Some fun excerpts from former SF fanboy Roger Ebert's Sun-Times review of I, Robot:
Asimov's robot stories were often based on robots that got themselves hopelessly entangled in logical contradictions involving the laws. According to the invaluable Wikipedia encyclopedia on the Web, Harlan Ellison and Asimov collaborated in the 1970s on an *, which, the good doctor said, would produce "the first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made."
While that does not speak highly for "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), it is certain that the screenplay for this film, by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman, is not adult, complex or worthwhile, although it is indeed science fiction. The director is Alex Proyas, whose great "Dark City" (1998) was also about a hero trying to make sense of the deceptive natures of the beings around him....
The plot I will not detail, except to note that you already know from the ads that the robots are up to no good, and [Will Smith] could write a lot of tickets for Three Laws violations....
As for the robots, they function like the giant insects in "Starship Troopers," as video game targets. You can't even be mad at them, since they're only programs. Although, come to think of it, you can be mad at programs; Microsoft Word has inspired me to rage far beyond anything these robots engender.
Ebert's point about crediting Asimov in the movie for developing the Three Laws of Robots is a little fatuous, but there's no doubt that he's one of the few mainstream reviewers who could envision what a film version of I, Robot should have been.
Not gonna see it, and no longer eager to follow Alex Proyas's career.
* Originally published serially in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, nominated for an "Other Forms" Hugo Award in 1988 (defeated by Watchmen), and long available in book form. Read it if you haven't—it's priceless, and evinces clear love and respect for the source material.
Author
Hugo and Nebula Award nominee. Creator of Proper Manuscript Format, Spelling Bee Solver, Tylogram, and more. Banned in Canada.
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