Page 84 - Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star

Will Smith
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Smith teamed up with a couple of past partners for his
next two movies, both of which were sequels. In 2002 he
starred with Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black II. In 2003,
Smith and Martin Lawrence joined up again for Bad Boys II.
Both movies received a wide range of reviews. As is typical
with sequels, most critics who liked the original movies
thought the follow-ups were not as good. Still, like most of
Smith’s movies, both of these drew plenty of viewers.
Smith has continued his practice of starring in one big
movie per year. He returned to his favorite genre, science
fiction, and combined it with mystery in I, Robot, released in
2004. I, Robot is based on the writings of the renowned
science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. Smith plays a police
officer in 2035 called to investigate a murder that took place
in a robot factory. A question arises: Are robots trying to
take over the world?
In the movie, Smith’s character is scared of technology.
Smith is just the opposite. He proudly admits, “I’m a tech
junkie.”5 He had fun with the special effects used in I, Robot.
The staff used human expressions, body language, and voices
to make the robots seem real. Smith explained, “So, there’s a
real human quality to the robots that are really fun for me, but
I think will be chilling for people watching the movie.”6
Most reviews for I, Robot were positive. Movie critic
Michael Wilmington of The Chicago Tribune called the film
“a high-tech thriller that really works—both because of its
eye-popping visual feats and the ideas and humanity
behind them.”7