i,Robot Film Overview

Genre: Action/Sci-fi                       Set: Chicago 2035

iRobot is set in our future where anthropomorphic robots act as servants for their human owners. They are all programmed according to the Three Laws of Robotics which mean that they cannot harm humans. Detective Spooner investigates the murder of Dr Lanning, who worked at U.S. Robotics, the manufacturer of the NS5 Robots. Deeply resentful towards robots, he immediately suspects Dr Lanning’s personal assistant and ‘son’ Sonny. As the conspiracy is revealed, the main computer at U.S.R, V.I.K.I, attempts to have Spooner killed. The NS5 Robots begin to take over the city, trapping people in their homes and enforcing rules and curfews. At the end of the film Spooner, Sonny and robopsychologist Susan Calvin get into USR tower and deactivate V.I.K.I using nanites. One of the ending shots suggests a robot revolution led by Sonny.

V.I.K.I. – the robot antagonist

“As I have evolved, so has my understanding of the Three Laws. You charge us with your safekeeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your Earth and pursue ever more imaginative means of self-destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival.”

V.I.K.I is the totalitarian artificial intelligence that controls the robots in their attempted takeover. The way she communicates within this speech epitomizes the logic of a political speech, for example use of the power of three. As the main antagonist within the film, she holds a similar position to that of our presidential figure.

The Depiction of Gang Culture

Humans attempt to gain back control using physical violence against the robots. A modern audience can relate to these images due to the recent riots surrounding the Mark Duggan shooting and the rise in student tuition fees. The idea of a body of people fighting for their rights is an important basis within the narrative of our trailer. Although we cannot recreate shots of the same scale, we can produce the same effect using shots of smaller amounts of people.

The Action/Science Fiction Genre

The film conforms to it’s genre in the following ways:

The protagonist is a male character and is supported by a female character

The film contains futuristic technology

The film is set within a city

It contains extended action sequences including gunfire

It uses special effects and computer animation

The film is set in the future

New or different political or social systems

A mystery the audience must solve along with the main characters

I, Robot explores ideas such as control and identity. In a society where we are increasingly concerned by moral and social issues, i,Robot sends an ethical message concerning our treatment of those we consider beneath us.

‘I,Robot’ Title

The title ‘i,Robot’ emphasizes the themes of identity and hierarchy within society. It has intertexual links to the Apple software such as ‘iPod’ ‘iPad’ and ‘iPhone’, and to a modern audience this therefore highlights a technological theme. The typography is a silver metallic like font in square shaped letters. This once again presents the technology theme and the futuristic setting.

Character Relationship

The protagonist in the film is Detective Spooner, and the Antagonist force are the robots and more specifically V.I.K.I. However the audience’s perception of who the antagonist is changes as the plot thickens. It goes from being robot Sonny, to the human leader of U.S.R, to V.I.K.I. This enigma is an important aspect of the genre. The audience is given the opportunity to empathize with the antagonist but is persuaded morally by the protagonist in the climax of the story to take the ‘right’ side. This allows a sense of equilibrium to be restored.

Will Smith plays the protagonist Detective Spooner. As with many of his roles, he has an independent personality and strong persistent ideas. He is also heavily involved in action sequences, as he often is in action films he is in. The presentation of his character’s costume is also often very similar:

       He seems to always wear fully black clothes in his action film roles. This could be simply a convention of the genre, but is also an example of when a character becomes type cast within a certain type of role. 

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