I, Robot

I, Robot, the latest July “let’s make a butt-load of money with Will Smith” vehicle, is a good-looking movie. It has an interesting vision of Chicago 30 years from now—the Sears Tower sharing the skyline with new spiraling skyscrapers and people sharing the streets with robots. The film works for its first hour on the powers of Smith’s decent performance and an intriguing mystery. When it becomes corrupted by sappy-happy robots and gives a bland character too much screen time, it nosedives into mediocrity. Smith acquits himself nicely, and some of the robot carnage is first-rate, but it’s not as profound as it thinks it is. Only for people who have an intense love of robots.