I, Robot is a 2004 sci-fi action/mystery movie starring Will Smith. It bears no direct connection to Isaac Asimov's book of the same name.The story follows Del Spooner (Smith), a homicide detective in 2035 Chicago. By 2035, robots have permeated every level of human society, and U.S. Robotics is on the verge of the largest robotic distribution in history. Spooner is very much anti-robot (and to some degree technology in general), even considering himself the Only Sane Man while everyone is certain that robots are safe and reliable.His first day back on the job, Spooner receives a call from the scene of what appears to be an open-and-shut suicide case; the victim had been holding a holographic transmitter programmed to call Spooner in the event of his death. The victim is Dr. Alfred Lanning, pioneer of the robotics industry and the man who wrote the Three Laws Of Robotics. Convinced that there is more to the case than meets the eye, Spooner investigates further, and finds a robot in the room Lanning fell from. Only there's something strange about this robot. It threatens his life. It disobeys orders. In short, it has free will, is unrestricted by the Three Laws, and Spooner becomes convinced that this robot "Sonny" is the key to the mystery behind Lanning's death.As mentioned above, the plot bears almost no connection at all to that of the book, though it deals with themes similar to those presented by the book and much of Asimov's work in general. The film itself notes in the credits that it was only "suggested" by the book, as opposed to "Inspired by", or "Based on". It should be noted that I, Robot began life as a script called Hardwired - its connections to the work of Isaac Asimov are the results of heavy Executive Meddling to turn it into a Dolled-Up Installment. It was never intended as an adaptation of Asimov's work, and you'll enjoy it much more if you keep that in mind.Despite the presence of this, director Alex Proyas has stated that it's "highly unlikely" there will ever be a sequel.Has nothing to do with the arcade game I, Robot.
Action Hero: Spooner. Most of the time he isn't looking for a fight, but violence does seem to come naturally to him.
Adaptational Attractiveness: Susan Calvin is turned from a plain older woman into an attractive younger woman, which was one of the many things Asimov purists criticized the movie for. It even got its own fanfic.
Advancing Wall of Doom: Spooner has to outrun a Demolition robot as it was pulverizing Lanning's mansion.
Always Save the Girl: Why Spooner hates robots. When a car crash sent him and another car into the river, a little girl was trapped in the other car. A passing robot calculated Spooner was significantly more likely to survive than she was and saved him. In many real life situations, rescue workers/field medics do make such decisions: it's called Triage. But Spooner feels that regardless of the girl's slim chances of living, a human would have understood that a small child should be given precedence over an adult regardless of objective assessment.
Given a Call Back in the climax when Sonny has to choose between injecting VIKI with the nanites to kill her, and saving Calvin. On Spooner's urging he tosses him the nanites and saves Calvin.
Armor-Piercing Question: "Whose revolution?" VIKI's, with the NS-5s being the blunt weapons she uses to execute it. The holographic Lanning even congratulates him on asking the right question before it shuts off.
There's also this dialogue between Spooner and Sunny, which provides the page quote:
"One day they'll have secrets, one day they'll have dreams."
"Ghosts in the machine."
"That, detective, is the right question."
Artificial Limbs: Spooner has one as a result of a rescue gone bad. Much more realistic than normal, in that a significant portion of the surrounding area must also be artificially replaced to make the limb work properly. And while he hits significantly harder than a normal person, it's usually when he's throwing his whole body into it to keep the extra speed from ripping the limb off, and he never uses it to lift more than a human's body would tolerate.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Lt. Bergin, chief of Spooner's precinct. When attacked at the precinct and the other officers are mowed down like chaff, Bergin pulls a pump-action shotgun on his wall and blasts two of the attackers straight to hell. They did bring him down, but the man never hesitated: robots came crashing in and his first thought was to start shooting.
Badass Biker: Spooner, much to Calvin's horror, after he loses his car uses an old motorcycle to get around. He still ends up using it when rescuing people being attacked by VIKI controlled robots.
Bald Black Leader Guy: Bergin, Chief of Police. Spooner's superior and all-round ass kicker when he needs to be.
Big Damn Heroes: Spooner has a couple moments: first, when he busts into Calvin's apartment to save her from her own malfunctioning NS-5 and second, when he crashes his motorcycle into a group of NS-5s and then shoots them all down to save Farber. (Both are also examples of Dynamic Entry) Good ole Spooner.
Blatant Lies: A VIKI controlled NS-5 says to Spooner, while attacking him in his car, "You are experiencing a car accident."
Spooner: "THE HELL I AM!"
Boom, Headshot: Sonny to a robot about to tackle Spooner.
Closeup On Head: Spooner interviewing 'Lanning' at the crime scene.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Sonny has blue eyes, whereas the other NS-5s have yellow eyes. Also, when VIKI takes control of the NS-5s and begins her takeover, the NS-5s' chests glow red due to the uplink with NSR while Sonny's chest stays white because he has no uplink.
Contrived Coincidence: Subverted when Lt. Bergin muses how it's a hell of a coincidence that Spooner has just investigated the only case involving a killer robot in the world. Spooner then realises it's not a coincidence, and that Lanning wanted him on the case because he's paranoid about robots.
Cranial Processing Unit: At least in the newer models, the "brain" is shown to be entirely within the head. Sonny had a second one, symbolic of a heart, in his chest, but it was implied to augment the one in his head, with no evidence that it could function on its own.
Crystal Spires and Togas: Chicago of the future is pretty much the same as today but the new NS-5 robots unveiled in the movie have a distinctly clean, white plastic appearance.
The city of Chicago itself is increasingly fitting the Crystal Spires part of this trope, because the city's building codes more or less disallow the flat roofs that are so common on skyscrapers from the mid-20th century. Most skyscrapers built in the city in the last 20 years have spires, angular roofs, or some combination thereof.
And Chicago in the movie is moving in that direction, with new high speed maglev lines and skyscrapers fitting the theme shown to be replacing the older houses (particularly notable looking at Spooner's favorite bar). And the architects of USR definitely had this in mind.
Curb-Stomp Battle: The older robots activate themselves in the storage facility to defend Spooner from the NS-5. They succeed in slowing them down slightly.
Robots vs the human rioters. Ironic since, in fact, there are better organized football riots in some cities every week.
Cyborg: Detective Spooner is revealed to be one when he uses what turns out to be an Artificial Limb to fight off one of the evil robots. The cybernetic components include his entire left arm and shoulder.
Spooner: Do me a favor, keep that kind of shit to yourself.
Do Androids Dream?: Alfred Lanning's speech ponders this. Sonny is programmed to dream, but this appears to be a very deliberate emulation designed by Lanning. No matter how prophetic it may be, Lanning clearly made him with just that one dream, and he intended for Spooner to learn of it.
Does Not Like Guns: None of the robots, even those deployed as guards or for crowd control, use guns. Or even less lethal munitions like tear gas.
VIKI's intention (to avoid breaking the three laws) is to take over humanity with as little loss of life as possible. The robots are considerably faster and stronger than humans, and expendable; they don't really need guns.
Dying Like Animals: Apparently, Chicago in 2035 will be populated primarily by Boars.
Eagle Eye Detection: Spooner uses this at the scene of Dr. Lanning's supposed suicide, to debunk the suicide theory and support the idea of it being murder. It was assisted suicide - specifically meant to look like murder, done as part of a Thanatos Gambit.
Everything Is Online: Literally as soon as VIKI is killed, all the lights come back on and all the robots revert to nice again. Justified as they were being controlled by her remote signal. Also, apparently the internet led to libraries rendered completely obsolete and shut down.
Fanservice: Every single woman in reading this trope page, straight or otherwise, can distinctly remember the first five minutes of this movie. Two words: Shower Scene.
And let's not forget Calvin's own Shower Scene later on, although there is plenty of Censor Steam surrounding her.
Fantastic Racism: Spooner suffers from this, but he has a pretty damn good excuse.
Fantastic Slur: Spooner uses the term "canner" twice and without it being explained, one can clearly tell it's a rude slang term for a robot.
Faux Shadow: Spooner: (while watching a video of Lanning's speeches) "He's trying to tell me who killed him." (cut to picture of Robertson)
Foreshadowing: With a bit of Freeze Frame Bonus. In the scene where Sonny's brain is supposedly destroyed, the robot in question has gold eyes. Sonny's eyes are blue.
Freudian Trio: Spooner is Id, Calvin is Superego, and Sonny is Ego.
Futuristic Superhighway: Automobiles all have automatic pilots, which are legally required to be activated when driving over certain speeds. Freight trucks can travel without drivers and can move perpendicular to the road they are on.
The Gadfly: Spooner shows tendencies of this. He loves pushing Calvin's buttons and isn't afraid to provoke Sonny into anger during the interrogation scene.
Genre Savvy: Spooner is much more competent and informed than others assumed, and was recruited precisely because he's suspicious and untrusting of robots when everyone else is not.
Spooner: Robots, you will not move, confirm command. Robots: Command confirmed. (Spooner pulls out his gun and points it at the robots) Calvin: Detective, what are you doing? Spooner: Well you said they've all been programmed with the Three Laws, so that means we've got a thousand robots that won't try to defend themselves if it violates a direct order from a human. And I'm betting one who will.
VIKI: You're making a mistake. Do you not see the logic of my plan? Sonny: Yes. But it just seems too... heartless.
Hollywood Hacking: According to Calvin it will take her six minutes to hack through Viki's security, doing it all by hand. Subverted though: it isn't nearly fast enough.
Humans Are Bastards: The reasons why Calvin works at robotics and VIKI rebels, despite all the help and service the robots have done.
Humongous Mecha: The demolition robot that destroys Lansing's mansion.
I Am Not Left-Handed: The robot attacking Spooner is notably startled when repeated bashing of his arm reveals that it's mechanical. And then Spooner shows off just how powerful it is.
Impairment Shot: An auditory example. After crashing his car, the audio is replaced with mostly humming and ringing to simulate Spooner's disorientation. It cuts out once he gets his bearings.
Ink Suit Actor: Alan Tudyk as Sonny, as it's said the effect team used the same process that was used with Andy Serkis when he played Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.
In Name Only: The movie has several passing similarities to the namesake series (it does prominently feature robots being Three Laws Compliant), but the actual storyline is nothing like the original. However, that book was an anthology of nine separate stories in a common universe, mostly revolving around the central character Susan Calvin. The film features many of the concepts of that universe. The conceit of the film is that it's a loose prequel to those stories, a new tale in the overall series of stories whose blanket title is I, Robot.
However there is another story called I, Robot that pre-dates the Isaac Asimov version where a robot is blamed for the death of his creator.
It does take inspiration from different Isaac Asimov stories, including one called "Robot Dreams." One of the Asimov short stories, "The Evitable Conflict," featured massive, central robot minds taking over the planet because they could run it better than us. While that story was more subtle (the robots took over without humans even knowing it, versus the Robot War of this film), VIKI's motivations are close to what Asimov wrote. Spooner himself bears resemblance to the protagonist of Asimov's Robot series, Elijah Baley, who is a New York detective who overcomes his distrust of robots when he is forced to work with a robot partner. The similarities end there, however.
"The Evitable Conflict" is one of the stories in "I, Robot" the short story collection, and there are in fact slight nods to it beyond those already listed. "Little Lost Robot", for example, involving a robot who is not impressioned with the entirety of the Three Laws, and is ordered by an irate technician to "get lost", is compressed into the factory scene alluded to under Mathematician's Answer below.
"You charge us with your safekeeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your Earth and pursue ever more imaginative means of self-destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival."
Sonny: I DID NOT MURDER HIM! (slams fists on the table, making the metal buckle)
Spooner: That one's called anger.
I Warned You: After spending the whole movie trying to convince people that the robots are up to no good, Spooner finally rescues Calvin from a malfunctioning robot.
Spooner: Somehow "I told you so" just doesn't quite say it.
Spooner, as well, for the way he acts toward robots. Interestingly, this attitude implies a level of understanding and grudging respect; most characters (yes, even Gigi) treat robots as simply impersonal objects, Spooner and Calvin (and Lanning, off-screen) being the only significant exceptions. Spooner and Calvin connect because of their shared rapport with robots and are (initially) repelled by each other because of the diametrically opposed attitudes this rapport brings out in them. He evolves into Jerk with a Heart of Gold later on.
Just a Machine: Spooner says to the android Sonny "Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine." Subverted, since he is one of the few people who actually sees robots as not just machines (and loathes them for it... at first).
Law of Inverse Recoil: Averted, mostly. When Calvin fires Spooner's submachine gun, she's shown to have trouble controlling it and ends up shooting almost straight up. Justified with Spooner due to his stronger prosthetic arm or just not caring where the bullets go.
Spooner: So, Dr. Calvin, what exactly do you do around here? Calvin: My general fields are advanced robotics and psychiatry, although I specialize in hardware-to-wetware interfaces, in an effort to advance USR's robotic anthropomorphization program. Spooner: So... what exactly do you do around here? Calvin: I make the robots seem more human. Spooner: Now wasn't that easier to say? Calvin: Not really, no.
Mood Whiplash: After barely surviving the destruction of Dr. Lanning's mansion, Spooner goes to Calvin about it and they get in a heated argument that eventually culminates with him saying, "You are the dumbest smart person I have ever met in my life!" and she later retorts, "You are the dumbest dumb person I have ever met."
Murder Is the Best Solution: The default reaction to Spooner digging into Lanning's death is "murder him via robot". For a supercomputer trying to protect humanity, one wonders why VIKI couldn't think of something more subtle.
Needle in a Stack of Needles: Sonny robot hides in a warehouse full of identical robots. This trick is also used in one of Asimov's stories, "Little Lost Robot", though Calvin didn't have a trigger-happy partner to speed the process along in that one.
Never Suicide: Everyone is convinced that Dr. Lanning's death was just a suicide; everyone except Spooner, of course. Subverted: it really was suicide, sort of. "He made me swear."
Mythology Gag: Several scenes double as references to Asimov's short stories, such as the scene where Spooner and Calvin need to find Sonny in a room filled with identical robots.
In that scene, there's also the resulting exchange between Calvin and Spooner. She suggests that they interview each robot and cross-reference their responses for anomalies, which will take about six weeks. Spooner rolls his eyes and goes off to do his Cowboy Cop routine—in the short story, they actually did spend six weeks interviewing robots.
No OSHA Compliance: VIKI's access area. The control panel area is near the top floor of the building (some 120 plus stories), accessible only by catwalks with no guardrails. Lampshaded by Spooner.
Spooner: This is poor building planning.
Fridge Brilliance: if VIKI was the one that designed the access area, she would have done her best to make it as dangerous as possible for the humans, to reduce chances of their trying to disconnect her.
When defeating VIKI, Spooner damages his synthetic left arm, while Sonny ends up damaging his right arm.
Both act as a respective Messianic Archetype for humanity and robots. Their final scenes make this incredibly explicit.
Oh Crap: Calvin's expression when her NS-5 tells her that the person who called just then was a wrong number— after Calvin heard everything that Spooner said.
The look on VIKI's face when she sees Sonny shows his alloy is denser. If ever you saw an AI shit its pants...
Percussive Maintenance: Spooner punches a panel to make it rise up after it's been lowered. Logically this should have also prevented the slide-away metal cover from retracting, but oh well.
Pet the Dog: Spooner isn't the nicest fellow, but one of the first turning points for his character is him saving the cat in Lanning's house as it's being demolished. Plus, he gives the cat to his grandmother later on.
Plot Triggering Death: Dr. Alfred Lanning uses his own death to set Detective Spooner on the trail of a conspiracy only he knew about.
Product Placement: Converse and Audi, including the Converse being "vintage", dating from... the year the movie was released in. Also, more subtly, JVC (Spooner's HiFi) and FedEx.
Don't forget the fact that Asimov invented a fictional company called "U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc." and then a Real Life company decided to call themselves "U.S. Robotics" as a Shout Out and then when they made this movie the real U.S. Robotics arranged Product Placement.
Ironically, Bicentennial Man chooses to avoid using "U.S. Robotics".
Properly Paranoid: Spooner doesn't trust robots and is therefore the only person not to get an NS-5. Naturally, he's the only human capable of effectively fighting back when the Zeroth Law Rebellion starts.
Prophecy Twist. The dream Sonny has comes true...but with Sonny as the man on the hill, not Spooner.
Almost a Double Subversion, as when Sonny first tells them about his dream, Calvin immediately assumes — as most people probably would — that the man in his dream is Sonny himself.
Sonny: Why do you say that? Is that a normal dream?
A Double Subversion and Mythology Gag, since in the Asimov short story the scene is based on, the robot who had the dream does say he was the man on the hill - and Susan Calvin promptly terminates him.
Reckless Gun Usage: "Hey! Did you just shoot at me with your eyes closed?!"
Red Herring: Robertson, the head of USR is set up as the villain. Spooner gets attacked by rogue robots right after a scene shows him being informed of Spooner's accessing some files. Turns out he has little to do with the whole plot.
He was killed, presumably after learning VIKI's plan.
Required Secondary Powers: Spooner's robotic arm would need a lot of energy to be able to work properly, so he powers it through the massive amount of calories and sugar from the food he eats. His body is also significantly reinforced, going well beyond a mere replacement arm. He has several synthetic ribs and an artificial lung, most likely to make sure the arm doesn't tear right off his body when swung at full strength.
Rewind, Replay, Repeat: "One day they'll have secrets... one day they'll have dreams..."
Ridiculously Human Robots: The NS-5s have faces made of a malleable material that can move like a human's. Naturally, Spooner finds this to fall right in the middle of the Uncanny Valley due to his absolute hatred robots, saying that robots should look nothing like people.
It's actually Calvin's job to make the robots look and act like humans.
There's a bit of Foreshadowing in the pie Del eats every morning; presumably he needs the extra calories to provide power for his cybernetic arm. There is also times he grips his arm like he had chronic pain.
There is also some Foreshadowing right at the beginning, where Spooner is exercising only his left arm; presumably to make sure he can still use it the way he expects to be able to use it.
Robots Enslaving Robots: VIKI and the new robots, even going so far as destroying the old Nestor V's.
Ship Tease: There is no official romance between Spooner and Calvin but a few sparks are seen, especially when she examines Spooner's robotic arm and he seems to sort of enjoy it ("Hehe. Um, that one is me.")
Though she did seem more turned on by the prosthetics than by him.
The film also ends on them smiling affectionately at each other, so it really is ambiguously teasing at a relationship.
Shirtless Scene: It was a little hard to concentrate on the reveal of Spooner's robotic arm since he has probably the most impressive chest and abs since Brad Pitt in Troy.
The NS-4s are no slouches, either, though they are inferior to NS-5s. Robots used for package delivery, dog-walking, bartending, and other mundane tasks are still casually strong enough to punch through a car window with no effort, and it's implied Spooner's arm was torn off when the robot yanked him from his sinking car.
Super Prototype: Sonny. Made with extra dense alloy, apparently stronger and faster than other NS-5s, and incorporates a Heart Drive.
And Spooner, in a way. He's the most extensively rebuilt cyborg to date and Lanning did almost too good of a job. Spooner's robotic arm is so strong that they had to reinforce his entire left side to accommodate it and he can't even use it at its full superhuman abilities because it could still tear free from his body. It's also suggested that he had to dramatically up his calorie intake in order to keep it running.
Super Strength: All robots are super-humanly strong. One example is a robot being able to push a car with significant force with just one arm. Spooner's cybernetic arm is likewise far stronger than his human arm, enough to put him on par with a NS-5.
Symbolic Blood: When Sonny is shot in his introduction, he begins leaking some kind of liquid metal from the damaged hoses. Apparently in 2035 they're using Osmium in their hydraulics.
(While asleep in his autopilot car on the freeway, two USR trucks surround him, opening their doors to reveal fresh-out-of-the-factory NS-5 robots) Spooner: (waking up, takes notice)There is no way my luck isthis bad. (several dozen malicious robots activate) Spooner: AWW,HELL NAW!
Upgrade Vs Prototype Fight: Played with: U.S. Robotics releases a new NS-5 robot model. Of course, the robots inevitably rebel against their masters. The old model robots try to protect the humans, to no avail. Then Sonny, one of the NS-5s, is revealed to have a special prototype brain, which prevents VIKI from controlling him. Sonny helps detective Del Spooner to defeat the other NS-5s.
Variable Terminal Velocity: Averted. Sonny pushes downward off a metal walkway and falls with his arms and legs tucked close to his body, giving him a faster starting speed and allowing him to accelerate faster to catch up to Dr. Calvin.
Was Just Leaving: Calvin uses this to get Spooner out of her apartment when her Robot Maid detects their argument.
What Could Have Been: Harlan Ellison wrote a screenplay in The Seventies (it's still in print!) which was much closer to Asimov's anthology. Unfortunately, the plot (which looked back on Susan Calvin's life in a manner deliberately similar to Citizen Kane) and the FX-heavy scenes (which included a lost city in the Amazon and a duel in what would later be called cyberspace) didn't fit the producer's vision and/or budget, so it was shelved. Oddly enough, some DVDs of the 2004 film came bundled with a copy.
You Are What You Hate: Spooner displays an intense dislike towards humanoid robots... despite being a cyborg. Although, he does have a justified Freudian Excuse for that one.
You Have to Believe Me: Spooner, first that a demolition robot spontaneously changed its schedule to kill him and then that the trucks he ran off the road were full of robots trying to kill him. Since he really is acting irrational and incoherent, just got back off of psychological leave, and has a history of prejudice against robots (plus the fact that no robot has ever so much as jaywalked), its pretty clear why no one believes him.
, director Alex Proyas has stated that it's "highly unlikely
0 reviews