I, Robot (film): Difference between revisions

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 Compliant|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.

 

 

Apparently, there is going to be [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083849/ a sequel] in 2015.

 

Has nothing to do with the arcade game [[I Robot (Video Game)|I, Robot]].

 

* [[Abnormal Limb Rotation Range]]: NS 5s, especially their waists.

* [[Everything Is an iPod In The Future]]: The latest robots at least are pretty much walking iPods.

* [[Everything Is Online]]: Literally as soon as {{spoiler|[[The Big Bad|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.

* [[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.

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]

* [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]

* [[Heart Drive]]: Sonny's secondary processor that let's him violate the three laws.

* [[Honor Before Reason]]

** "Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine."

* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: Spooner.

{{quote| '''Spooner:''' So, Dr. Calvin, what exactly do you do around here?<br />

'''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.<br />

* [[Made of Iron]]: Sonny, almost literally (its an alloy). Takes a fall out a VERY high window and isn't slowed down.

* [[Master Computer]]: VIKI.

{{quote| '''Spooner:''' ''[[Deadpan Snarker|How]]'' [[Deadpan Snarker|much did you say these things cost?]]}}

* [[Mechanical Evolution]]

** 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.''

* [[Percussive Maintenance]]

* [[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.

* [[Power Fist]]: Spooner's {{spoiler|artificial arm}}, which is actually the only advantage he has while fighting robots.

{{quote| '''Spooner:''' You have so got to die.}}

* [[Product Placement]]: Converse and Audi, including the Converse being "antique", dating from... the year the movie was released in. Also, more subtly, JVC (Spooner's HiFi) and FedEx.

* [[Red Herring]]: {{spoiler|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.}}

** {{spoiler|He was killed, presumably after learning VIKI's plan.}}

* [[Required Secondary Powers]]: {{spoiler|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.}}

** Of course, {{spoiler|a Required Secondary Power he lacks is that the rest of his body would need to be reinforced to properly handle the feedback from his robot arm striking with such force.}}

* [[Shotguns Are Just Better]]: Da Chief knows how to deal with the robot revolution. BLAM!

* [[Shout Out]]: Done literally in the above-mentioned scene with the robots shouting [[Freaks|ONE OF US!]] in response to Spooner's question.

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''VIKI:''' My logic is undeniable.}}<br />

'''Spooner:''' You have so got to die. }}

* [[Survivor Guilt]]: Spooner.

* [[Super Protoype]]: Sonny. Made with extra dense alloy, apparently stronger and faster than other NS 5s, and incorporates a [[Heart Drive]].

* [[Super Reflexes]]: A common ability for all of the robots.

* [[This Is Gonna Suck]]:

{{quote| ''(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)''<br />

''(Several dozen malicious robots activate and stare him down)''<br />

'''Spooner''': [[Oh Crap|AWW,]] [[Memetic Mutation|HELL NAW!]] }}

* [[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 (Film)|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]]) [[Executive Meddling|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... {{spoiler|despite being a cyborg}}.

* [[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, its pretty clear why noone believes him.

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:I Robot]]