Robots Big Willy Style

Ah, the poor robot on film. Demonised in Metropolis, laughed at in Short Circuit and blamed for humankind's future demise in both The Terminator and The Matrix, the unfortunate automatons have never come off well after filmmakers have set their imaginations on their mechanical forms. And now they're sending in the big guns. Ladies and Gentleman, following hard on the heels of John Connor, the one and only Mr Will Smith is taking on the machines. Confirming year-long rumours about his interest in the project, Will "Too Much Charisma" Smith is ditching the aliens but staying with the sci-fi in his new film I, Robot. Adapted from Isaac Asimov's classic science fiction book series of the 1940s, Smith will star as a technophobic detective in a society where robots function as friendly little helpers to humans in all kinds of situations. These affable androids follow Asimov's three laws of robotics; one, that a robot may not injure a human, or through inaction, allow a human to come to harm; two, a robot must obey orders given to it by a human except where it would conflict with the first law; and three, a robot must protect itself, as long as that protection doesn't violate either of the first two laws. Got that? Well, it doesn't seem the robots have twigged it completely, either. For in I, Robot Smith's police officer must investigate a crime that looks mighty like it has been perpetrated by a ne'er do well machine and as he investigates, lo and behold in good filmic fashion, a conspiracy of giant proportions is revealed. 20th Century Fox President Hutch Parker commented to Variety, "The big idea here is that if the robots have found a way to violate the laws, there is nothing to stop them from taking over, because the human race is so dependent on robots and automation." Ah yes, that old chestnut. But with the wonderfully dark The Crow director, Alex Proyas at the helm and Smith unlikely to fully re-embrace his old corny persona, the omens are good. Think more Westworld than Transformers: The Movie and you might be warm.