I, Robot is a movie based on the works of Isaac Asimov, a man who wrote several short stories about robots and the reactions between them and human kind. The film is set in the not too distant future holding on to a sense of realism in where our technology can take us. Personally I would take the predicted year 2015 in Back to the Future, but we only have a year to make flying cars a thing and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. The film takes place in Chicago in the year 2035. This film is not only a warning, it also begs the question: what does it mean to be human? What was enjoyable about the film was the fact that it was within reason. I Robot gives us a plausible look at what the future could be. The robots are reasonable in so many ways with the foundation of their creation being to help humanity. The controversy begins with detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) and his hatred towards the robots. We later find out that his hatred stems from a robot saving his life over a young girl because he had a better chance of surviving the car accident. Throughout the film, he constantly points out what it means to be human and how robots have ripped jobs away from many. The movie begins with the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), in what appears to be a suicide.  Spooner sees past this and assumes that a robot murdered Lanning. Everyone tells Spooner that he's crazy, because robots cannot go against the three laws that they have been programmed with at any cost. On the flip side, we have Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) who fights for the robots and represents much of the mentality of the civilians. The idea that they are just robots and we have all the control while Spooner is the skeptic. With this, we have the prodigal robot, Sonny (Alan Tudyk). 

Sonny was created by Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) with all the characteristics of a human. Unique among the rest of the NS5’s, Sonny is capable of making its own decisions and has moralistic views of society and humanity. Sonny is capable of feelings, secrets, friendship, trust, and even dreams. Sonny, causes everyone to reconsider what truly defines humanity including Dr. Calvin, who was blinded by the laws that bind the robots. Those laws separate Sonny from the rest who were programmed with the “Three Laws of Robotics” which are as follows:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first and second rule. 

Every robot is programmed to protect humans at all costs, and to obey them unless such obedience would harm a human life. These rules were perceived to be perfect initially by Dr. Lanning as well as Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood), the CEO at U.S. Robotics. Conflict arises as a revolution comes led by one overly intelligent computer mainframe named “VIKI.” VIKI was also created by Dr. Lanning as well and is the brain behind all the robots except for Sonny. This takes society by surprise as they lived with the idea that they still control the robots. Through humankind’s brutalization of the world we inhabit, VIKI finds that we are not to be trusted with our own survival and manipulates “the three laws” using a loophole and decides that humans would be better off if robots were in control. 

The story continues, as the revolution goes into full effect and the robots take to the streets setting a curfew. As humankind stands up to fight the robots, there is a battle in the streets and people are quickly overwhelmed. The Robots keep saying that they just want cooperation and that they are trying to limit human casualties. In the film you don’t really see any robot actually kill someone. They seriously injure a lot of people and they try their best to kill Spooner yet their aren’t really any visible fatalities on screen caused by the robots. Spooner, Calvin, and Sonny team up to take down VIKI through the motherboard that is the life source of VIKI. They do it using the same “nanites” that Dr. Calvin was supposed to use on Sonny to kill him. The motherboard is destroyed, and the NS5 robots go back to the family helpers that they were designed for and the revolution is over. Some aspects of religion are introduced in the idea of Sonny’s dream. He stands on top of the hill as the “chosen one” that leads the robots to their freedom instead of being locked away. The film ends and you are left wondering what will happen to the robots now? 

1. Connections Humankind and Technology