Ensight – Jeremy Wright

I meant to post this Friday night, but recent downtime made that difficult.

Before I get into the review, I should say a few things. First, I’m an Isaac Asimov fan. Not a rabid, inconsistency checking, estate-loathing fan… Just a fan. In my opinion he is one of the most imaginative authors of our time, and probably one of the best fiction writers this century has seen, hands down.

Most people will know him for the 3 Laws of Robotics (which aren’t necessarily safe). I fell in love with his writing through the Foundations Series. Then I found some vague robot stuff and finally found his genius in the Black Widow tales.

Sure, eventually I returned to the famous robot stories, but I was a “generalist” Asimov fan at heart.

So, it was with rather great trepidation that I watched the first I, Robot trailer. I mean, come on, it just struck the wrong chord for several reasons:

1. Will Smith is in it
2. It’s a “blockbuster”
3. It looked nothing like I, Robot
4. It looked like it was a “robots taking over the world” thing, which all Asimov fans know is “impossible” (based on how positronic brains were apparently designed)

Really, my biggest concern was that the movie was mis-titled. It really did seem like it was more of a Caliban type of movie than anything.

For those who aren’t aware, let me summarize:

I, Robot

I, Robot was a collection of short stories exploring both the “Frankenstein Complex” (humans fearing robots would turn on them) as well as the intricacies of the 3 Laws: sometimes unforeseen things happen which seem illogical to us, but are in fact perfectly logical based on how the 3 Laws balance themselves out in a given situation.

Caliban

A robot is created without the 3 Laws, but with the capacity to ‘learn’ and ‘adapt’ (unheard of in the past). It figures out that humans don’t like robots (specifically him) and sets out to protect himself (also unheard of).

Having watched the trailer, it really did seem like more of a Caliban type of thing.

But, really, it was I, Robot through and through. Watching the movie there were dozens of things I recognized from the books (from Viki through to the “oh robot, where art thou” scene). It was a fantastic ride down memory lane. It was as if (could it be?!) someone had taken the book and woven it into a movie… Keeping the right title, finding the right actor and putting it all together in a great package.

Was Will Smith good in this? Yes. Definitely. He was just strong enough to be believable, but just weak enough to be good in this role. Sometimes cocky, sometimes feisty, always over-compensating for a loss in his past. Will Smith’s best role yet. The only time I’ve ever seen him look ‘weak’.

All of that said, there were some obvious plot holes. The question of why all of the NS-5’s didn’t just melt down when presented by a major 3 Laws conflict could have ruined the movie, but I was so swept up in it that I was able to overlook it. I wasn’t expecting perfection out of Hollywood, after all. Not after the farce that was The Hulk.

No, I, Robot was:

1. Perfectly titled
2. Well executed
3. Totally entertaining
4. Very creative
5. True to “asimov” in the same way that the ghost writer books of late have been (like Caliban was, actually)

All in all, well worth the ticket price, and lots of fodder for conservation if you’ve got some Asimov friends you can go with.