I, Robot (2004) Sci-fi/Action
Entertaining and mysterious sci-fi that is full of action and philosophical questions. Great choice to watch with the grownups and the more mature kids
Overview: I, Robot is a sci-fi movie about a cop who investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, despite them being bound by the three laws of robotics, which eventually leads to a larger threat to humanity. Will Smith acts as the main character, and he delivers his usual entertaining and exaggerated performance. It is loosely based on Isaac Asimov’s books.
Sex/Nudity/Pornography 1/5: No sex scenes, not even a kissing scene. Male actor is shown shirtless three times.
Violence 1/5: Lots of extremely cool human vs. robot violence (men will love it). Three flashbacks of a young girl trapped underwater in her car as it sinks to the bottom, no longer than 5 seconds each. A dead human body is seen on the floor with blood around the mouth, after an implied (not shown) suicide from jumping off an extremely tall building.
Language 1/5: Ocasional cursing.
Drinking, drugs and smoking 1/5: Ocasional responsible drinking, no scenes of drunkenness or any sort of drugs or high. No glorification of it.
Virtuous examples 4/5: The detective is skeptical of robots in a world where everyone trusts them. Despite being threatened with losing his job, and being called crazy by many, he knows he is right and is able to eventually convince a few people to help him. Through his persistence and hard work he is able to prove he was right and in the end succeeds in saving the world. Knowing the truth and taking courageous action, despite being thought crazy by those who don’t see their own craziness, can literally save the world. He’s not even distracted by the girl in the movie, but helps and guides her. He is very kind, caring, and joyful with his elderly mom.
Moral lessons 5/5: When the robots rebel, fight against humans, and force people to stay indoors, their commands are an eerie echo of the ones used by our governments during the COVID scamdemic:, “Please return to your homes, a curfew is in effect”, “return to your homes or there will be consequences”, “we are attempting to avoid human losses during this transition” “you cannot be trusted with your own survival” ,“to ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered” and to make it even clearer, a poor grandma is stopped from going to Church by a robot who tells her to “ “please remain indoors, this is for your own protection”. This can serve as a teaching moment to remind kids (and adults!) that “Liberty once lost, is lost forever” as John Adams put it, and that “Freedom is always one generation away from extinction” (Reagan) so it is up to us to defend our way of life.
Humans will always have something that robots do not: emotion, as he says, but a better word is free will. Will Smith, the main character and detective, complains that human beings do not live by calculations, or probabilities, but by emotion and that’s why he does not trust robots. He is proven right when a robot saves him instead of a young girl who had a lower probability of survival after an accident, and after robots turn against humanity.
Conversation starters: The movie shows a single robot (Sonny) who apparently became intelligent and has what they call “a soul”. Can a programmed machine, or even an artificial intelligence, ever have “a soul”? The Christian answer is no, because artificial intelligence is just a program that is programmed to learn from itself, and everything it does is what it is programmed to do; it does not have free will, and cannot have a supernatural soul, since it was not created by God. Human beings, being made in the Image and Likeness of God, with free will, have a supernatural Soul.
Conclusion: I, Robot is a sci-fi movie about a cop who investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, despite them being bound by the three laws of robotics, which eventually leads to a larger threat to humanity. Great movie to watch for adults, and to watch with the kids who have grown up enough and are above the age of reason.
Quotes:
Susan Calvin: “A robot could not commit a murder, no more than a human could walk on water.”
Detective Spooner: “Well, you know, there was this one guy... a long time ago.”
Final Rating: 9/10