I Robot

[jefffitz 0]

Hollywood suffers from a serious "Frankenstein" syndrome. This trend (strangely enough) began with its namesake- Mary Shelly's subtle and philosophical novel was turned into a horror movie about a mindless killing machine.

 

Hollywoods dumbing down of great science fiction stories reaches a new low in "I Robot". Issac Asimov wrote the robot stories as a reaction against the typical killer robot stories that were the staple of early sci-fi:

 

"I became tired of the ever-repeating robot plot... I saw them as machines...They might be dangerous but surely safety factors would be built in." - Introduction to "Robot Visions"

 

What were the writers thinking, when they discarded the most fundamental idea of Asimov's stories? The sad truth is that they didn't think about it at all. The studio wanted to make an FX heavy summer spectacular about killer robots, and tacked on Asimov's name to lend the film a patina of Sci-Fi legitimacy. I thought the film was an insult to Asimov and his fans.

 

 

(One further observation. Prejudice is a central theme of the movie, so why are all the scientists white?)

[BlueCrystal 0]

Keep in mind the scientist may have been white but....

Click for Spoiler:

he was also the murder victim and dead!

[jefffitz 0]

Not just Dr. Lanning all the scientists.

[BlueCrystal 0]

Perhaps, but just because the scientists LOOKED white doesn't mean they are. This movie is set 25 to 27 years in the future and I have a lot of friends with bi-racials children. Some of the children look white, some look black, some look asian, some look indian, but all are loved and all are children under God.

Edited July 21, 2004 by BlueCrystal

[Q stole my bike 0]

I didn't think it was meant to be a horror movie (scared me though, because I've always had this weird fear that robots will take over the world)

 

What I didn't like about it was the lack of character development. The plot was good, but the way it was written didn't allow it its full potential.

 

I was throughly bothered by the "these are converse all stars" deal. I understand that sometimes product placement is necessary to pay for production costs, but that was really poorly done.

 

And the actress who played the woman who works with USR (don't remember the character or actress's name) did so horribly. She was either too unemotional (at these times I wondered why she didn't have pointy ears) or too emotional.

 

And is it just me or do all movies these days either based on books, remakes of older movies, or have unoriginal cliche plots? Really I'd like to see somethin original in the mainstream.

 

But I DID like the movie. Four words: Will Smith shower scene

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Hollywood suffers from a serious "Frankenstein" syndrome.  This trend (strangely enough) began with its namesake-  Mary Shelly's subtle and philosophical novel was turned into a horror movie about a mindless killing machine.

 

Hollywoods dumbing down of great science fiction stories reaches a new low in "I Robot".  Issac Asimov wrote the robot stories as a reaction against the typical killer robot stories that were the staple of early sci-fi:

 

    "I became tired of the ever-repeating robot plot... I saw them as machines...They might be dangerous but surely safety factors would be built in."  - Introduction to "Robot Visions"

 

What were the writers thinking, when they discarded the most fundamental idea of Asimov's stories?  The sad truth is that they didn't think about it at all.  The studio wanted to make an FX heavy summer spectacular about killer robots, and tacked on Asimov's name to lend the film a patina of Sci-Fi legitimacy.  I thought the film was an insult to Asimov and his fans.

 

 

(One further observation.  Prejudice is a central theme of the movie, so why are all the scientists white?)

Whut about the whole plot arround Sonny?

[DrWho42 13]

Hmmm, I have not seen the movie yet, neither have I read Asimov's books yet... :)

 

But I did see The Outer Limits episode: "I, Robot"...

 

And I enjoyed that. :) Is the character Adam Link in the movie adaptation? :)

 

It was sad when Adam got crushed from the truck in the last scenes from pushing the little girl out of the way. :)

Adam Link, and the fedora-hatted man played by Leonard Nimoy is in the corner...

Adam Link, and Thurman Cutler (Leonard Nimoy, in the remake of the old Outer Limits episode.

Edited July 26, 2004 by drwho42

[fredbroca 0]

I have not seen the movie yet so I can not say anything about that but I really wish they would have made the first book of the robot books. As I robot is a book all by itself. I have read all the books in the robot, empire and foundation series they would have been so much better for them to make. IMHO

[Odie 0]

I am going to re-read the book before I see the movie. The last time I read I' Robot was almost 20 years ago. S. hit, I am starting to feel old!

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

I find that Hollywood is changing a story to just get viewers. The whole point of the story was to warn about the the robot-killing movies and books. What do we have now? Why isn't the film a collection of short stories? Where is the main robot in question? It had a name. It's not mentioned in the trailer. The movie is about the nature of robots and humans not the robot takeover.

[jefffitz 0]

... but just because the scientists LOOKED white doesn't mean they are.

You would have a good point if this were real life and we could meet the characters and find out that they grew up in a multi-ethnic family. However, my point is, that the movie has anti-prejudice as a central theme- yet, casts all the blue collar characters as African- Americans and all the scientists as white. It may have been a coincidence, but it seems like a glaring example of stereotyping to me.

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

And I kind of noticed there are no asians in the movie while 1/4 of the world's population is Chinese......

[fredbroca 0]

I did get to see the movie and I thought it was good as an action adventure movie but this is the first time that I have seen A movie "suggested by" instead of based on a book. I just started to read the book and so far it has nothing to do about the movie. The book is a bunch of short stories.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Well Asimov must have given his blessing to the film or it wouldn't have had his title attached correct? The main character wasn't white so I don't see what all the racial fuss is about. I liked it, kept me guessing throughout. A thousand times better than WWW. I give it 4 outta 5. Would'a been a five outta five except I didn't understand...

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why the woman didn't have her purse with her to begin with. That imo, didn't make sense she forgot her purse especially if it had such important meds in it but, I may have missed the explanation;

I wanna see it again...

[Angela 1]

Perhaps we should just take this as a movie with nothing to do with Asimov. Because then we won't get all bent out of shape over the fact that yes they mess with the book.

 

As a whole the movie clips I have seen all over the place have been fascinating.

[mj 7]

And I kind of noticed there are no asians in the movie while 1/4 of the world's population is Chinese......

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I actually agree with this comment. With as many Chinese and Indians ( from India) as there are in the world (over a billion in each of those countries --- not counting folks that have moved all over the world! One of my friends from school was a citizen of Malaysia, but ethnically Chinese....), movies about the future, even America's future, should be inclusive.

 

Well Asimov must have given his blessing to the film or it wouldn't have had his title attached correct?

 

Asimov is dead, so he could not have given his consent....whoever controls his estate gave consent.

 

I, Robot is just one of Asimov's robot books that deals with the three laws. He has more robot short stories, but he also wrote novels dealing with a detective that has a robot sidekick. I can no longer remember the plot details of these, but one of them does deal with a robot suspected of murdering a human.

 

The movie I, Robot did what Asimov's robot stories did. It started with the three laws, and then set up an incident where there appears to be a problem with the three laws, which requires someone to figure out what is going wrong. Then the humans adjust to compensate for what went wrong.

 

The issue in I Robot the movie was that the three laws inevitbly lead to a heartless robot deciding that the best thing to do for humanity is protect it from itself by controlling it. Unfortunately the robot who decided that controlled the development of the new line of robots, so could plan a take-over. The logic problem was discovered by Dr. Lanning (sp?), who knew it would lead to robots trying to take over. This knowledge led him to create the robot, Sonny, who was modified to not be stringently controlled by the three laws, and not linked to the central computer at US Robots.

 

Then Dr. Lanning had Sonny assist in his death, and manipulated a homicide detective, who was prejudiced against robots and would pursue the idea of a robot committing murder, into investigating the case.

 

This led to a well-woven plot, where the truth was discovered just in time to save the day, with the help of Sonny. Also it left an open question....the future of Sonny and robotics.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

 

 

(One further observation. Prejudice is a central theme of the movie, so why are all the scientists white?)

 

 

However, my point is, that the movie has anti-prejudice as a central theme- yet, casts all the blue collar characters as African- Americans and all the scientists as white. It may have been a coincidence, but it seems like a glaring example of stereotyping to me.

 

 

I was so absorbed by Will Smith I did not notice that all the scientists were white. I will check....but I am very good in spotting people passing in a corridor, or entering a lab here and there. I find it hard to believe that USR was segregated.

Edited January 6, 2005 by mj

[poldor 0]

i robot is a great film

and asimovs book is great too both r gd to me

and wat do u mean by wat colour the scientists were

everybody is the same just different colour skin

think b4 words

[mj 7]

and wat do u mean by wat colour the scientists were

everybody is the same just different colour skin

think b4 words

294476[/snapback]

 

How about reading all the posts in the thread before commenting? The person who started this thread raised the issue that prejudice is a theme of the movie, and then claims all the scientists were white, which to him was odd. He seemed to feel that the absence of 'diversity' among the scientists mocks the part of the story that deals with prejudice against robots.

 

My comment was to indicate that I did not believe it was the intent of the director to suggest that USR had only white scientists. I keep forgetting to 'check' when I rewatch I, Robot, but I have noticed a variety of non-whites in professional positions ( lawyers, for example). I could go further and say that the diversity of Chicago itself suggested that there were all kinds of people in all kinds of positions, and just because you don't have a range of races and sexes shown in all possible positions does not suggest some negligence on the part of the directors.

 

I think if the person who started the thread thought this was an issue, he has the right to voice this concern. Several comments following indicate he and others gave it some thought.

 

People have responded to different parts of the original post in their posts, and there is a difference of opinion. But I thought it was an interesting perspective, particularly the way it was phrased in the opening post of this thread.

 

I may go back and edit first my post to include quotes from the threads I am commenting on, and then perhaps what I am saying may become more clear.

[Yillara Skye 1]

I have not gotten to see the entire movie, but what I did see of it I liked it quite a bit. I have only missed about 20 minutes of the film.

 

I read a few of Asimov's books...I, Robot included. And yeah, there are some changes but overall it did not upset me too much. Since, though I prefer a movie adapted from a novel to be as close to the book as possible, I know there is usually sections that are changed(often drastically). My brother is a big Asimov fan, and even he enjoyed the film. He was quick to note the descrepancies, but it did not deter his enjoyment. He and I tend to agree with the fact that it seems like facets of other Asimov stories were pulled into the film...like stuff from Robots of New Dawn.

 

I agree with my brother that it is a better movie than A.I and Bicentennial Man.

Edited January 4, 2005 by Yillara_Soong

[VaBeachGuy 12]

For some reason this was a movie that never really grabbed my imagination enough to make me want to watch it. Not yet anyway. Maybe I'll have Netflix send it to me one of these days.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Well, MJ has given me pause to reconsider seeing this movie. I was adamantly opposed to it because I am such an Asimov fan. I suppose I can pretend the movie has nothing to do with his work and maybe it will be okay in its own right.

 

I've heard they may make the Foundation Series into a movie (they better get Peter Jackson). That is one movie that should be made well or not at all.

[mj 7]

I've heard they may make the Foundation Series into a movie (they better get Peter Jackson).  That is one movie that should be made well or not at all.

294554[/snapback]

 

I agree.

[ragingtarg 0]

Well, yeah, the book was great but the adaptation was pretty dumbed down. The themes weren't as thoroughly explored as I would have liked, and neither were the characters.

 

Isaac Asimov would be embarrassed, I'd say.

[mj 7]

I guess the one thing I did not like about the movie was that Susan Calvin in the movie was beautiful, and Asimov goes out of his way to let you know she was a plain-looking woman. In fact she was too beautiful to convince me that she was socially disinterested, which Asimov's Calvin was. Now that choice of a model to play Calvin to me was pure Hollywood, but I still think the story was compelling. I don't think they ruined that part.

 

( For example, in the movie Outland ( is that the right name) Sean Connery is sent to Mars to clean up a drug situation, and the woman who helps him is healthy, strong, and probably a little attracted to Sean, but she was no beauty. I, Robot could have had such a heroine.)

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I guess the one thing I did not like about the movie was that Susan Calvin in the movie was beautiful, and Asimov goes out of his way to let you know she was a plain-looking woman. In fact she was too beautiful to convince me that she was socially disinterested, which Asimov's Calvin was.  Now that choice of a model to play Calvin to me was pure Hollywood, but I still think the story was compelling. I don't think they ruined that part.

 

( For example, in the movie Outland ( is that the right name) Sean Connery is sent to Mars to clean up a drug situation, and the woman who helps him is healthy, strong, and probably a little attracted to Sean, but she was no beauty. I, Robot could have had such a heroine.)

296480[/snapback]

 

I think it is Hollywood's raison d'etre (mission in life) to make sure we all know that women must be beautiful above all else. Men, are more fortunate and allowed the luxury of being unattractive ... oh but I'm getting off topic.

Edited January 14, 2005 by TheUnicornHunter

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

Well it certainly wasn't anything like the book (which is superior) but I must say that of most of the blockbusters of the past few years this was one of the most enjoyable if you look at it on that level only.

[Spockstellaiter 0]

Even though they murdered Asimov's main point, it still sounds like an entertaining movie and I intend to rent an edited version

[ussacclaim 0]

Hey, I just saw the movie last week at a friend's house, so now I can comment on the thread. I also ressurrected the thread too!

 

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. When I saw the previews months ago, I had a totally negative impression of the movie, but after I actually watched it, it wasn't too bad. Good plot twists and action, dialogue wasn't too bad and after you finally figure out what is going wrong, the logic they use makes sense.

 

That part where he was looking through the crates of the old robots and it had an overlay of the scientist talking about ghosts in the machine, I thought that was cool.

 

The only thing I didn't like was:

 

Click For Spoiler

Well, I guess it's two things. One was where the robots burst in on the cops. I have high respect for cops and law enforcement and hate it when they get attacked and killed.

 

And second, I felt bad for the robots when the Mark 5's were killing them, they were at a complete disadvantage and barely had a chance. Maybe they had the Mark 5's repair them all after the movie ended.

 

Oh, I just remembered a third thing! Does every action movie need a Matrix-slow mothion scene nowadays!?

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I rented and watched this today. I probably wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't read this thread. It wasn't the best movie I'd ever seen but it was better than I was expecting. I actually get bored with lots of special effects

Click For Spoiler

the traffic crash and the robots fighting

[mj 7]

The only thing I didn't like was:

 

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And second, I felt bad for the robots when the Mark 5's were killing them, they were at a complete disadvantage and barely had a chance. 

299075[/snapback]

Why are we using spoilers here? Oh, well....

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I actually liked that part. It showed a nobleness of the Mark IV and older robots. They did not have a chance, and knew it, but they saved Will Smith's character. First, one of them, already in pieces, warned him to run!!!! As he ran and was being overtaken, out jumped the Mark IV and lower in large enough numbers to compensate for their inferiority in order to stop the Mark V's, and save Will Smith's life. Remember they know that they themselves are in danger. As as you pointed out, the scientist was saying there was more to these robots than their programming. I think it was a moment of nobility for the robot...what they did to save one man.I thought that was a particulalry noble moment.

 

I actually get bored with lots of special effects

.

 

Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

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I loved that moment when Sonny was running down the hall, and Viki's holgraphic cubic face caught up with him. And she asked him as he ran whether or not he could see that her logic was flawless. He kept running agreed the logic was flawles, but pointed out, in an emotionless matter-of-fact kind of tone, that she was heartless in the way she was applying it. Great special effects moment! I loved it.