First off, one thing you should know about me is I am a TRUE SCI-FI GEEK!!! If a film even looks remotely sci-fi, I'm there.

So, when I saw that Alex Proyas, director of Dark City, (which is, in my humble opinion, one of the best sci-fi films since Blade Runner and Tron), was tackling the world of I, Robot, I was IMMEDIATELY a paying customer.

Proyas, who started in Hollywood with the stylish comic adaptation of James O'Barr's The Crow, really made a name for himself as a filmmaker with Dark City - the film Roger Ebert himself proclaimed the Best Film of 1998. He showed that he could work with unique concepts and visual effects and still handle nuances of performance and characterization.

So, how does his Junior effort, I, Robot do?

Well, I am totally sold on it.

This may be my favorite film of the summer, next only to Spidey 2 and Dawn of the Dead. This film - like those two - really delivered the goods to me in the form of good characters, excellent effects and strong pacing.

But I will be the first to say it should not have been called "I, Robot". It really has little to do with Asimov's sci-fi classic, with the exception of names of characters and the 3 laws.

But anyways, on to the film.

Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) could easily be labeled a robophobe, but in Chicago 2039, that's a bad thing to be. Robots are EVERYWHERE. They're our garbage men, they walk our dogs, they live in our homes with us as personal servants.

But can they be trusted?

Spooner has never trusted them, and with the past he has, you understand how he'd have trouble dealing with them. I won't ruin the story, but I'll say that a major event in his life occurs and the outcome is not how he would have chosen it to be, but rather how a robot chose for it to be.

On the eve of what will be a new dawn in robotics - the release of the NS-5 (the ultimate robot) - a tragedy occurs within NSR. NSR is the company that will change the face of the planet by bringing 1 robot to every 5 humans on the market. However, this historic event is marred by the odd suicide of the creater of the NS-5, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell). Lanning leaves a hologram specifically asking for Spooner, with who you'll later discover, he has a history with. Again, I won't go into it, but you will see why he picked Spooner of all people to share his secrets with.

Spooner finds the doctor's greatest creation - Sonny - hiding out in the room where Lanning jumped out of a window. But Spooner doesn't believe Lanning's death was a suicide. Rather, he believes Lanning to be the victim of a homocide - the first homocide committed by a robot - SONNY.

We find that Sonny is not like other NS-5s. He has intelligence that is of his own, an A.I. if you will. Sonny thinks. Sonny dreams. Sonny is, in his own words, UNIQUE. And Lanning programmed him with secrets regarding the future of robotics, their sentience and who his murderer truly was.

From here, the film becomes an interesting view of a future where not everything, nor everyone, is what they seem. Spooner is the one man who sees what's going on, while the rest of the world will not be convinced that a robot - any robot - could commit any crime, let alone murder.

But the film is much more than the sum of its parts. Yes, there are some typical summer action movie cliches, but overall this is a fun and inventive film. The look of the film is stunning, and the robots are just amazing! The joints and servos and other mechanisms are moving constantly and doing different things in their arms, shoulders, necks, and internally. They really are wonders of special effects.

The character of Sonny really becomes my favorite character in the film, and that's no slight on Will Smith. He actually delivers a deeper role here than I expected to get from him and still seems to get his sense of humor in without overkill, ala Independence Day.

But Sonny offers many philosophical ideas. Can an intelligence, a

I went to I, Robot expecting to see another high-budget technophobic "robots are scary" movie, and was pleasantly surprised. The movie actually shares its basic plot with an Asimov short story by the name of "...That Thou Art Mindful Of Him". And seeing Dr. Susan Calvin was a hoot, of course, though she seemed a little too effeminate by the end of the movie-- I liked the cold-as-steel don't-even-think-about-it Susan Calvin better. The movie is about robots, but its message is certainly not the "robots are scary and by extension evil" crap we've seen in so many other places. I was intrigued by this film's advertising campaign: They use people's ingrained technophobic "Frankenstein complex" to get them to come and see the film, then they show them a film that, on second look, is much deeper than that.

Watching the robots fight was awesome. Like deadly ballet. I especially liked the shot where Sonny tosses this mission-critical canister up in the air, terminates a robot in bullet-time, catches the canister, and goes. Wow.

Go see this movie! If you liked Tron, chances are you'll like this!

Tweaker.exe

I really enjoyed I, Robot. Since I didn't know all the Asimov past history, etc., the elements of the story were new to me. I usually find Wil Smith's movies quite entertaining and I'm not annoyed by his acting at all.

I hated "The Village." Anti-climactic and boring. Ever since the Sixth Sense, Shyamalan's movies have gone down hill in my book.

I agree. Sorry for the comment on The Village. Hopefully it doesn't ruin anything for you or anyone, but hey -- I didn't give too much info out. And I know plenty of people who actually liked The Village. It just didn't do it for me, personally. I was getting distracted by someone behind me the whole time, so maybe the distraction made me lose focus of the film. Could very well be...

Was 'The Village' supposed to be a remake of that story? Or was it a blatant rip-off?

There have been so many stories and movies made over the years, I could imagine it'd be quite difficult to make a story that's completely, 100% original... even if you think it's completely on your own. Seems like so many stories have been told throughout the years.on line abortion pill misoprostol dose abortion medical abortion pill online

Dark City is such a great film!

I'm glad to see others mention it and I get so excited to talk about that film!

Next to Tron and Blade Runner, Dark City may be my favorite sci-fi film! I love the look of the film, the tuning, the city itself, the characters and the story.

I always tell people who jumped on The Matrix bandwagon (love the first film, refuse to admit that the terrible sequels exist), that I liked it better the first time, when it was Dark City, The Terminator and Dune, with just a hint of Johnny Mneumonic!

Who else loves Dark City and/or Blade Runner? I know I can't be alone in this!