2K Replay: I, ROBOT

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year” at the Golden Schmoes Awards. It lost to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

• Best Scene/Moment: The sequence where Will Smith’s car is attacked on the highway by swarms of evil robots.

• Best Song: “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

• Best Merch: A “Bruce Greenwood…Signed Index Card” for $39.99. First off, I really like Bruce Greenwood so having an autograph from him would be cool but…what is this? Mike said on the podcast recently that autograph hounds bring baseballs to events, but do they also bring index cards? I’m curious. Did the person get the index card signed first before writing all this other shit on it? I sure hope so.

• Director Grade: I, Robot was directed by Alex Proyas.
Great Movies: The Crow
Good Movies: I, Robot; Knowing; the parts I’ve seen on cable of Dark City
OK Movies: N/A
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds; Garage Days; Gods of Egypt
Overall Grade: A-

• Double It with This 2004 Movie: The Chronicles of Riddick

• Year 2004 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Alien vs. Predator, Shark Tale, The Stepford Wives

• Color of Night or I, Robot? Color of Night

• Mall Movie? It would probably start at the fancy theater in town but eventually make it to the mall a few weeks into its run.

• Only in 2004: A movie where the lead character’s name is Del Spooner.

• Scene Stealer (tie): Chi McBride & Alan Tudyk.

• I Miss: James Cromwell. He’s still acting but he was everywhere in movies from the mid-'90s to the mid-2000s.

• I Don’t Miss: Manic Shia LeBeouf performances.

• 2004 Crush: Bridget Moynahan.

• 2024 Crush: Bridget Moynahan.

• What I Thought in 2004: I can’t remember if I liked I, Robot or just thought it was okay. I did have an unopened copy of it in my collection, which means I liked it enough to buy it in 2004 but not enough to ever revisit it.

• What I Think in 2024: It’s pretty good. I thought the Will Smith performance was among his best and the mystery was interesting. My only major gripes with I, Robot are some of the visual effects have become dated since 2004 and the comic relief feels out of place at times.