finally saw I, Robot tonight. i’ll be brutally honest: i had no desire to see this movie. being a bit of an Asimov fan and hearing how ‘well’ they stuck to the book this movie is loosely based on I was never drawn to see this movie, both in the theater and/or to rent it. but it was free, and its entertainment so I steeled myself for the worse and watched it. my review? not bad. not great, but not bad, and so it passes the Mick Jones Patented Movie Review critique.
while not directly following the plot of book that shares its name (though that book is merely a compilation of short stories) nor to the other Asimov book that shares much of its inspiration, The Caves of Steel, and despite the fact that they failed to including the way cool mass transit system described in that book (a system of varying speed, moving sidewalks) the movie did a decent job of capturing much of the essence of Asimov’s writings as well as entertaining us with action, suspense, quick banter, and some nifty tech advances of the near future. Most of all I was pleased with the fact that the movie was able to capture a glimmer of the philosophical and sociological aspects of Asimov’s work. Though he created great stories and came up with fantastic new ideas within the science fiction realm, the real genius of his was to take his science fiction and use it to discuss human kind, civilization, our societies, and the human mind, thus making the outlandish and fantastical real and tangible, relating men and women of the future to the similar issues we face now.
if you get a chance at least rent the movie, give a chance, and then go read some Asimov books. obviously I’d reccommend I, Robot as a good read; its easy, with short stories and quick conclusions, its a good starter for the Asimov world of robots. From there I’d suggest diving into his Robot series with Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. that reminds me I need to buy those two and re-read them. they were good!
well, until next time, keep high and dry!
