Will Smith, Alex Proyas, Issac Asimov. Three talented individuals with nothing in common. Who would have guessed that together these three would strike box office gold during the summer of 2004 with I, ROBOT? Well, the late Isaac Asimov (or his legions of contemporary worshipers) may have something to say about this liberal adaptation of his seminal science fiction staple. Former music video maven Alex Proyas took the reigns for the landmark film, THE CROW, and later the equally weird DARK CITY, directs I, ROBOT with that same weird touch. Did he do it justice? Though I know there are many Asimov fans out there not satisfied with this summer blockbuster, I must say that despite Will Smith's weak performance, I was charmed by the combination of action, concepts, style, and visuals. Despite the movie's few obvious weaknesses (which every Hollywood movie has), I must admit that Proyas is swiftly becoming one of my favorite directors. I, ROBOT features some decent supporting performances from the likes of James Cromwell, Bruce Greenwood, and Bridget Moynahan. This review covers the Fox Home Video Blu Ray DVD edition.

Will Smith plays Del Spooner, a Chicago police detective circa 2035, in a society where humans share their lives with robots of all differing shapes, sizes, and functions When a scientific genius is murdered, evidence implicates a certain robot, dubbed Sunny. Detective Spooner does not trust robots and is assigned to investigate Sunny, whom he discovers has not only become sentinent, but also insists he is innocent. Detective Spooner's investigation leads him into uncovering Sonny's sentience, and stumbles upon a full-fledged robot rebellion in the process.

Fox Home Video presents I, ROBOT in a stunning 1080p/AVC-encoded 2.35.1 transfer. The cinematography has a sterile, metallic appeal, which holds up perfectly. The images and flesh tones are crisp which renders the details in a tight, lush manner. The transfer really reflects the film's textures and shadows. Proyas's action sequences are sharp and the sci-fi elements are a wonder to behold here. The color palette reproduction is exquisite on this Blu Ray. There is no grain, video noise, or edge enhancement to distract from the presentation. This transfer certainly qualifies as reference caliber.

The I,ROBOT Blu Ray's main audio show-stopper is the DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio soundtrack. This is one truly immersive sound design fully captured and replicated on Blu Ray by Fox's audio engineers. The track exhibits perfect clarity, resonating ambient noise, and dynamic surround effects. The tight bass pounds home during the action sequences. Marco Beltrami's futuristic score is prevalent, and comes through perfectly in the mix. You can tell how well and action film is mastered, when even over the action sound effects, you can still make out the dialog; and that is the case on this Blu Ray. The aggressive sound field really comes to life here during the car chase scenes, the marching robot battalions, and climatic battle sequences.

The I, ROBOT Blu Ray also includes THREE audio commentary options. First, there is the Main Feature commentary by director Alex Proyas and screenwriter extraordinare, Akiva Goldman. I don't usually get-off on commentaries, but I have to admit this one was superb and had me rooted for the duration, as both the principals go into depth on the genesis and production of I, ROBOT. And they reference Isaac Asimov's vision a lot. The Legacy and Design commentary is basically a patchwork affair from the other big behind-the-scenes-talent who worked on the film including Associate Producer John Kilkenny, screenwriter Jeff Vintar, Digital Domain Visual Effects Supervisor Erik Nash, Visual Effects Supervisor John Nelson, and Production Designer Patrick Tatopoulos. As you would guess, this is a technical film buff's delight. The final one is the Marco Beltrami Musical Score commentary. Rarely do we get a feature length audio commentary by a composer, so it's really refreshing to see how the maestro came up with this great music to accompany I, ROBOT. 

In addition to the commentaries, there are several documentaries. The main documentary is called Day Out of Days: Production Diary. This is a 75 minute look at the I, ROBOT and is as entertaining as the main feature commentary. It contains sub-segments called Spoonerville, Canada 2035, USR, Following Bread Crumbs, You Are Experiencing a Car Accident, One on One, Lost and Found, Will Smith's Night of Thunder, Will Smith's Wild Ride, and It's a Wrap.

Sentinent Machines: Robotic Behavior is a 40 minute documentary that takes a look at real life robotics. Alex Proyas introduces this featurette that covers the history of real robotics. It contains sub-segments like When Scientists Dream, Automata to Tortoises, Top Down,Bottom Up, Swarm, Inside Outside-In, When Machines Dream, and the My Generation Teaser.

CGI and Design examines the technical aspects of filming I, ROBOT. Alex Proyas introduces this 20 min documentary that covers the usual special effects secrets like animatics, storyboards, concept art, etc. The sub-segments are labelled Designing the City, Designing Sonny, Shooting Miniatures, and Learning to Walk.

The next documentary is a short 10 minute affair called The Filmmakers Toolbox. This very interesting featurette explains how the filmmakers combine the live action special effects with the computer generated effects to get the final product on screen. They explain the software tools they use to perform such digital magic.

In addition to the featurettes, there are seven minutes worth of deleted scenes, which include two alternate endings. Trust me, those different endings don't amount to much. You can see why they were never used. They are included for novelty's sake more than anything. Note that all the features included here are in standard definition only.

In the current time frame I, ROBOT (warts-and-all) is about as good a science fiction production that Hollywood is capable of. Take other recent bloated sci-fi fare such as THE INVASION, ALIENS VS PREDATOR, TRANSFORMERS, etc, and you'll see I, ROBOT in a whole new light. Face it folks, the days of THE TERMINATOR, BLADE RUNNER, and TOTAL RECALL, are long gone. Kudos to Fox Home Video for not only releasing on I, ROBOT on Blu Ray, but for making the disc the reference quality that it is. The Blu Ray boasts stellar image and sound quality and the extras are nothing to sneeze at either.

-  Brian Cleary