Smith and robots go head-to-head

"I, Robot" screams unoriginal, but sometimes that's just what the viewer needs. "The Terminator," "Minority Report," "Paycheck" and "Memento" all come to mind when watching this film. In addition to the flavorless story, Will Smith continues on with his familiar roll as a government official ("Independence Day," "Enemy of the State," "Bad Boys"). \n"I, Robot" takes place in Chicago, circa 2035, where technology has advanced to almost unbelievable proportions. Robots work as slaves to the humans and must obey three rules. Detective Del Spooner (Smith) is the witty, untrusting cop who's got something to hide. Spooner hates robots, and the world questions his morals on the subject. The creator of the robot world, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), has just died from a suspected suicide. The scene doesn't fit well with Spooner.\nDr. Lanning has left clues for Spooner to uncover what is going on with his death and the recent peculiar behavior of some of the robots. However, it is never as simple as to just follow the clues to solve the mystery. The brand new NS-5 robots try to kill Spooner in the process of his investigation. Our detective, however, gets some unlikely help from Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) of USR (the robot company) and Dr. Lanning's robot, Sonny (voiced by Alan Tudyk). The three of them have to deal with the collapsing control world. \nDirector Alex Proyas ("Dark City," "The Crow") does an excellent job with the setting, his actors, the live action/CGI mix and other features. Unfortunately, this noble effort doesn't make a great movie. The film jumps right into the story and leaves the viewer to reconstruct its loose subplots. Compared to Proyas' previous work, this isn't as dark as one would suspect. \nI thought it was pretty odd that Spooner went about his journeys guided by clues. Viewers saw this idea in the movies "Paycheck" and "Memento." The notion of a war with robots is a familiar one ("The Terminator"), and corruption in the government with technology is reminiscent of "Minority Report." One of the great redeeming qualities of "I, Robot" is that we weren't insulted with a cheesy love story that could have easily been inserted between the detective and the female doctor. \nThe methodology of Spooner's investigative work is a little radical. I would think that there would be advancements enough in the next 30 years in order to figure out a suicide versus a murder. If technology is so inclined to do that now, and not 30 years from now, but at the same time robots walk among humans, I think we are heading toward a grim future. \nThis might not be the season's best, but with a diversified summer of blockbusters, "I, Robot" is a needed change of pace. \nThe flick was well made, but not necessarily well written. Visually, you will be amazed. This is definitely a movie you can take at face value. If you decide to see "I, Robot," expect a formula movie, and you will get just that.