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Official I, Robot thread
- Thread starter Manders
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With the success of the LOTR triology, I would have thought people would be jumping all over Asimov's Robot and Foundation novels to make into a series of movies. They should have started with "The Caves of Steel" book (hell Wil Smith could still have been in it) and proceeded right through to "Robots and Empire" as one hell of an ambitious project.
Only problem I see is the relationship to the Foundation novels. I mean do you create 2 separate series of movies in this case? Readers of both series will know what I'm talking about.
Only problem I see is the relationship to the Foundation novels. I mean do you create 2 separate series of movies in this case? Readers of both series will know what I'm talking about.
Tool said:
Seriously, this would have been cool. If they wanted to make some detective robot movies, why take someone else's script and slap the name of an asimov book that isn't even a detective story when they could have done an adaptation of Caves of Steel, which WAS a detective novel. And as you say, I wouldn't even mind if they humoured it up a bit by having Will Smith in it. I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's not bad.
As prospero said, this has nothing to do with the idea that this movie is a bad adaptation, it's that it's not an adaptation at all and they're trying to use the name of a name I respect to reel me in to see it, and I don't appreciate that kind of deceptive behaviour and will not use my money to encourage it. I have no problem with loose adaptations.
Next person to say something suggesting I think it's a matter of this movie not living up to the book from which it borrows its title... well, I'll just leave it at that.
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen
Banned
That's... not quite accurate. The original Hardwired screenplay wasn't really a summer-movie script, it was more cerebral. It wasn't until after the Asimov elements were retrofitted to Hardwired that the studio demanded changes to make it more commercial, which is where Will Smith, more fight scenes, etc. came in. So while the movie might not be =true to Asimov, it's not really true to the original Hardwired screenplay either.
Blah, The underlying plot of the movie was exactly the same as the game Asimov himself played with the three laws of robotics in I, Robot
. So I don't buy that this was a desecration of source material. The interplay between human emotion and the perfect logic of the three laws was the basis of Asimov's work and is the basis of the movie as well. The movie approaches the topic from a different direction than Asimov did when he wrote I, Robot. But that is all.
robots eventually taking over as stewards of humanity
ConfusingJazz
Member
Azih said:
Yes, but thats reason I saw the second half as flawed.
The book had the robots taking over with intrigue, always following the meaning of the laws to a t. No human was ever killed in the books. Its kinda why I like the novels, all objectives in both the I, Robot series and Foundation novels are done with intelligence instead of brute force.
I will grudingly admit that I liked the movie, althought I still hold the belief that the movie should have not been called I, Robot, as the point of the collection of stories was a backlash always showing robots as nonviolent.
Mike Works
Member
Oh man, this movie is the surprise of the fucking year. I liked it more than Spider-Man 2, and I really liked Spider-Man 2! Here's a quick rundown of the good and bad;
Good:
Cinematography/editing. There was one sequence in the middle of the movie where two important scenes are happening at once (not action heavy), and the way they mesh into each other is perfect. The music matches as each cut fades to black into the other scene, not unlike something pieced together for a trailer. It was very unique to see it in an actual movie, and worked so well. There's another shot during the climax which involves a stationary camera rotating with the structure it's attached too. Again, a very simple shot, but it really got you transfixed into the situation.
Visuals. A lot of people, myself included, will compare this movie to Minority Report in this area for sure. The lighting/glare from Minority Report wasn't present, but there were a lot of soft to steel/grainy whitish blue aspects of the city and building sets. Aside from some of the transportational structures- mainly highways and car storage, I could easily see I, Robot's Chicago (that's where the movie takes place) and Minority Report's Washington co-existing in the same "world". The majority of the CG was quite well done, and I liked the design of the robots as well.
Will Smith. I don't hate actors like Will Smith or Ben Affleck as much as the majority of the internet do. While I dislike movies like Wild Wild West or Gigli as much as others, when I look at an actor, I judge them and their upcoming work based on the majority of their performances, if not their great ones. So while some people think "Ben Affleck, the shit actor for Gigli", I'll think of how much I liked his performances in Good Will Hunting or Dogma. I was admittedly not looking forward to Smith's little phrases I thought would be apparent (thanks to the "AH HELL NAW" in the trailer), but I think he was a good choice for this movie for multiple reasons. He's a versatile actor, in that he can believably be both calm, jokish, and comfortably funny in one scene, and then serious and realistically pissed off in the next. The whole box office part helps too.
The pacing. It was just very well done. I was originally expecting a movie where it'd build up to be a mystery on whether or not the robot murdered the dude, and then reveal everything in the last 10 minutes. Then the newer trailers came out, and I expected the movie to set up the premise in the first 20-30 minutes and then have the rest of the movie be non-stop action. Instead the movie works smartly, introducing the initial mystery and intrique, and instead of focusing flatly on one small aspect, the film guides both Will Smith and yourself by the hand as you slowly go past each and every turn on the winding road to figuring out what exactly is going on. There are some nice action scenes in the middle of the film, and during some parts where there aren't, there's some terrific imagery to keep your senses from numbing.
Bad:
Cinematography. 1-3 slow motion shots are fine, but there were more than that, and while I personally like them more than most other people, there were at least 6 I can think of. Also, during the big action scene near the end where they are
The remaining cast. I liked the fat principal from Boston Public, even though it pissed me off how he never listened to nor believed anything Smith told him, and I suppose the head of the robotics dude (the guy who offers Will Smith coffee in the trailers) was okay in his role, but the rest wasn't terrific. The main woman lead, while being smoking hot, sort of lost her character as time went on. She started off very sterile and professional, and when things started becoming apparent and unraveling before her eyes, she always seemed... lost. Technically I can understand how her character could react like that, but there was just something unconvincing about it.
This is getting minor now, but the product placement was annoying too JVC JVC JVC JVC JVC JVC (btw jvc). Also seeing Will Smith in the shower, naked, full body, with ass showing. Then 30 minutes later, the woman is in the shower, same angle, same shot, but she has her shower door closed and the fog/steam blocks you from seeing everything. Fucking guys! There were also some snippits of unbelievable (in that they weren't realistic) action sequences
, but as a whole, the action was good.
All in all, I was not looking forward to seeing this movie, as a friend was dragging me to see it, but damn if I didn't have a smile on my face when it was over. While I can understand with the position of fans of the book getting pissed at the inaccuracies (I'd be saying the same shit if they made a Zelda movie or something), just let it go and view the movie with an open mind. It's pretty fucking good.
Good:
Cinematography/editing. There was one sequence in the middle of the movie where two important scenes are happening at once (not action heavy), and the way they mesh into each other is perfect. The music matches as each cut fades to black into the other scene, not unlike something pieced together for a trailer. It was very unique to see it in an actual movie, and worked so well. There's another shot during the climax which involves a stationary camera rotating with the structure it's attached too. Again, a very simple shot, but it really got you transfixed into the situation.
The way the movie continually re-introduced short sequences of a traumatic event from Smith's past was very well done too.
Visuals. A lot of people, myself included, will compare this movie to Minority Report in this area for sure. The lighting/glare from Minority Report wasn't present, but there were a lot of soft to steel/grainy whitish blue aspects of the city and building sets. Aside from some of the transportational structures- mainly highways and car storage, I could easily see I, Robot's Chicago (that's where the movie takes place) and Minority Report's Washington co-existing in the same "world". The majority of the CG was quite well done, and I liked the design of the robots as well.
Will Smith. I don't hate actors like Will Smith or Ben Affleck as much as the majority of the internet do. While I dislike movies like Wild Wild West or Gigli as much as others, when I look at an actor, I judge them and their upcoming work based on the majority of their performances, if not their great ones. So while some people think "Ben Affleck, the shit actor for Gigli", I'll think of how much I liked his performances in Good Will Hunting or Dogma. I was admittedly not looking forward to Smith's little phrases I thought would be apparent (thanks to the "AH HELL NAW" in the trailer), but I think he was a good choice for this movie for multiple reasons. He's a versatile actor, in that he can believably be both calm, jokish, and comfortably funny in one scene, and then serious and realistically pissed off in the next. The whole box office part helps too.
The pacing. It was just very well done. I was originally expecting a movie where it'd build up to be a mystery on whether or not the robot murdered the dude, and then reveal everything in the last 10 minutes. Then the newer trailers came out, and I expected the movie to set up the premise in the first 20-30 minutes and then have the rest of the movie be non-stop action. Instead the movie works smartly, introducing the initial mystery and intrique, and instead of focusing flatly on one small aspect, the film guides both Will Smith and yourself by the hand as you slowly go past each and every turn on the winding road to figuring out what exactly is going on. There are some nice action scenes in the middle of the film, and during some parts where there aren't, there's some terrific imagery to keep your senses from numbing.
Bad:
Cinematography. 1-3 slow motion shots are fine, but there were more than that, and while I personally like them more than most other people, there were at least 6 I can think of. Also, during the big action scene near the end where they are
on that catwalk/brain stem thing and the camera keeps flying up and down and around in circles... once was okay, barely, even though it was uneccessary. Twice or however many extra times was just stupid.
The remaining cast. I liked the fat principal from Boston Public, even though it pissed me off how he never listened to nor believed anything Smith told him, and I suppose the head of the robotics dude (the guy who offers Will Smith coffee in the trailers) was okay in his role, but the rest wasn't terrific. The main woman lead, while being smoking hot, sort of lost her character as time went on. She started off very sterile and professional, and when things started becoming apparent and unraveling before her eyes, she always seemed... lost. Technically I can understand how her character could react like that, but there was just something unconvincing about it.
Then there's the whole part about the mob scene trying to revolt against the revolting robots LED BY THE KID. Give me a fucking break, you don't need that kid in the movie at all. Just have some little girl be caught up in the mess that Smith can save.
This is getting minor now, but the product placement was annoying too JVC JVC JVC JVC JVC JVC (btw jvc). Also seeing Will Smith in the shower, naked, full body, with ass showing. Then 30 minutes later, the woman is in the shower, same angle, same shot, but she has her shower door closed and the fog/steam blocks you from seeing everything. Fucking guys! There were also some snippits of unbelievable (in that they weren't realistic) action sequences
cough motorcycle
All in all, I was not looking forward to seeing this movie, as a friend was dragging me to see it, but damn if I didn't have a smile on my face when it was over. While I can understand with the position of fans of the book getting pissed at the inaccuracies (I'd be saying the same shit if they made a Zelda movie or something), just let it go and view the movie with an open mind. It's pretty fucking good.
Just came back from watching the movie and I have to say that it is pretty good. I haven't read any Asimov books at all, so that makes me more unbias to the majority of you who kept comparing the movie to Asimov's novel. I just bought a couple of Asimov's novel on my way home after the movie.
I own and have read every single Asimov book(and love all of them) and I was extremely impressed with this movie. While for lot's of reasons you could never make a direct "I, Robot" translation to the big screen - I think they did an excellent job of creating a summer movie that held the essence and idea's of Asimov's that was extremely entertaining to a mass market. I left that movie with my love for Asimov's books renewed(haven't read them in years) and loving the different layers of the story they were able to introduce through the movie that makes Asimov's books so interesteing.
Oh and all you Asimov purests are far too close minded and missing an excllent movie that does justice to asimov in today's society.
Oh and all you Asimov purests are far too close minded and missing an excllent movie that does justice to asimov in today's society.
ConfusingJazz
Member
HOLY THREAD RESURRECTION BATMAN!
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