Hey folks, Harry here with the Raggedy Man and his spying button eyes snapping down upon I, ROBOT. I'm not sure if any of this sounds good. I have to have a bit of faith in Proyas... CROW and DARK CITY demand that... let us pray....
Hi Harry,
I'm not a big fan of spoilers, so I'll do my best to leave them out.
So "I, Robot" may not be true to the book, and it may not be the adaptation that hardcore sci-fi fans were hoping for... but I must say, upon closer inspection it looks like it may not be total crap.
Alex Proyas is directing it and it looks like he's going for a very stylish, very heavily CGI laden, action thriller. And while it's not the psychological-philosophical story that Asimov wrote, it may just be a good movie in its own right. But then, that's my faith in Proyas.
The digital storyboards reveal a very action packed finale with Will Smith being hunted by hordes of robots. And of course the Fresh Prince is armed with the standard BFG (Big Friggin Gun) and an attractive scientist woman at his side. Also joining forces with the hero from Bel Air, is Alan Tudyk (You know, Wash, from Firefly)(And if not, do the words "I will FONG you!" ring a bell?) He's playing one of the lead good guy robots named Sonny. And he marches around set in green body tights, so that only his face is showing. Robotic effects are to be added in post.
And thats the way with most of the robots. There are the Background Robots, also dressed in green from top to toe, who had to go to a special "Robot School", to learn how to properly act like Proyas' vision of what a robot should be. And there are prop robots, purely cgi robots... robots, robots, robots...
And CGI is the name of the game. While some things are shot on location throughout Vancouver, most of it is being done in 80% green-screen studios. And mumblings and rumblings around the various departments, is that the film is quickly approaching the $200 million mark.
One of the things that worries me is, Will Smith, and the way his character is being portrayed as, "cool". He's got the long brown "Carlitos Way" leather jacket, the baggy cargo pants, the circa 1985 Converse shoes, and in some scenes he wears a tight little beanie on his head (slightly askew to give him the air of non-conformity).
But we shall see. It's definitely no small production, and will likely be pushed as a Blockbuster... but will the script and story be worthy of such a high price tag? Or will it simply be vacuous, high budget, eye candy?
Smith doesn't need another "Wild Wild West". And neither do we...
Soon to come, more about Riddick, Catwoman... and the newly started, Blade 3.
Regards,
Raggedy Man
