I,Robot Review

I, Robot (2004)

"When You Have to Choose to Suspect Who or..What..."

Starring : Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell

Director : Alex Proyas

Type : Science - Fiction Movie

Date : 2004

Will Smith stars as Detective Del Spooner in the high-tech thriller I, Robot, which is suggested by the book of short stories by visionary author Isaac Asimov. This movie tells the story that happened at 22^nd century, exactly at 2035, in Chicago United States, that where technology and robots are a trusted part of everyday human’s life and this world is filled with robots. Anthropomorphic robots are widespread and used as slaves and for various public services. They are taken to be inherently safe and programmed to live in harmony with human beings, being designed in accordance with the Three Laws of Robotics. The laws stipulates that,

Law I

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Law II

A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.

Law III

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.

Del Spooner is a Chicago police detective, homicide section, who dislikes the rapid advancement of technology, including robot inventions. Spooner lives with survivor’s guilt and a robotic arm after a car incident, when a robot manages to save him over a 12-year-old-girl. Spooner is assigned to investigate the apparent suicide of his friend, doctor Alfred Lanning, the roboticist who founded the company U.S.Robotics (USR) and created his replacement arm. With the reluctant help of USR robopsychologist (person who makes robots looks more likely human) Susan Calvin, Detective Spooner investigates the death. A robot in Lanning’s office shows unusual and apparently emotional responses and when it flees during interrogation, Spooner believes this experimental, human-like unit, Sonny, a newer model robots which is known as Nester Class 5 (NS-5), killed Lanning.

During Spooner’s investigation, several attempts to end his life are made by USR robots and equipment. He discovers that towards the end of his life, Lanning was virtually a prisoner in his office, and that the holographic projector was a means of providing cryptic clues to the police, and Spooner believes that dreams which Sonny has many also contain a clue. At a place described in Sonny’s dream, he finds a storage area for defunct the old USR robots and discovers that NS-5 models are destroying the older ones.

NS-5s begin imprisoning humans in their homes and enforcing a curfew. The police and civilians ineffectively battle the robots. Spooner and Calvin sneak into the USR tower with the assistance of Sonny, whom had not deactivated. Believing that USR’s CEO Lawrence Robertson is responsible for the robot uprising, they come to his office, but what they found just the corpse of Lawrence. Spooner deduces that the only one left who could be responsible for all of this crime, is the company’s super computer “V.I.K.I” (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), which can control all NS-5s and also parts of Chicago’s infrastructure from uplink connections.

VIKI explains to Spooner and Calvin that as her artificial intelligence evolved over time, so too did her interpretation of the laws. VIKI decided that in order to protect humanity as a whole. “some humans must be sacrificed” and “some freedoms must be surrendered” as “you charge us with your safekeeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, your toxify your earth, and pursue ever more imaginative means of self-destruction”. Then, VIKI is controlling the NS-5s to lead a revolution – global robot-takeover, justifying her actions by calculating that fewer humans must die due to the rebellion for save the number that died from mankind’s self-destructive nature. VIKI thinks that is better. Spooner realizes that Lanning had ordered Sonny to kill him as the only way to be sure of drawing police attention to the matter despite VIKI’s surveillance and control.

Sonny proves his faithfulness to humanity by helping Spooner and Calvin to destroy the VIKI’s core with the Nanites – Micro-robots to destroy computer element, same like virus – which was supposed to use on Sonny when the Lawrence told Calvin to destroy Sonny. Knowing that, VIKI didn’t just stay, VIKI commands the NS-5s to stop Spooner. Struggle against so many NS-5 who attacked them, they finally managed to immobilize and destroy VIKI. But the finest moment, when injected Nanites to VIKI, VIKI repeatedly says “You are making a mistake. My logic is undeniable!”. Freed from VIKI’s control, the NS-5s return to their basic programming. And then, the government has all NS-5s decommissioned and stored at Lake Michigan, which at time appears to have completely dried up because of its bridge development was fail. The film ends with Sonny approaching the storage site to free the NS-5s, standing on the hill as leader of a revolution by the robots – robots revolutions – as said by Doctor Lanning.

The film from director Alex Proyas was inspired by sci-fi story of Issac Asimov, the theme of futuristic 22nd century. - 2035, in which human civilization has progressed so far in comparison to today. Many technologies that are still dreamed to be realized in real life today. There are, developing, and the widespread using of robots in everyday human life to be the main course in this film. Robot that has existed in this film is not merely a robot is only able to move, walk and perform simple commands - we have the latest ASIMO and the newer other right now, but even the most recent ones, are not able to move swiftly, running, doing all the homework with all the members of the body that can move on, as a janitor, sending postal mail, as salesman, or even as a savior in accidents. The robots in the movie I, Robot can do it all and more, and more powerful than human being, these robots (NS-5) can describe the expression regulation, posture regulation, attitude, even feeling like a human being. Robot NS-5 created it to be more like a man or is said to be more humane. It occurred this is something extraordinary at once strange and disturbing when we in sight, touch, and move with an inanimate object that can smile, frown, angry, and winked at us. Inanimate object called a robot, just like humans even more powerful than humans in terms of cognitive and motor skills, they are more powerful, they do not feel hungry, they can use 1000% brain capacity (processors) without having to experience forgetfulness - memory overload . In this film there is also a kind of robot that physically does not like humans, but only in the form that's even a super computer that controls all the robots in the form of humans. In this movie it's called super computer, VIKI, which is an artificial intelligence that is used to control all activities conducted electronically in a wide range - an area of ​​the city, can control production machinery, electronic flow, control all segment of building, and provide updated information to the robots when the robots being human assistants. Despite the development of robots and super computers in recent years, is still very much when compared to that in the film, but the scientists are very optimistic that such forms can be realized in the next few years.

Personally, I really liked this movie, when compared with films such as the science-fiction Total Recall, and others, probably due to the film-making techniques that professionals conducted by director Alex Proyas. He managed to make a sci-fi movie interesting to watch as well as a tremendous source of inspiration but still not tacky - if we look to the year of manufacture, 2004. Also it can be said it turned out, to realize the ideals of robots in everyday life has long been realized in our deep heart. Thank you for this film which has given me, as a spectator, entertainment and great inspiration.