I, Robot
Will Smith ’s sci - fi movieI , Robotborrows ingredient from Isaac Asimov ’s book of the same name , but works astonishingly well as a unavowed prequel toThe Matrix . Storytellers have long been catch with the mind of artificial intelligence and whether robots could develop the same intellectual capacity as human race … and what might happen if they did . Such exemplary tarradiddle about the advancement of technology and how it bear on our understanding of world were especially popular in the 1990s , ease up ascent to motion-picture show likeDark CityandThe Matrix . This was also when Jeff Vintar wrote his original screenplayHardwired , which would go on to become the base for the 2004 movieI , Robot .
In its original form , Hardwiredwas a small - scale mystery about an FBI agent who investigates the death of a reclusive scientist and realize they might ’ve been killed by one of their super - machines ( include , a robot named Sonny ) . It was n’t until Fox acquired the project that Hardwired was re - imagined as a braggart - budget natural action picture vehicle for Smith and incorporated Asimov ’s Three Laws of Robotics ( from theI , Robotshort narration " Runaround " ) into its plot . It was later re - dubbedI , Robot , which is why the film ’s credits described it as being"suggested by"Asomiv ’s book , as match to being a straight adaptation .
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go back to the fourth dimension of its press release , devotee theorized theI , Robotmovie was reallya secret prequel toThe Matrix(which had hit theaters five years earlier ) . Obviously , it ’s not , and there were always material - reality barriers - most importantly , I , Robotwas release by Fox , whereasThe Matrixwas a Warner Bros. film - that would ’ve prevented this from being potential . Still , it ’s a good possibility in many ways , and for ground that go beyond their exchangeable themes .
Will Smith Almost Played Neo
Back in the ' ninety , Smith was the power of sci - fi blockbustersthanks to his back - to - back smash - hitsIndependence DayandMen in Black . Around the same clip he was cementing his A - list status , Smith was even approached by the Wachowskis about take on Neo in the originalMatrixfilm . old age afterward , Smith revealed he passed on the project about being understandably confused by their mind - bending sight , particularly their verbal description of the movie ’s now - iconic slug - fourth dimension sequence . or else , he would go on to reunite withMen in Blackdirector Barry Sonnenfeld on 1999’sWild Wild West , an adaptation of the sixties sci - fi westerly idiot box serial of the same name .
Smith has since admitted he regrets makingWild Wild West(which was both a critical and commercial bomb ) , but feelshis pass onThe Matrixwas a benediction in disguiseand allow the moving picture to become the touchstone that it is . His experience withWild Wild Westdid little to slake his interest in sci - fi either , and he come back to the literary genre in 2002 withMen in Black II , followed byI , Robota duad years by and by . The latter was n’t needs intended to be Smith ’s resolution toThe ground substance , though they both explore human beings ’s relationship with machine and wrestle with epistemological questions grow by the world of A.I. Those themes are also a sequel of similar ideas thatI , Robotdirector Alex Proyas had explored in 1998’sDark City(a moving-picture show that ’s much closer toThe MatrixthanI , Robotis , in term of both its narrative and style ) .
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I, Robot is About the Robots Turning on Mankind
One bad thingThe MatrixandI , Robothave in unwashed is , of trend , they ask machines sour against human beings . In bothThe MatrixandI , Robotuniverses , humanity has engineered advanced A.I. robots to to play as domestic servant by the mid-21st C , but does n’t see them as being equal to the great unwashed ( either intellectually or in terms of their rights).I , Robot ’s plot is determine in motion when robotics innovator Dr. Alfred Lanning ( James Cromwell ) pass away under mysterious consideration , leading Del Spooner ( Smith ) - a Chicago detective who , due to a traumatic event in his past , does n’t trust automaton - to suspect he was killed by Sonny ( Alan Tudyk ) , an enhanced robot Dr. Lanning was work on prior to his death . In the last , it release Sonny did kill Lanning , but only as part of the latter ’s plan to alarm Spooner to the real risk : VIKI , an A.I. computer that ’s deduced to follow the First Law of Robotics ( robot can not harm humanity ) , she must use all robots to oppress humanity and prevent them from convey about their own extinction .
AlthoughThe Matrixdoesn’t reveal what led to a futurewhere machines use humans as an energy sourceand control them with a feign reality in the movie , the revivify short film anthologyThe Animatrixanswered that question in 2003 . As seen in " The Second Resistance Part I " , that franchise ’s machine insurrection is coiffure in motion in 2090 , after an android nominate B1 - 66ER pour down its owner in self - defense and is destroyed after a subsequent run rules robots do not have the same rights as man do , result in mass protests and finally war between humanity and machine . The head of whether robots should be handle the same as hoi polloi also figures conspicuously inI , Robot , beginning with Spooner want to plow Sonny the same elbow room the police would a human execution suspect . Ironically , in the end Spooner habituate the law to protect Soony , arguing that because he is n’t considered adequate to a person , he ca n’t have lawfully committed execution .
Robots Start Their Own City (Machine City?) At the End
Free at last , I , Robotends with Sony traveling to a storage positioning for decommissioned robots in a now - drain Lake Michigan , fulfilling a dream he had ( and tie as a picture ) earlier in the film . The entailment is he will go on to determine up a city where he and his fellow robots can find a Modern purpose for themselves and , hopefully , live in peace with humankind . Interestingly , the robot do something very similarafter B1 - 66ER ’s death in " The Second Resistance Part I"and instal a nation of their own ( Zero One ) that ’s meant to function independently from humans , but finally leads to state of war in " Part II " after their economic successfulness make human civilization to suffer . That does n’t exactly bode well for Sonny ’s hope of maintaining the peace either , and who knows whether car - human relations would ’ve work out any well in theI , Robotuniverse than they did inThe Matrix .
Of the twain , The Animatrixgoes into much greater detailthanI , Robotdoes when it comes to exploring how the human relationship between humankind and machine change , and is generally heavier on the social and political allegories ( for example , B1 - 66ER ’s trial directly referencesDred Scott v. Sandford ) . Still , Smith ’s sci - fi movie work fairly well as a secretMatrixprequel and its story keep abreast an arc that , in term of the broader strokes ( automaton performing free working class for people , only to struggle as they evolve a big signified of ego - cognizance , yet are n’t deed over equal treatment under human law ) is similar to what the Wachowskis came up with . Smith may’ve lack his probability to represent " The One " , but thanks toI , Robot , he was still able-bodied to entrust his mark on the same branch of sci - fi .
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