I Robot 2004: A Successful Sci-Fi Masterpiece with a $120 Million Budget

"I, Robotic", being the film released in 2004, has acquired the substantial popularity of the audience and the approval of many critics. In fact, the opening weekend proved to be really successful for the film that indicates to the big interest of the public. In this regard, it deserves mentioning the truth that "I, Robot" has a budget plan $120,000,000 and the opening weekend in the US only has brought over $52 mln. (I, Robot, 2008). In such a way, it is possible to estimate that the movie was basically really effective because it still stays rather popular, particularly amongst lovers of science-fiction.

Certainly, the popularity of the movie and the interest of the pubic is not just the result of an effective promotional project and celebs starring in the movie, however it is mainly due to the quality of the movie that made "I, Robot" so popular and successful. In this regard, it needs to be said that "I, Robot" is a movie focused on the problem of technologies of control.

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Speaking about the plot of the movie, it ought to be said that the action takes place in 2035 when robotics are commonly used as help of human beings.

In such a situation the main character, Chicago Police Investigator Del Spooner (Will Smith) appears to be a bit paranoid because he is a type of robotophobic. Oddly enough but it is him who is appointed to examine the murder of Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) who works at US Robotics. The number one suspect is a Nestor Class 5 robotic who calls himself Sonny.

This is where the paradox and the primary issue appears: if Sonny really has eliminated a human, than he possesses consciousness and he can think and act independently from a human. Subsequently if all this is real than robots can easily raise against their human masters and develop total control over the world. customized essays In such a method, the main theme of the movie is exposed through the opposition of robotics that acquired consciousness and people who turned from masters that managed not only robots but whatever on the planet and in their life into beings who have actually grown to end up being entirely dependent upon their robotics" (Wilson 2002:388).

In fact this lead to the logical question the audience has to answer: “at what point does artificial intelligence cease to be artificial and true consciousness arise?” (Wilson 2002:389). Moreover, it is not less important to realize the consequences of such a shift in the machines created due to the most sophisticated technologies mankind possesses. The director of the film successfully used the scenes where the large masses of robots are shown resembling a kind of army which is able to destroy the mankind as soon as it goes out of human’s control. At this point the scenes in which robots attack humans are particularly noteworthy. Even though the director of the film probably pays too much attention of action scenes and violence, but still this violence does not seem to be excessive. Instead, it is intentionally used to demonstrate the power of the machines created by humans and which rebelled against humans’ domination.

In such a situation, the first robot that actually started to act differently, i.e. the robot, who has gone out of control of humans, resembles a kind of Frankenstein, a creature that rebels against its creator. On the other hand, the robot does not produce an absolutely negative impression. In fact, the robot provokes rather controversial feelings since the only problem of the robot is its actions which are wrong and which are not conditioned by humans, but which, on the other hand, are too human. In such a way, the rebellion of robots may be viewed in the context of comparison of humans with robots. The latter rebel against humans but they behave in a similar way as humans do, the only thing they want to change is to accomplish humans efforts to create perfect creatures and create the perfect world.

However, the film reveals the fact that in such an idealized world there is no room for humans that are too imperfect and their strife for perfection is just their vanity and an attempt to play God. In this respect, the main character is quite symbolic since he comprises vices which cannot be attributed to a real hero that is supposed to save the world from robots. In actuality, Del Spooner is a bit paranoid person who has some inexplicable phobia of robots and machines, a person who lives practically in the permanent state of fear. On the other hand, he is ready to face all the challenges in his life and he is ready to struggle.

The main problem is whether humans can control their technologies and what are the consequences of the unplanned technological progress. Probably, the question is even more general: what human beings are and whether they can create working machines with high intelligence and remain safe. The director poses an eternal question what human beings are and willingly or not a viewer may have got an impression that humans are also someone’s creatures, as robots in “I, Robot”. I Robot

I robot is a movie based on the works of an atheistic man, in which there are many theological themes present, which play toward the same questions we ask about our faith each and every day.

I Robot is a movie based on the works of Victor Asimnov, a man who wrote several short stories about robots and human kinds interaction. The movie takes place in futuristic Chicago in the year 2035, at a time there are so many robots, that there will soon be one of them in each home. The story revolves around detective Del Spooner (Will Smith), a homicide detective who hates robots. The reason being that he had a bad experience with them, ever since a robot saved his life in a car accident when it could have saved a young girl instead.

The movie starts off when the scientist who repaired Will Smith after the accident, named Alfred Lanning, is found dead in the lobby of the U.S. Robotics office tower. Del Spooner (Will Smith) assumes that the scientist's death was not a suicide attempt, but a murder committed by a robot named Sonny. Everyone tells Spooner that he's crazy, because robots cannot go against the three laws by which they are to abide by at any cost. THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first and second rule.

Every robot is programmed to protect humans at all costs, and to obey them unless such obedience would harm a human life. Spooner very much doubts this because various robots keep trying to kill him, from a home-demolition robot, to a whole truckload of metal men that ambush him while he drives through a highway tunnel. The story continues, and the new robots go on a rampage, even...

References

• I, Robot - Metacritic
• IMDb - I, Robot (2004)
• Roger Ebert - I, Robot
• Rotten Tomatoes - I, Robot