The obvious comparison is I, Robot so lets get the comparison out of the way first. The budget is much more meagre here and the lack of mega effects is obvious. The effects they do they do well so the smaller sum was spent wisely. The second obvious comparison is Blade Runner. This film uses similar settings and mood and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not remotely in the same league as Blade Runner but few films are.
Where the film comes up short is the main character is a weak one. An insurance assessor is hardly the most exciting of jobs and Antonio Banderas makes no effort to enhance the traditional concept of such a character. The supporting actors do no better a job of bringing the film out of the ordinary. In fact their efforts border on cartoon-like at times. It's the robots that keep the film going, in the absence of any leadership from the human contributors, though their desire to escape to the desert is something that puzzled me. For a technological entity I would expect that a city is the only place they can survive long term.
One minor point is that any sci-fi fan knows there are three laws to robotics so if you are intending to challenge such a strongly entrenched theory you need to demonstrate as good a grasp of the subject as Asimov. Most viewers wouldn't spot such a point but any sci-fi buff will. The story makes a reasonable case for it's second law, the breaking of which is the central thrust of the film so I'll let the challenge pass.
It's a reasonably well told story flawed with weak characters and poor supporting acting. I gave it a six because I'm a sci-fi fan but if you're not then it's probably a five.
Where the film comes up short is the main character is a weak one. An insurance assessor is hardly the most exciting of jobs and Antonio Banderas makes no effort to enhance the traditional concept of such a character. The supporting actors do no better a job of bringing the film out of the ordinary. In fact their efforts border on cartoon-like at times. It's the robots that keep the film going, in the absence of any leadership from the human contributors, though their desire to escape to the desert is something that puzzled me. For a technological entity I would expect that a city is the only place they can survive long term.
One minor point is that any sci-fi fan knows there are three laws to robotics so if you are intending to challenge such a strongly entrenched theory you need to demonstrate as good a grasp of the subject as Asimov. Most viewers wouldn't spot such a point but any sci-fi buff will. The story makes a reasonable case for it's second law, the breaking of which is the central thrust of the film so I'll let the challenge pass.
It's a reasonably well told story flawed with weak characters and poor supporting acting. I gave it a six because I'm a sci-fi fan but if you're not then it's probably a five.