smokehill

Not a perfect movie, and some of the other critical comments are valid (except for the brainless kiddies who were expecting laser guns and Wookies chasing bad guys). However, after giving it some thought I rated it pretty high.

Robin Williams was in many ways the perfect choice for the lead, and did a fine job. I am a big Asimov fan and have always rated the I, ROBOT series as top-grade SF. I haven't read the series in 20 years, but I think this is sticks close to the books, and certainly in general thought and purpose. I believe Isaac would have liked this. Some of the criticism stemmed from condensing so much into slightly over 2 hours. Would it have worked better as a miniseries? Yes, and I wished it could have been done that way; unfortunately the money just isn't there in the multi-part series films so they're seldom done, except when the "owner" (such as Stephen King) has enough clout to insist. Hollywood is a business driven strictly by cost-to-return ratio and almost NEVER by art, except in rare cases where someone with enough money or power can insist -- and the big return is in short crappy films requiring little thought and having lots of action and sex to keep the average viewer (roughly equivalent to a crow or a hamster) interested until the two-hour limit of his attention span.

This being said, BICENTENNIAL MAN is the best we can get from Hollywood on a piece like this. Is it a disservice to Asimov's writing? Yes -- but movies always are. I was grateful that it was as good as it was -- which was extremely good -- and not the usual worthless hack job.

Keep in mind the limitations of the Hollywood system (and the deteriorated intellectual state of modern filmgoers) and I think you'll agree that this was an exceptionally fine effort.

Most people will like this movie a lot. Sci Fi, and especially Asimov fans, will be very pleased at the careful attention to the Master's finest creation.

Without a doubt one of the finest and most under-viewed films ever made. I haven't seen it in over four years, but still get misty-eyed when recalling it -- particularly Alec Guinness' flawless, delicate little performance.

It should be required viewing. It's not bombastic like Citizen Kane, nor groundbreaking like Birth of a Nation. It's just theater at its absolute finest.

At first I thought Rock Hudson must have been a box-office decision, or a second choice. Clearly, I was wrong -- he was the perfect choice, and the most surprising aspect of this film is that it's almost unknown outside a small circle of film buffs.

This is one of Frankenheimer's best -- certainly Hudson's best -- and should be on anyone's list of quality films. To miss finely-crafted, tight little thriller would be a shame. I'll bet it was one of Hitchcock's favorites (besides his own, of course).