For anyone who’s interested, there’s a longish interview with I, Robot director Alex Proyas here where he talks about some of the things we’ve been discussing. He seems to have a handle on the Asimov mythos (he references the zeroth law, prompted by the interviewer), at least, which is a good sign. Plus there’s this:
…which is another good sign. However, there’s also this:
:eek:
Hmmm, not a bad point.
The interview also has a horse’s-mouth description of how the Hardwired script ended up morphing into this one. Check it out.
Jurph, to address your analysis, in the bookDr. Calvin is, indeed, much closer to robots than she is to humans. Of particular interest is her relationship with one Stephen Byerley, the one man to whom she was ever really close… And she suspects that he is, in fact, an elaborate robot (the truth of this point is left deliberately ambiguous). I understand that this was the focus of Ellison’s script, which I really ought to read sometime. When presented with a defective robot, manufactured without any of the hardwired knowledge usually built in (except for the Laws, of course, those are essential), she raises it as a baby, and trains it to call her “Mama”. And she’s quoted as saying that the difference between a robot and a human is that the robot is fundamentally decent. So if she shows more sympathy to the robot than she does to Will Smith, that, at least, is true to the books.
Uh, guys, look at who has the screenplay credits. Jeff Vintar (who?) and Akiva Goldman. Akiva “Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Lost in Space” Goldman. Doesn’t look promising.
I wasn’t previously aware of this. Run! Run for your lives!
I also note an offhand mention in the reviews linked by N9IWP that the studio (and possibly Smith) elbowed Proyas to the side for some or most of post-production. Another bad sign.
Smith was on Letterman last night and showed another clip in which Smith’s car (a hideous product placement by Audi) is besieged by hundreds of robots pouring out of a USRobotics delivery truck (which is freaking huge).
It gets worse (or better, depending on your POV). He mentioned that he had to get in shape because of the nudity. Supposedly, the European cut will show full frontal (the US version will be edited or modified somehow).
I just thought I saw Michael Jackson on my TV out of the corner of my eye, when I realize that it’s “Susan Calvin” :rolleyes:
I should have known better, she was firing a machine gun :smack:
This movie is looking worse and worse
Think I might just stay home and read some real sci-fi instead
I don’t know why exactly, but the trailers for I, Robot somehow keep reminding me of The Caves of Steel, also by Asimov. I guess it must be the detective tracking down a killer motif. Come to think of it, are there any Spacers and off-world colonies in this flick, and is there a humanoid robot who teams up with Will Smith??
I wonder why they didn’t pick The Caves of Steel in the first place – I, Robot may be an iconic brand, but the former would make a far superior movie.
I don’t normally watch movies until they get to the cheap bin at the rental places. The last movie I went to the theatre to see was… The Tigger Movie at a dollar theatre, and during the summer, so I was looking for A/C at least as much as a movie. The reason I bring this up is that I just got spammed by 20th Century Fox re: their release of I, Robot this coming weekend. When I went to tell 'em to take me off their lists, I found that first I’d have to finish registering wth them?!?!?! to do that. I’m wondering how many other people who thought they were safe from 20th Century Fox also got spammed for this movie after discussing it here?
Please note: Mods, I’m not making any accusations. And even at my most suspicious I doubt that anyone officially involved with the site, or Chicago Reader had anything to do with this. I’m just curious, since the only place my interest in Asimov has been shown on the web in the past year was here, if this discussion might be where the studio got my email…
[QUOTE]
<snip>Unfortunately, the screenplay, which is only loosely based on Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” stories, gradually reveals itself as trivial in comparison – not bad, not ridiculous, just small in spirit and lacking in importance.
<snip>Greenwood, a good actor, is underutilized, and Bridget Moynahan, as the robot psychiatrist who comes to share Spooner’s suspicions, underplays her role. If she and Proyas decided that the character should be withdrawn and hesitant, it was an unadventurous choice.
In the last third, the picture becomes an action frenzy and loses the human element, though it maintains interest. A particularly interesting moment comes when we hear the spokesman for the evil force explain its actions: Lives must be lost and some freedom sacrificed to maintain safety, we’re told. Obviously, someone is trying to make a point with this, but it’s not clear enough to register.
[QUOTE]
So…yes, the zero’th law. And the robots are an “evil force.” :rolleyes: I hate it when you guys are right…
