2. A robot must obey the commands of a human, except where those commands conflict with the First Law
3. A robot must protect itself from destruction, except where that protection conflicts with the First or Second Law
The Handbook of Robotics 56th Edition, 2058 AD.
We've waited several decades for a serious adaptation of an Isaac Asimov work, and despite several attempts dedicated to a children's audience (Andrew – a member of our family), an action-packed adaptation of the author's most infamous work has hit the Czech airwaves with great speed. It may be loose, as befits a proper American film, but in some ways it pays tribute and honour to a great writer.
There are quite a few changes to the film from the prequel, and the film takes Asimov as its source for its themes and ideas, including the three laws of robotics.
Chicago in the year 2035, when the world is already filled with robots, obedient, precisely obeying the three laws of robotics. The vast majority of humans are perfectly happy, with only individuals like Detective Spooner (Will Smith) disliking these tin pets of men. He compounds his hatred when his almost-father Alfred Panniny (James Cromwell), who was developing a new line of robots, commits suicide. She hasn't even committed suicide yet, as it's revealed within minutes that it's actually the robot's fault, maybe even not, who knows. And the robot, when discovered, runs away from the room Panniny left, it was very high up, and jumps out the window. And this begins an interesting tangle of gradually revealed connections, new information, and finding out who was behind it all? The robot, The Man, the multinational corporation...
And how pretty and smart Ms., maybe even Miss, Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) is, who may be old enough in the books, but in the movie is a pretty likeable brunette.
Asimov may or may not be turning in his grave at how vivid and action-packed this film is, how freshly conceived, interestingly edited, interestingly gimmicky. Who knows, he wrote the book I Robot a long time ago, so he had no idea how his material might be conceived.
The film adaptation has been taken on by Alex Proyas, a director unknown to some people, who has made films such as The Crow, Death's Head and others. And for the first time, he got a big budget and a big star. A star like Will Smith. Yes, he's one of America's most infamous black actors. He directed with skill. It's one of the few American films where you can see that there's a lot of work behind them. Mainly, the action is shot skillfully, it's not Michaley Bay or the Matrix, it's something better because it doesn't get boring, and most importantly you still know what's happening in the action on screen.
We also have to add tricks to this movie, because the robots are shaped entirely on the computer. But with the same technique that Gollum is filmed with. That is, with a faithful overlong actor acting out the actions so the computers know what to calculate. And so the very important cooperation of the computer objects, the robots, is guaranteed. And it certainly succeeds in this film, because you can't see where the sets end, the live actors end, and the computer animation begins.
What to conclude? Well just a true summer break movie, full of catchphrases, clever humour, well shot action that doesn't get boring. With no big mistakes that would harm the film, which may, or may not, appeal to everyone.
Original release of this article February 10, 2019 – Kritiky.cz
