n this 2004 blockbuster, Will Smith (Men in Black) stars as Agent Del Spooner, a cop whose suspicion of robots pays off after one apparently kills Alfred Lanning (Cromwell), the founder of modern robotics. Investigating the crime with the help of an attractive scientist named Susan Calvin (Moynahan) who worked alongside Lanning, Spooner uncovers a vast conspiracy that reaches all the way to the executive level—and perhaps beyond—of U.S. Robotics, one of the chief manufacturers of domestic android servants.
The I, Robot All-Access Collector's Edition features two action-packed discs of electronic extras. The first disc includes the film itself, adorned by DTS and 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and three commentaries featuring director Alex Proyas, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, production designer Patrick Tatopoulous, editor Richard Learoyd, composer Marco Beltrami and the visual effects team.
Disc two boasts a four-hour "Multi-Faceted Movie Exploration for an Unprecedented Interactive Look at the World of I, Robot," which includes production diaries, various featurettes, material on robotic behavior, conversations about science fiction and robots, VFX how-to clips, deleted scenes and an alternate ending.
A blitz of bonus materials
As is Fox's wont in recent months, I, Robot is but the latest in spate of "double-dip" DVDs to see release (joining Man on Fire and The Day After Tomorrow) in the wake of their original home-video appearance. Thankfully, this collection actually does provide a wealth of watchable bonus materials (no thanks, Roland Emmerich), due in large part to the ingenuity and ambition of Robot helmer Alex Proyas (Dark City), and offers a more than worthwhile follow-up for dedicated fans of the film and folks who felt that those quadruple-disc Lord of the Rings packages should become industry-standard addenda for all future DVD collections.
Though it all but completely abandons Asimov's sedate source material narrative, the film proves to be a surprisingly engaging adventure; applying the author's scientific principles to a well-articulated and action-packed crime story, Proyas creates a futuristic world where man and robot co-exist, and then gives them both something to do. Further evidence of the filmmakers' investment in—gasp!—telling a good story is evident in the commentary tracks (which previously appeared on the single-disc DVD released last year), where Proyas, Goldsman, and Tautopoulous discuss the design and implementation of their futuristic, CGI-enhanced Chicago skyline.
Disc two contains the majority of the new features, which are presented via two menu options: a "Play Disc" mode, which shuffles the bonus materials around to suit the story structure of the film, and "Unique Features: Complete Index," which allows the viewer to target specific areas of interest, such as deleted scenes of production diaries. Whether one is better or worse depends mostly on individual preferences—that is, if you care to watch literally everything regarding the design and construction of every sequence—but the disc proves to be an enlightening and surprisingly comprehensive look at filmmaking.
