I, Robot (2004) or, Robot Trouble!

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Will Smith looks extremely sour in a leather jacket on this metal-toned poster for Alex Proyas' I, Robot

Chicago 2035: A policeman starts investigating the death of an inventor who was central in the now widespread use of robots, and the implications become dangerous.

 

I, Robot is written by Akiva Goldsman (The Dark Tower (2017)) and Jeff Vintar (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)) and directed by Alex Proyas (Spirits of the Air: Gremlins of the Clouds (1987)).

It is ironic that a film which displays the cold and eerie nature of robots itself seems robotic. Will Smith (Men in Black II (2002)) is the politically correct figurehead on this action picture that's so chockful of clichés that is almost hurts to watch it.

The vision of the future offered here is exceedingly optimistic, - the energy aspect alone is a joke. The performances and execution are generally sexless and lacking in flavor, as well as thoroughly cleansed of any semblance of movie magic. The quality that I, Robot does have going for it are the impressively created CG robots, which are frightening.

 

Related posts:

 

Alex Proyas: 1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Crow (1994) - Proyas' unpleasant, exploitative, shameless and ugly turkey 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 120 mil. $

Box office: 353.1 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.94 times its cost)

[I, Robot premiered 7 July (Los Angeles) and runs 115 minutes. Smith was paid 28 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from May - October 2003 in British Columbia, including in Vancouver, in California and in Chicago, Illinois. The film opened #1 to a 52.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 144.8 mil. $ (41 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 33.8 mil. $ (9.6 %) and the UK with 32.9 mil. $ (9.3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Spider-Man 2, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Proyas returned with Fad Gadget by Frank Tovey (2006, video) and theatrically with Knowing (2009). Smith returned with a voice performance in Shark Tale (2004), Club Oscar (2005, short) and theatrically and physically in Hitch (2005). I, Robot is rotten at 57 % with a 6.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I, Robot?

The Crow (1994) - Proyas' unpleasant, exploitative, shameless and ugly turkey

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

A foreboding poster for Alex Proyas' The Crow

The Crow is an adaptation of James O'Barr's 1989 comic book of the same name, written by John Shirley (Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), TV-series) and David J. Schow (Critters 4 (1992)) and directed by Alex Proyas (Knowing (2009)).

One year after the murder of Eric Draven, a young rock musician, and his fiancée, he comes to life again because of a crow, who flies around the dreary metropolis and wants to avenge their deaths.

The Crow has been celebrated to a ridiculous degree, and it is also even getting a remake now. It is, to me, a wildly unpleasant and poor film. Considering the three highly dubious, main talents behind it listed above, it is not so very strange, I think.
It only heightens the unpleasantness of the film for me that its talented star Brandon Lee (Legacy of Rage (1986)), - the son of Bruce Lee (Fist of Fury (1972)), - was killed in a weapon's accident on the Crow set: A weapon was not properly checked before use, and Lee was shot in the abdomen, which caused his death. - Something that, of course, should never be able to happen. Still the death was ruled an accident, no-one was deemed liable, and the film was completed with a double, rewrites and some CGI covering up for Lee's absence. The film's studio Paramount wanted out of The Crow due to the death of its star and violent material, and Miramax instead went in and injected 8 mil. $ to finish the film.
- But, paradoxically, it seems that the reception of the film at the time and the its cult following since have embraced Lee's death and consider the awful Crow a more profound film because of it.
Nothing could, however, be farther from the truth.

The details:

The Crow is a cheap-looking, shameless exercise in exploitation of the teenage crowds of its time; it is a world-weary concoction, draped in goth- and grunge styles and music. This isn't just the epitome of 'the ugly 90s', it is also a badly written film, populated almost solely with unpleasant characters with few individuating traits, who all scream and swear continuously. It's filled with unpleasant violence and the occasional, more or less motivated explosions. And it's nearly always night in the Crow universe, and mostly raining as well, so that the general atmosphere and what you take from the film is simply just a heady mix of depressing garbage, all in all.
The production budget was essentially too little for this type of film, because the lack of funds and mismanaging of the funds they did have, give it a cheap look: We understand that it takes place in a major city, - but we only see very little of it, and there are never many people out. The lack of extras is a mystery: In the big city of The Crow, we don't just happen to meet the same 10-15 characters over and over again, - no, they genuinely seem to be the only ones there! - Because Proyas and co. neglected to make the city look alive. 
Lee's death was also partly due to the fact that the weapons' handling was put in the hands of an assistant, instead of the expert, who was send home, probably to save money. - Cheap, cheap cheap. The Crow reeks of cheap, repugnant movie-making.
The Crow is one-dimensional, weltschmerz-laden, ugly, pointless film-making. And it's is such a shame that Lee should end his far too young life on such a tawdry production.
If you decide to watch the film anyway, you might notice that The Dark Knight (2008) seems, oddly, to have been inspired by The Crow, as some designs (namely Lee's make-up, which is very similar to that of Heath Ledger's Joker, but also some masks in the film) and visuals are very similar in the infinitely superior Batman movie.

 

Related post:

 

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Brandon Lee in a still from Alex Proyas' The Crow - R.I.P.

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 23 mil. $
Box office: 94 mil. $
= Big hit
[The Crow opened #1 in the US with 11.7 mil. $, - successfully tapping into the badly clad youths of the time, - and grossed 50.6 mil. $ (54 % of the total gross) in North America. It was even praised by scores of populist and/or drowsy critics.]

What do you think of The Crow?