Reviews; Film: August 2004 Archives

It’s Summer, so it’s time for Will Smith to embark on his annual (successful) attempt save the world. 2004’s entry into the Super-Willie cannon is I,Robot a film which initially really put me off, but the more trailers I saw the more I was up for it.

The plot of the film is simple: 2035 with Will Smith as a cop who hates robots. Unfortunately robots are everywhere acting as labour and life savers to the human population. No one thinks they’re bad, as they’ve been programmed not to harm humans. No one that is apart from the Fresh Prince of course - Will Smith in another grumpy/man with attitutude turn viz Enemy of the State, Bad Boys et al.

Well surprise surprise it turns out that the robots are out of control and soon the robots will be in control unless Will can save the day. Which he does. Sorry if that spoils it for you, but that’s probably not a truly groundbreaking revelation now is it?

The film cracks along at breakneck pace and has some great action set pieces – notably a tunnel car chase and the shoot out at the end. Unfortunately with robots in almost every frame the film is CGI laden, and it’s still hard not to spot the join however hard you try to dispend your belief and however much the technology continues to improve.

It’s also not the most original film in the world – derivative in parts to the extent that it frequently reminds you of famous scenes from other, and arguably better films. The dried out Lake Michigan? Planet of the Apes. Robots crawling over a building? The spiders in Minority Report or the sentinels in The Matrix. Will and co surveying the world beneath them from Greenwood’s office? The last shot of The Empire Strikes Back. Will proving that he has a electronic arm? Empire again, with a hint of Jedi and Blade Runner thrown in for good measure.

If that sounds overly negative, then it’s not intended to be. This isn’t a ground-breaking film but it’s a harmless way to spend two hours and a chilling warning that the creation of new technology can bring with it inherent dangers as well as inherent rewards.

Before I forget, I must recommend this film which Dina and I saw when I was in New Jersey. I thought it was fab. A real un-Hollywood thriller despite the presence of Hollywood A-lister Matt Damon, and one of my favourite character actors, Brian Cox.

Sean and I saw The Bourne Identity on PPV in a motel in Memphis when we were over for Mark and Molly's wedding, and I think we quite enjoyed it. The sequel, for once, (Empire Strikes Back not withstanding,) is better. Much better.

I wont' give the game away but the story is mostly intelligent and intelligible but above all what makes the film work is its grittiness and intensity. Shot without the use of Steadicams and made to look like it's been filmed by DV cameras, the film has the wobbly camera work we saw with This Life or 24. As a result, you don't have the gloss you normally get with a TV show, you feel instead like you are there in the room with the characters.

No more is this the case than in some of the fight scenes. They're frantic, urgent and in your face. So much so that it's almost too in your face. It's not stylised like a glamorous Bond or Matrix style fight, but bloody and dirty. As a result they're over quite quickly but you get a whiff of authenticity which is rare and indeed quite scary. The same is true of the car chase at the end - which owes much to the Gene Hackman chase in The French Connection - but again that famous 70s scene pales into comparison with the directness and intensity of the scene in this film.

Mark Kermode wrote in the New Statesman that the Bond films could learn a lot from this style if they want to reinvigorate the franchise (although I'm not sure they need to as each film just keeps on making more money,) and I'd endorse that. The Bourne Supremacy (silly title which has nothing to do with the film,) is gritty and real - a throwback to some of the 60s and 70s espionage films like The Odessa File or The Ipcress File... and that's no bad thing at all.