Monday

I've already said here how much I liked the film I, Robot. Watching it again, I really can't understand why it wasn't more popular. Perhaps the producers didn't push it enough when it came out, or perhaps it was up against very tough opposition (see here for the top grossing movies at the time), or came out at a politically sensitive period? I'm also guessing that Asimov fans didn't like it, and those unfamiliar with Asimov were put off. The ending is ambiguous, and the overall tone is a little bit pessimistic. Although the plot follows fairly standard lines - Will Smith plays a suspicious detective with a traumatic incident in his past, and whose theories no one believes - it is played with subtlety, I think. And the direction is good. Surprisingly, the director hasn't made anything since then although he is apparently working on something called Silver Surfer, which seems like a spin-off the Fantastic Four films. The script too is great, but one of the writers has since done nothing else, and another seems to be more of a script-editor than creator. So, it appears that this movie might have been one of those instances unique to cinema in which a random group of people, who haven't done anything before, come together and make a great film, then disperse. Odd.