Subscribers Only Content Area

Home

New Movies

All Movies

New Videos

All Videos

DVD

Search

(About Our Ads) "I, ROBOT" (2004) (Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Heavy Heavy *Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Minor Heavy None Moderate Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate None Minor Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Sci-fi: A homicide detective of the future investigates a murder that he believes was caused by an advanced robot. PLOT: It's Chicago, 2035, and homicide detective Del Spooner (WILL SMITH) is one of the few people alive who don't like the preponderance of robots that have infiltrated everyday life from being personal assistants to garbage collectors. It's only going to get worse as U.S. Robotics CEO Lawrence Robertson (BRUCE GREENWOOD) is about to deliver the newest and most advanced generation of such machines the world has ever seen. Yet, when top U.S. Robotics executive Dr. Alfred Lanning (JAMES CROMWELL) ends up dead following a long fall from his office window, Del is called to the case by a preprogrammed hologram of Lanning. While it can only answer specific questions, Del soon believes that his former acquaintance not only was trying to get some information to him, but also that he didn't commit suicide like everyone else thinks, but was murdered. Robertson and Del's boss, Lt. John Bergin (CHI McBRIDE), think that's nonsense, particularly since Lanning's room was locked from the inside. Nevertheless, and when accompanied by the company's programmer, Susan Calvin (BRIDGET MOYNAHAN), Del suddenly finds his chief suspect hiding in Lanning's office. And it's none other than one of the new USR robots that calls itself Sonny (ALAN TUDYK). The robot flees the scene and is captured, but no one except for Del thinks it committed the crime. That's because Lanning imbued every robot with three basic laws and guiding principles that prohibit and prevent them from harming humans. Even so, Del sees something quite different in Sonny and has a bad feeling about what's about to occur. As he continues his investigation, the detective soon realizes even he underestimated the problem that's about to unfold for all of humanity. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? It's a good bet many older preteens and teenage kids will want to see it, especially if they're fans of Will Smith. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: WILL SMITH plays a homicide detective of the future whose prejudice against robots leads him to believe that one of them has done the seemingly impossible and killed a human. Despite internal and external obstacles, he perseveres in his investigation. He also drinks in a few scenes and uses some profanity. BRIDGET MOYNAHAN plays a human emotion programmer at the robot facility who assists Del in his investigation and eventually comes around to believing his theory. ALAN TUDYK voices and serves as the model for an advanced robot that develops a conscience but finds himself as the chief suspect in a murder case. BRUCE GREENWOOD plays the CEO of the robot manufacturing company who may or may not have villainous intentions. JAMES CROMWELL plays a robot developer who tries to help Del in his investigation -- from beyond the grave -- by leaving a series of clues for him. CHI McBRIDE plays Del's boss who thinks the detective is stretching credibility with his wild-sounding theories. He uses some profanity and briefly drinks. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a brief summary of the content found in this action-heavy, sci-fi film that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 11 "s" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. A man and woman are separately seen in their own showers (mostly in silhouette, but we see his bare butt). Violence consists of various heavily stylized action sequences and battles between partially anthropomorphized robots and humans, and between various models of robots where members of both are hit, smashed and knocked about (and many robots are shot and otherwise destroyed). Some of that has bloody and/or somewhat gory results and some of those scenes and others (including robots turning on humans individually and en masse) may be unsettling, suspenseful or possibly even scary to some viewers (particularly younger ones). Some of that action, stunts and fighting may be enticing for some kids to imitate, while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. A few characters drink, while there's talk of a past divorce, and other thematic elements are present. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Del has a beer and the bartender brings him two more, one of which he shares with his boss. Others also drink in this bar. Del pours himself a drink in Susan's place. BLOOD/GORE We see a body lying in the atrium of a building with dried blood from the mouth and a pool of blood behind the head (resulting from a long fall to that surface). We see some photos of Lanning's body with blood on his face. Del has some blood down the side of his head. Del has blood on his head and then some running from his mouth following a traffic accident. More comes from his mouth and he then spits out more (in a spray). We also see that his tennis shoe appears to be soaked in blood. We see that a human has a robotic arm (we see the "flesh" partially torn away to reveal the mechanical parts beneath it). We then see the person spray something on the "wounds" that instantly heal them back to normal. We see a dead man on the floor who has either burn or finger impression marks on his neck (meaning that's how he was killed). We see several more views of additional flesh wounds/tears in a person's robotic arm. Del has some slightly bloody scrapes on his face. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Some of the robots develop bad attitudes toward humans and kill them. Del doesn't like robots and makes no bones about it. Robertson tries to prevent Del from investigating the death (for economical purposes, as it would ruin his business, while more nefarious motives may be at play as well). FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" and "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. We see brief glimpses (in a nightmare) of two submerged cars (underwater), with one containing a panicked-looking girl. A robot then punches through the glass and grabs someone else. Del slowly makes his way through Lanning's large but deserted house at night. We then see that the programming instructions for some huge, demolition robotic machinery have been changed from the following morning to that night, meaning it's going to start with Del inside the house. It does and he then tries to flee from the massive destruction of the home that occurs all around him. After several close calls with the machinery and/or falling debris (while carrying a house cat) and shooting at a door while running toward it (to open it), Del makes it outside. We see brief glimpses of Del's underwater-in-a-car nightmare. We see a flashback to the underwater car scene where a man sees a young girl trapped in another car beneath the water, but a robot chooses to save him instead of her (we see her in the window of the car as it sinks away into darkness). Susan prepares to "execute" Sonny by injecting him with miniature devices that will essentially kill his personality. Some younger kids may be frightened when the robots start to take over with their revolution We see a great deal of robots scaling the outside of a building to get to Del and Susan. Robots smash some atrium glass and crash down onto a suspended surface where they try to attack Del and Susan. Both shoot many robots, but a few get to Susan and start to break off the catwalk she's standing on, eventually causing it to dangle from the structure and her to dangle from it. She eventually falls (from a great height), but a robot dives after and saves her in midair, all while Del battles more robots. Del dives to grab a valuable vial that's been tossed his way, but that mean's he's now falling a great distance. He then slams his arm and hand into some sort of energy field/structure that damages his arm. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Shotgun/Machine guns: Used by various humans to shoot at, debilitate and/or destroy various robots. See "Violence" for details. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Sh*tting on the little guy," "Political bullsh*t," "Your sh*t keeps malfunctioning around me," "I don't give a sh*t," "Excuse me, I'm allergic to bullsh*t" (said after a fake sneeze), "Do me a favor and keep that kind of sh*t to yourself," "You can kiss my ass, metal d*ck," "Get the hell out of my face," "Fine ass," "You are an asshole," "I'd walk all up and down your ass," "What in God's name are you doing?" "Now that's just stupid," "Sure as hell," "What, are you nuts?" "To hell with this guy," "Damn right," "What the hell /is that thing doing here/do you want from me/was that?" "You're the dumbest dumb/smart person I've ever met," "Get the hell out of here," "Persistent son of a bitch," "Oh, hell no," "The hell I am," "Now you pissed me off" and "You've so got to die." Some/all of the action, fighting and other stunts may be enticing for some kids to imitate. When he doesn't like the advice his grandmother gives him, Del fakes being asleep and loudly snores. Del takes a chair and smashes it against a large pane of glass to prove that it's safety glass. JUMP SCENES Sonny suddenly leaps from a pile of material and surprises Del and Susan. A cat sudden suddenly surprises Del (along with some sudden music on the soundtrack). MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 11 "s" words, 1 slang term using male genitals ("d*ck"), 16 hells, 8 asses (2 used with "hole"), 3 damns, 1 S.O.B., 2 uses each of "G-damn" and "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes," "For God's sakes" and "God." SEX/NUDITY We see Del in his tight briefs when he awakens. Moments later, we see a full body side shot of him standing nude in the shower (from a distance and mostly in silhouette) that shows his bare butt (his leg position blocks a view of his crotch). After Susan says that Lawrence told her to accommodate Del in any way possible, Del suggestively (but playfully) responds, "Really?" We see Del in his boxers again when he awakens. We see the full body shape of Susan in the shower, but due to the nature of the shower door and water/steam on it, we only see her non-explicit silhouette. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We hear that Del is divorced and he makes several comments about that (mainly in a joking fashion). TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Robots and whether they'll ever become the way they're presented in the film. The comment that robots might naturally evolve some day. The comment that prejudice shows no reason (this time referring to Del's dislike of robots). VIOLENCE Seeing a robot running down the street carrying a woman's purse, Del pursues it through the street, eventually tackling and aiming his gun at it (but it turns out to have been rushing an asthma inhaler to its owner). We see that a person either has committed suicide or been thrown through an office window to his death hundreds of feet below. Del takes a chair and smashes it against a large pane of glass to prove that it's safety glass. Sonny and Del aim their guns at each other, with the robot then suddenly taking flight and Del shooting at it as it leaps from a window and falls many stories to the atrium below where it smashes the surface below it upon impact (and then runs off). Del aims his gun at various identical robots (that are somewhat human in shape and have faces, but aren't realistic looking androids), hoping to flush out Sonny. He then shoots one in the head and it drops to the floor. Sonny grabs Del and throws him across a large room. The robot then escapes, but various cops shoot at it outside the building, eventually catching it in a net. Sonny slams his hands down so hard on a metal table that he leaves imprints of his robotic hands in it. Del slowly makes his way through Lanning's large but deserted house at night. We then see that the programming instructions for some huge, demolition robotic machinery have been changed from the following morning to that night, meaning it's going to start with Del inside the house. It does and he then tries to flee from the massive destruction of the home that occurs all around him. After several close calls with the machinery and/or falling debris (while carrying a house cat) and shooting at a door while running toward it (to open it), Del makes it outside. As Del drives through a large tunnel, several large U.S. Robotics transport vehicles pull up in front of and behind him. They then open up and various robots leap out and jump on Del's vehicle, with one smashing its fist through the windshield, grabbing the "steering wheel" and purposefully trying to crash the vehicle. He shoots and runs over many of the robots, but they just keep coming. He then spins his vehicle, sending the robots on it flying off and into the transport vehicles or under his tires. One of the large transport vehicles then crashes and explodes (only robots are on board). Del's vehicle then ends up sliding down the tunnel on its roof and eventually crashes into a support pillar. He's wounded and bleeding, but otherwise okay. A robot, however, slides his smashed vehicle toward him (nearly hitting him), and then grabs and throws Del across the way. Del tries to escape by climbing away, but the robot grabs and spins him around a horizontal pole until he crashes to the floor. Del tries to hit the robot with a large pipe, but it blocks the shots. It then repeatedly hits him on the arm with it. A guard grabs Del by the wrist, but Del then twists that guard's forearm, causing him pain. We see lots of newer robots attacking older ones, and some of those new ones try to get Del who barely manages to escape. A robot knocks a young man backwards. Robots attack a bunch of cops who shoot back at them and we then see a wide-scale scene of bedlam and hitting, etc. Bergin shoots several with his shotgun, but another one grabs and throws him to the floor (we don't see the impact of that). Susan's robot suddenly won't let her out of the house and pushes her back into her chair. Del then shoots that robot "dead." Angry mobs of humans carrying handguns, machine guns and chains clash with a large robotic army with robots being shot and humans being hit and tossed around. As Robots attack one guy, Del ends up briefly flying through the air and shoots some of those robots. He and one robot grab each other by the neck, but Susan blasts the robot. We see a dead man on the floor who has either burn or finger impression marks on his neck (meaning that's how he was killed). Sonny holds a gun on Susan's head, but does so as a decoy as Del then goes from aiming at Sonny to shooting various other robots. Part of Sonny's robotic arm is damaged as he reaches through a protective field to obtain a vial. Various robots attack Sonny but he beats them off him. Robots smash some atrium glass and crash down onto a suspended surface where they try to attack Del and Susan. Both shoot many robots, but a few get to Susan and start to break off the catwalk she's standing on, eventually causing it to dangle from the structure and her to dangle from it. She eventually falls (from a great height), but a robot dives after and saves her in midair, all while Del battles more robots. More robots attack Sonny, with him breaking one's neck and beating off the others. Del dives to grab a valuable vial that's been tossed his way, but that mean's he's now falling a great distance. He then slams his arm and hand into some sort of energy field/structure that damages his arm. A huge explosion destroys a "mainframe" type computer as well as various individual robots. Reviewed July 13, 2004 / Posted July 16, 2004