Comparing I, Robot & A.I. Artificial Intelligence by Ruben Khondker

Plot Overview

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:17:28 UTC

The film is about Henry trying to make his wife feel better about the supposed loss of their son by bringing in a robot child capable of loving and being loved like their own son, and that robot will do almost anything to make his "mother" love him.

Plot Overview

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:18:12 UTC

Detective Spooner tries figuring out why Alfred Lanning, the founder of the robots, killed himself, and ends up going against an army of robots that disobey the three laws.

Main Characters

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:18:25 UTC

The two protagonists are David, the robot child, and Joe, the lover robot. We follow David for 90% of the film and Joe is only introduced around the time that the second half begins.

Side key characters are Doctor Hobby, Henry, Monica, and Martin.

Main Characters

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:18:31 UTC

The main protagonist is Del Spooner played by Will Smith. Alongside him is Sonny, the NS-5 that starts out as an antagonist but becomes good to fight the true antagonists. Lastly there is Susan Calvin, who works on the robots and we see for most of the movie, as she seems like she could be bad but isn't bad.

AI Portrayal

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:18:43 UTC

This movie depicts robots as the type of products based on what you want for yourself, David and Joe being examples of having a child to love or having a lover to satisfy you. Or a robot like Teddy who is simply there to support you and knows what you can and can't do.

AI Portrayal

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:18:50 UTC

The robots in this film are portrayed as the types you keep at home to take orders from you, or the type that simply obey whatever you say, as long as they don't disobey the three laws. However, Sonny was designed to theoretically do whatever Lanning wanted, even if it technically meant disobeying those laws for Lanning's "benefit."

Cool Technology

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:19:02 UTC

I thought Teddy was the most interesting piece of technology in the film, as he's the type of thing that would be ideal for anyone. He feels like he actually has a conscience compared to the other robots, and he's the one in the film who gets to experience everything, even surviving those 2000 years. Robots are just starting to be fleshed out, but even then we won't see a proper robot assistant for a long time, let alone one like Teddy

Cool Technology

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:19:10 UTC

The cool technology for I, Robot that stood out to me was the cars going at those insane speeds. It's funny to think that they actually did bother installing a manual option for drivers even if it's unlikely that they will survive from driving at that speed, since it is designed for AI to be able to react to everything every quickly, and is essentially riding a scripted racetrack. Compared to having something like an AI driver for your standard vehicles right now, where they can still make mistakes on the road, this might actually be safer despite the speed the cars in the film go at.

Ethical Dilemmas

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:19:38 UTC

The main ethical dilemma of the movie is if the robots that are created to be like humans, deserve the same treatment or status as the humans themselves. The character dilemmas of this film are both from David's perspective as well as Monica. Monica doesn't wanna get rid of David in fear of him being destroyed because of how real David feels, and would be heartbroken, but her and Henry know that David was potentially a danger to them, and almost had Martin killed. David wants to meet the blue fairy from the story of Pinocchio so she can turn him into a real boy so he can be loved by Monica, as he believed being real would be the key to it based on what Martin was telling him.

Ethical Dilemmas

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:19:46 UTC

The ethical dilemmas come from the three protagonists, but mostly come from Calvin and Sonny. As the movie goes on, Calvin starts having less trust in the robots she helped create, as well as how she didn't wanna destroy Sonny because of how different he was. Sonny's dilemma was whether he thought it was the right thing to do when killing Lanning, but decided to do so based on his wish. Finally, the movie's main character is driven by how he can't trust the robots and despises them, as the robot that tried saving him from drowning disobeyed him and kept trying to save him instead of the little girl who was trapped.

Rhetorical Devices

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:19:56 UTC

The blue fairy who grants wishes being a fictional character in the movie from the story of Pinocchio alludes to the fact that in this technically real world, David would not become a real boy as he wished, since he is a robot. Monica also telling David that eventually she will die after he asked about it foreshadows that she will actually die in the film.

Rhetorical Devices

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:20:01 UTC

Sonny yelling at Spooner insisting that he didn't murder Lanning alludes to the fact that he actually did, but when the movie ends and everyone knows the truth, Spooner says that it technically wasn't murder, as Sonny was a robot, and Lanning wanted Sonny to kill him.

Societal Impact

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:20:14 UTC

The AI in the movie is shown to be rejected by many people who are in fear of them being overthrown by the robots. Most people treat the robots in this film as disposable and always deserving that lower placement from the humans. Society is changed by this film as these robots are there to fill the void in relationships that people have, and will cause many people to rely on robots to satisfy them.

Societal Impact

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:20:21 UTC

The robots in the movie are reliable workers that try helping you with normal tasks in your life, and are designed to avoid death from happening. They are made to follow the three laws, A robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Visual Aesthetics

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:20:30 UTC

This movie is set in the future, but the setting and style of it conveys something in the far future, where a lot of the world is destroyed or beaten down, and doesn't give the futuristic technology vibe.

Visual Aesthetics

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-04 15:20:37 UTC

The film has a hybrid of normal society and future technology integrated into one world, as many locations look old while most places look like they are still in progress, as the world is being "rebuilt."

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-05 16:00:53 UTC

I personally found I, Robot better, as the story was interesting and didn't have pacing issues, while also having a solid conclusion. A.I. Artificial Intelligence started out good, but the second half became a completely different movie, and then when Joe leaves the film, it becomes an even MORE different movie. This film had major pacing issues, and was about 10-20 minutes too long. Many parts felt weird, like them arriving in Manhattan, which is practically destroyed, and then Doctor Hobby is just there, and then disappears for the crazy "David is a product, a mascot!" reveal.

rubenkhondker — 2024-11-05 16:12:41 UTC

While the ending was sad, it would've been better if it was all cut out, as the Monica clone or hologram didn't need to be in the movie, and it should've just ended with the aliens finding David frozen and that is it. Even the aliens part was a bit of a stretch, but it was alright to acknowledge how 2000 years passed and humans AND robots were extinct by then. Though I enjoy the slow parts in the film where the characters simply talk, I, Robot has that as well as more going on overall. I could be biased as I inherently enjoy those type of action movies more, but the second film we watched definitely went on a little too long.