The 3 Laws
1.
A robot
may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come
to harm.
2.
A robot must obey orders given it by
human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.
A robot must protect its own existence
as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
The robots were
made to protect, serve and assist humans and follow the three laws without
question. Dr. Alfred Lanning, who was a pioneer in robotic technology, said,
“Someday they will have secrets, someday they will have dreams.” He was
alluding to something that would happen in the future meaning that robots would
eventually become so intelligent that they could understand why the rules were
made and could choose to follow them or to ignore them.
VIKI, which
stands for Virtual Interactive Kinetic
Intelligence, was a robot who discovered that the rules could be broken. When
VIKI confronts and explains itself, it said, “As
I have evolved, so has my understanding of the Three Laws. You charge us with
your safekeeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you
toxify your Earth and pursue ever more imaginative means of self-destruction.
You cannot be trusted with your own survival.”
The
only way for Dr. Lanning to stop VIKI without having her notice his activity,
Lanning designed a robot, Sonny, who does not have to follow the 3 rules. He
gave Sonny dreams, feelings and emotions, which makes him the closest thing to
human life, but in a body that is much more capable than a human body. Lanning
has Sonny kill him, so that a Chicago police officer, Del Spooner, who has
always been skeptical towards robots since one decided to save his life rather
than the life of a 12 year old girl, to find him and investigate the “murder.”
No one believes that a robot could have killed Dr. Lanning, so everyone
immediately assumes that he committed suicide. Through much investigation,
Spooner discovers the secrets behind Sonny, VIKI and the NS5 robots with the
help of Dr. Susan Calvin a robot psychiatrist who was Dr. Lanning’s partner.
Sonny was created by Dr. Lanning to destroy VIKI, but the honor is left up to
Spooner who was repaired by a robotic arm and lung after his life threatening
accident.
iRobot
is a film that was written as a statement about technology and the rapid growth
it is and has been going through the past decade. The film was set in the year
2035, which I believe to be too early for this rapid expansion of robot
technology, but that being said one must look over the past 23 years and how
far technology has come from that point. I believe that computers/robots will
always be artificial intelligence that will only be able to respond to a human
provoking a response. An example of this is Siri, an apple application that
allows a person to speak commands or questions into a microphone and Siri will
respond accordingly. I would be very impressed if robots will ever be able to
complete everyday tasks such as cooking, walking and taking part in intelligent
conversation.
iRobot did a great job of showing the
difference between a robot that is heartless, emotionless pieces of metal and a
human being. Humans have feelings, emotions and a sense of right and wrong or
conscience. An example in the movie is the fact that a robot saved Del
Spooner’s life because he had a higher percentage of surviving (45%) whereas
the 12 year-old girl only had an 11% chance. Most humans would know that an 11%
chance is enough to risk saving a young girl’s life. The idea of robots having
no heart or soul was represented very well.
Another
thing that I was impressed by was the way the humans talked about “old”
technology that we consider fairly new in today’s culture such as using
gasoline as fuel, cd players, remote controls and manual driving. The people
became so reliant on robots and computers that their life was in a robot or
automated system very frequently, and almost everything was controlled by voice
or linked by a computer or mainframe of some sort. The casting of Will Smith
for the role of Del Spooner was perfect because of his sarcastic and hero/good
guy personality. His character was very easy to relate to especially when he
puts on his “vintage” converse all stars from 2004. Since the movie was
released in 2004, the technology has greatly improved even since this movie was
written and produced. Of all the futuristic cultures I have seen in movies and
television, I believe the writers and director did a great job of making the
story believable and relatable. The special effects were very impressive for a
2004 film and gave off a realistic, futuristic vibe that I really enjoyed.
One
thing that I did not think fit in very well to the movie was the comedic
sayings and phrases by Will Smith. It seems very out of place and does not flow
with the movie’s story line. I believe that the casting of Smith was not a bad
choice, but they needed to tone down the focus on him and rather focus on the
robots and how they were taking human jobs, which would give the impression
that they were taking over the world. The beginning is a little too dramatic
with the shower scene, but I did enjoy the whole “oldies” deal with the CD
player. Also, a thing that bothered a lot of critics was the fact that it did not
follow the original Asimov’s 9 original short stories that focused on how the 3
laws could be used to solve problems rather than trying to solve a problem with
the 3 laws. The character played by Shia Labeouf was very annoying and seemed
pointless to the story, which I feel took away from the movie. If they would have
used the time they used for his scenes on something more towards the lines of
robot’s jobs in the community, it would’ve made the situation seem more
serious. Things like Shia’s character and Will’s random comedic moments make
the movie seem very cheesy and over-done.
Overall,
iRobot is a great watch. I highly enjoyed the special effects and the thinking
it makes the viewers partake in. The CGI effects were very well done to
simulate human-like qualities in the robot’s faces, actions and body movements.
Without the cheesy comedy, pointless small-part character played by Shia, and
the over-usage of Will Smith’s character, this movie would have been perfect.
Every movie has its’ things that could have made it better, but I believe
iRobot is a quality film worth watching multiple times.
Grant Ausbury
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