I don't hold out a lot of hope for this one. Why couldn't they have used Ellison's screenplay?
"I stood alone and I didn't care. I sat two years in the same old chair. I saw three roads and I didn't know which way to go go go go. I need some help with a little love. I need some help from a little above and you were there when I was feelin' low. I won't forget you, my cococo."
-stellastarr*- My Coco
This message has been edited by GreggAllinson on Mar 14, 2004 11:14 AM
Sad thing is, I think it looks TERRIFIC all the way 'round. What it DOESN'T look like is the world Isaac Asimov created. That's my problem with it. From what we see in this trailer, the story is set in the world that Susan Calvin et al complained about people thinking robots were.
This much, at least, "Bicentennial Man" got right: the Three Laws work. From what we see here, it would seem "I, Robot" has taken an ironic approach to their application.
(For those unfamiliar:
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except so doing would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence except where so doing would conflict with the First or Second Law. )
I think this is another example of when Hollywood Execs, producers, and director say, "we're making this into OUR movie". Funny, how once again, Will Smith is involved with another re-telling (remember, Wild, Wild West). I'm not knocking Smith, it's only logical, they would have him in the lead-role. Hollywood Execs expect his star-power to bring in the young people into the movie theaters and to bring in the millions of dollars.
I guess the most off-putting thing for me was the design of the robots--especially the faces. It just struck me as really bad CGI. I like the approach that A.I. took much better (physically indistiguishable from humans unless you opened them up).
Now I don't really mind Wil Smith all that much, but it seems that a movie based on "I, Robot" would require an actor a bit more versed in dramatic roles. Asmiov's robot stories revolve around the drama and conflict which arises when the 3 Rules of Robotics collide with the human condition. The trailer seems to be implying that this is going to be an action movie, so maybe the choice of Smith is completely moot anyway.
When I first heard of this I had really high hopes that an intelligent sci-fi flick (of which there are few) would be the result. I'm not impressed by what I've seen so far...
I thought the beginning of the trailer was cheesy, the middle was really interesting, and the end was a mixture of both. I agree about it not being Asimov's world, but I doubt 95% of the audience for this film will have any clue it's tangibly related to a book. I'm sure a large percentage of its audience haven't even heard of Asimov, unfortunately.
I'll check it out when it hits DVD, unless I get into a screening.
Slightly OT, but did anyone really buy it when Asimov's publisher (or was it Asimov himself) claimed most of his sci-fi novels are set in the same continuity?
Slightly OT, but did anyone really buy it when Asimov's publisher (or was it Asimov himself) claimed most of his sci-fi novels are set in the same continuity?
I saw this trailer over the weekend, and while I have never read any of Asimov's stuff (yet...I do have a copy of "I, Robot"), even I raised an eyebrow and felt that something didn't seem right based on what I've heard of the work.
One of my biggest complaints about "The Lord of the Rings" was that the filmmakers seemed to have inverted pretty much everyone's motivations, so that hardly anyone in the movie seemed to be doing what they were doing for the same reason(s) they were doing those things in the book.
The main thrust of Asimov's stories is that the three laws work and it is only a foolish humanity that fears -- irrationally -- these machines they have created to serve them. This Asimov dubbed "The Frankenstein Syndrome".
The makers of "I, Robot" seemed to have missed that point entirely.
I have read a few of Asimov's books and this trailer really doesn't look like something that Asimov would have wrote, like the other poster said, the only thing that resembles Asimov is the title. I agree that it is closer to Magnus Robot Fighter. But they wouldn't cast Wil Smith as Magnus would they??
Shaun
