Robot

A.I. Robot

Director Alex Proyas may have unsuccessfully scooped The Wachowski Brothers with his Dark City from 1998, but he takes many elements from their 1999 classic that borrowed from him - The Matrix - and zaps them into I ROBOT, a film which - like a flicker ring - can turn into Spiderman at a glance (Robots en masse climbing up the skyscraper's side ), The Wild Wild West (enough with Will Smith already, like Men In Black II wasn't overkill - not to mention Independence Day), A.I., with bits of Barry Levinson's "Disclosure" and a little of the police intrigue of 1999s "The Thirteenth Floor". It is not a total wash-out. There is truly one of the all-time great haunted houses scenes in this Godzilla of artificial intelligence films. I say Godzilla because it is a bit cumbersome - the icy sets and...Will Smith again. Though his acting isn't bad, his presence throws things off. We're supposed to get to know so many people - Will Smith's grandma, Adrian Ricard, Star Trek Next Generation refugee James Cromwell as Dr. Alfred Lansing in one of the most peristence-of-vision cameo appearances in history. Too bad Star Trek didn't get the original Zefram Cochrane for 1996's FIRST CONTACT - Glenn Corbett- but he died in 1993 and
once again a character actor making too many appearances, Cromwell, is used by the movie companies to substitute for character development. How many characters can audiences absorb every Friday night? Maybe that's why Fahrenheit 911 did so well. We know all the hateful people involved and love it when Michael Moore gets in his ice cream truck and ridicules them.
Of course my biggest complaint with Moore is not using Alvin Lee's "I'd Love To Change The World" in the film like he did in the trailer, and maybe he should've had Jonathan Richman's "Ice Cream Man" play while reading the Patriot Act. Maybe I ROBOT should have starred
George W. Bush as a short-circuited brain in a silver suit that goes amok and destroys everything in his sight - a bull in a china shop. Now Will Smith can get on his horse from The Wild Wild West and have a showdown with Bush. If Michael Moore had co-directed I Robot
with Proyas it would have been a film for the ages rather than something to do on a Friday night the week after Spiderman 2 tore up the record books.

Joe Vig's First Impressions, 12:23 AM July 31, 2004, a week after I saw the flick!