Will Power
Smith Takes On Crazed Robots in Summer Sizzler

They are starting to call him "Mr. July." Since 1996, when he co-starred in the summer blockbuster Independence Day, Will Smith has made a habit of popping up in the middle of the biggest movie season to delight audiences with his blend of smooth action and cool comedy. Although he's had his misses (we hate to mention his involvement in the 1999 bomb Wild, Wild West), Smith brings a burst of star power to the science fiction murder mystery, I, Robot.

In the year 2035, there are a plethora of robots. The robots are governed by three laws that guarantee they can not harm people. Every family has one and (proving that they are created by Microsoft, apparently) the current models are in need of an upgrade. The NS-5, the newest model, is on the eve of release and soon there will be one robot for every five people in the world.

Detective Spooner (Smith) is a cop who, from the very beginning, appears to be "recovering." From what, or why, is a little mystery the audience will have to live with, but the minute he shows up at work his boss, Lt. Bergin (Chi McBride) starts questioning if Spooner needs more time off. But Spooner is a man with a mission. He hates robots and seems to be the only one.

Soon Spooner is summoned to U.S. Robotics to investigate the death of the chief engineer Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell). Although Lanning's death appears to be suicide, Spooner believes he was murdered. The only problem is that the lone suspect is a robot, and the three laws of robotics would have made murder impossible.

There are some nice touches in the film, little science fiction moments that remind audiences that this is a future world. Smith walks through a police "tape" barrier which appears to be a digital projection. Cars park themselves in a vertical storage closet. Doors whisper open as people approach. It's all very "cool" even if it seems more like 2135 than something 30 years in the future.

The robots, likewise, have a "cool" factor. But after seeing hoards of robots swarm over the screen for half the movie, it gets a little old. Call me old fashioned, but the robots don't exude any personality. They are merely bowling pins to be knocked down, video game targets to be shot. After seeing the hoards of armies in The Lord of the Rings films, the robot throng doesn't strike a chord of fear.

As for the human cast members, Smith is noticeably tense. It's as if he's afraid the giant robot spider from Wild, Wild West is going to come to haunt him for his past sins. Bridget Moynahan, who plays Dr. Calvin, is about as heartwarming as a toaster. The other humans in the film are so cardboard that they make one wonder why Smith hasn't taken a shine to the robots.

Regardless, it's an entertaining film. I'm not saying that it's a memorable movie, or likely to be added to my voluminous DVD collection, but it was an entertaining, action-packed, summer movie. Even better, it was a decent science fiction movie. It brought up some interesting questions about technology and humanity, and the trust we put in our tech.

Fans of the science fiction master Issac Asimov are more than eager to point out that this film resembles nothing of the short story collection from which it took its name. The producers even emphasized the lack of connection by tacking on a "inspired by the work of Issac Asimov" credit over the end of the film. This isn't a film about robots. It's a film about Smith's Detective Spooner. If you thought that a star like Smith would take a back seat to a bunch of CGI robots, you don't know the first thing about movies.

Of course, the biggest disappoint was not hearing Will Smith do an "I, Robot" rap over the closing credits. Did the former Fresh Prince decide that he was too big a star to do that stuff now?

MY RATING: 7 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 115 min.