This robot’s strength is in homage to other movies

I, Robot (2004)
20th Century Fox presents an Alex Proyas film, starring Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan. Written by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman and suggested by a book by Issac Asimov. 100m. Rated PG-13 for intense stylized action and some brief partial nudity.

2 stars

Have you ever been watching a film and thought to yourself, “Wait, haven’t I seen this before?”

This cinematic deja vu befell me at a recent showing of the annual “Will Smith summer action movie.” This year it calls itself, “I, Robot,” an action film about a cop with a chip on his shoulder about otherwise lovable intelligent hunks of metal.

In “I, Robot,” it’s the year 2035 in Chicago, although the visual look created by cinematographer Simon Duggan and production designer Patrick Tatopoulous is cribbed from the hypothetical 2054 of “Minority Report.” The same shiny, sleek buildings and cars from that Phillip K. Dick adaptation are present in Smith’s environment. At some point in the next 31 years, our cars learn to drive us and robots complete all the tedious house chores.

In fact, “I, Robot” suggests that humans begin to treat robots as they do house pets - talking to them as they would humans and coddling them. Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is unlike most people. He’s cantankerous around the artificial intelligence, always suspicious that one day the scrap heaps will violate the three laws that govern them:

• 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 to it by the human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the previous law.
• A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the previous two laws.

I’ve been acquaintances long enough with philosophy majors and rank amateurs to know there are ways around these presumably sealtight axioms. If there wasn’t, “I, Robot” wouldn’t be much of a movie.

Spooner is called to the apparent suicide of Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the “three laws” creator and head of US Robotics. Lanning has left a trail of “bread crumbs” for the robot naysayer, starting with a hologram that suggests maybe his death wasn’t as self-inflicted as it seemed.

The detective works with USR insider Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) to solve Lanning’s murder/suicide before the largest rollout of robots commences and the world faces an indestructible peril.

Sound like your typical Smith summer fare? You bet.

The film requires the same intelligence quotient as “Independence Day”; for that matter, Smith’s character is presumably a cop - courtesy of screenwriter Akiva Goldsman - of his role in the double-dipped “Men in Black” films.

And had this movie come out at any other time than the typical breezy summer, it may have been crucified. Yet, Smith’s performances are always that of lowered expectations. Audiences want a few crisp jokes interlaced with scenes of him acting like a tough guy and “I, Robot” provides those moments in spades.

My disappointments, therefore, don’t lie with Smith, who has successfully pigeonholed himself into a character even he can master. Mostly, I’m saddened that director Alex Proyas - who orchestrated the masterful “Dark City” - couldn’t spin any of that screenwriting and directing magic toward his most recent effort. Gone are the neo-noir looks of Proyas films like “The Crow” and “Dark City”; their replacement is a glossy, computer produced effort that might have author Issac Asimov spinning in his grave.

As a stringent follower of auteur theory - giving ownership of a film’s merits to a director - I have to blame Proyas for the cribs of the “Star Wars” series as well. Most scenes inside USR involving Sonny (voiced by Alan Tudyk) the accused robot seem like they were lifted from similar sequences with C-3PO. The film also borrows the notion of a computer’s self-awareness - this time it’s V.I.K.I. instead of HAL - from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which was as wrong about what the future would look like as this one will ultimately be when 2035 rolls around.

“I, Robot” is a film that does not stand on what it created, but what it could collate from other’s creations. It’s a disappointing effort, but one that provides apt portions of escapist moments for those looking for a little respite from the oncoming onslaught of more high-brow fall fare.

Ballast of “Anchorman” is not who you’d think

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
DreamWorks SKG presents an Adam McKay film, starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate. Written by McKay and Ferrell. 91m. Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence.

3 stars

While taking pot-shots at lawyers has become passé, we’ll always have our news anchors.

In a cinematic tradition steeped on the shoulders of fellows like Tom Grunick, “Anchorman” is out to lampoon the most unseemly of all reprobates - the clueless but suave news host.

In Will Ferrell’s mind, it seems, the mid-1970s were a time before serious ethics entered the newsroom. The “Saturday Night Light” graduate has no beef with Edward R. Morrow or Walter Cronkite - whose professionalism was never called into question. Instead, he seems to have preyed upon what films have turned newsmakers into: the Grunicks of “Broadcast News” who can force themselves to cry if it can guarantee a boost in the ratings.

So it’s no surprise that the most popular news station in San Diego is anchored by a Babbitt like Ron Burgundy (Ferrell). The movie tells us Burgundy is liked because viewers confuse his chauvinism with being debonair.

He’s backed by a maladroit group of beer-guzzling teammates: sportsman Champ Kind (David Koechner), weatherman Brick Tamland (Steven Carell) and “your man on the street,” Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd). The trio act as a chorus to Burgundy’s wild-child ways, usually egging each other on to perform the most insensitive of gestures toward their female companions.

The standout of the group is Steven Carrell, a longtime correspondent for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” who dabbled in heavy irony and dark comedy. In “Anchorman,” he’s cast as a borderline mentally retarded weather guy in a reoccurring series of jokes that emit many guilty laughs. Carrell sells his character as being as dumb as he sounds and in the process, steals every scene that he’s in - including the ones that more prominently feature the better known Ferrell. I think it’s a credit to Ferrell’s apparent lack of ego that Carrell is given an opportunity to shine; presented with a very similar role in “Bruce Almighty,” Carrell often found himself obscured by the much more “in your face” antics of Jim Carrey.

After building a testosterone nest for years, the foursome feels threatened with their station cites “diversity” for the addition of Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), a leggy “go-getter” with the acumen to assume the role of full-time staffer.
The comedians garner the biggest mileage out of the humor of emasculation, especially in a bizarre exchange that had me laughing long after the reel change. In the scene, the foursome is trying to convince station head Ed Harken (Fred Willard) that the hiring of Corningstone is bad for the number one rated station.

“I heard their periods attract bears,” says Brick Tamland.

“See, your putting the whole station at risk!” adds Brian Fantana.

Exchanges like the jabberwocky above are the rewards of this more hits than misses comedy. Ferrell’s notorious ability to improvise is another source to plunder. Much as he did during his tenure at “Saturday Night Live,” Ferrell is able to rip out the most charming (and historical) amphigory such as “Great Odin’s raven!” or “Holy hammer of Thor!”

The movie slips most when Ferrell falls into a trap that befalls most SNL alumni: He invites his friends in for brief and often painfully unfunny cameos. The “Old School” triumvirate of Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson reunite for scene involving four competing news stations in a “West Side Story”-esque rumble. Ben Stiller - whose worked extensively with Vaughn, Wilson and Owen Wilson - and Tim Robbins also have “blink and you’ll miss them” showings. Chris Parnell, a SNL cast member during the Ferrell years, has a more prominent - but also ultimately pointless - role as a news producer.

While the former cast members of the NBC’s longest running sketch comedy show have left a bloody trail of cinematic misfires, Ferrell is quickly establishing himself as someone who can rise like a phoenix from the ashes of Molly Shannon, Rob Schneider and David Spade movies. While I’d still deem Ferrell a “hit or miss” talent, “Anchorman” will be a crowd pleaser for the rest of this summer.

Spider-Man’s promise exists in conflict with normalcy

Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Sony Pictures presents a Sam Raimi film, starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Written by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Michael Chabon and Alvin Sargent. 127m. Rated PG-13 for stylized action violence.

2.5 stars

While the most popular comic book titles have often relied on grandiose escapist adventures, “Spiderman” seems to play by a different set of rules.

When he’s not gallivanting around New York City from one sticky string to another, Spiderman is a considerably downtrodden individual named Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). Parker has neither the rich playboy lifestyle of a Bruce Wayne, the lucrative doctor position of Bruce Banner or even the steady paycheck of journalist Clark Kent.

In “Spider-Man 2,” he’s a messenger boy - delivering pizzas instead of correspondences for one of those places that promises your package in 29 minutes or less. But as you can imagine, steady employment in a city rank with the criminal element is troublesome for the young go-getter.

Parker has picked the wrong occupation, it seems, because the one thing he’s terrible at is keeping promises. He’s already cast aside long-time love Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), dissembling his true feelings behind a hand-sewn Spidey-suit in an effort to protect her from danger. Peter has also felt a scission in his friendship with Harry (James Franco), the enfant terrible son of first film foe Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe, who cameos in this installment).

Comic books are notorious for painting their bad guys in blacks and their good guys in whites, but in “Spider-Man 2,” the audience is privy to the inner turmoil of Parker’s acceptance of his alter ego. It was Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) who told Peter in the first film, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Can Spider-Man turn his back on the crime festering out every darkened hovel of the Big Apple?

Before thoughtful debate can truly spawn in the mind of Peter Parker, this film cuts to its gravy train - a powerful, destructive, computer-enhanced bad guy, Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). Octavius is a doppelganger for Parker: a brilliant mind fascinated by the realms of science with more than a hint of pride.

In fact - just as the “X-Men” series has done so brilliantly - Octavius is primarily not an evil force. Instead, he’s let scientific progress overrun his inhibitions, which results in a fusion experiment gone horribly wrong. Now laden with four menacing metal tentacles and stripped of his equanimity, “Doc Ock” is hell-bent on seeing his life’s work completed - a snoozer premise for an A-plot.

Even though Sony invested a reported $54 million for effects shots alone, the glossy, overproduced look will snap any theatergoer out of its Spidey-trance. The film encounters similar problems in major duels between the two opposing forces. It’s hard to feel emotionally attached to a computer-created object. Thus, when Spider-Man and Dr. Octavius fight atop the 9th Street El, one can feel little danger coming for either of these amalgamations of digital technology.

The film’s true promise lies in its B-plot, which was largely cribbed from an early episode of “The Amazing Spider-Man” comic. It has Parker quitting his calling for an alternative life - where he’s a dependable and trusted friend to both Mary Jane and Harry.

“Spider-Man 2” also carries on the tradition established in the first installment for slapstick breaks with fast-talking Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). Jameson is a no-nonsense penny-pincher whose disdain for Spider-Man is entirely created out of his intuition for selling the most papers. Jameson is played masterfully by Simmons, whose seems to often fluctuate seamlessly between the serious and the humorous when choosing movies.

“Spider-Man 2” is no doubt good popcorn-ready entertainment and a welcome addition to the slowly enveloping summer movie lineup. It’s made for the big-screen and doesn’t have the carryover power for repeat viewings. See “Spider-Man 2” now because the experience will likely be one of diminishing returns when seen in your home theater.