BY WAYNE L KEARNS | Friday night, and you're going to the movies. Good. That's means you get some relevant information from this blurb. The movie in question is "I,Robot" with Will Smith taking the lead role as luddite hardcore homicide detective Del Spooner. We get a good view of the gritty paranoiac existence of Mr. Spooner early on in the film but we love him cuz he loves pie. So we continue through Spooner's life illustration that everybody else in the world is just peachy keen with our robotic handmaids. Spooner soon gets a call from a dead man and his conclusion is that a robot did it. This time he might be right.

So here we are in a world where everyone around us trusts their robotic buddies with all the tasks of life. Taking out the garbage, carrying our bags, even caring for our children (that might not be such a stretch) while we try to chase down the first hints of a technological doom to come. A robot that is not bound by the legendary 3 rules of robotics. A robot that can hurt you.

Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) serves as an avatar of our trust in the robots while also serving as the stereotypically drab and pedantic brainiac. Her inability to use common speech to communicate was a bit contrived but only interfered with the flow of conversation once. Later she warms up and becomes a partner in our quest for justice.

All in all, this film succeeds. First, a sci-fi film true to the genre. Second, a gritty journey of dark mystique and paranoia. Third, as a fun ride action movie with plenty of guns and bitchin' robots.