Look I don’t particularly like him as a person but it’s hardly a controversial opinion to say he’s a good actor. That was one of his better roles imo.
Comment on Actors that have been the least believable scientist castings, I’ll start.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day agoThere were good parts in that movie, but Will Smith wasn’t one of them.
AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I don’t particularly like his acting style, completely outside anything he does as a person. iRobot and Men In Black are some of his better roles, but like Jeff Goldblum or Eddy Murphy, he can only play himself. I don’t think it works in iRobot that well though, but that’s more of a casting choice than bad acting.
AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I agree he’s pretty one note but I do think it works for that and Men in Black. He’s a detective in both so yeah, not a lot of range, but it was more subdued from wacky to just sarcastic in I, Robot. I do like sarcastic jerk as a character type which may say something about me.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 21 hours ago
Yeah, in MIB he has Agent K to play off of. MIB 3, where he’s the sole driver of the narrative, was a weak entry partly because of this.
He has plenty of good movies and is an objectively good actor, but I think his style needs to be used well, and i, Robot doesn’t quite hit it. Maybe if Dr. Calvin was a stronger character rather than a worrywort and source of romantic tension, I’d like his performance more.
stephen01king@lemmy.zip 23 hours ago
You’re discrediting the great chemistry between Will Smith’s character and Sonny, which means you’re missing out on a good chunk of the movie experience.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 21 hours ago
Oh, that chemistry is great, but I don’t think he plays the investigator part well, especially when trying to follow the clues left by Dr Lanning. Will Smith’s style is very off the cuff and anti-authority, and while that works in MIB where there’s the very strict Agent K to play off of, I don’t think he works as the sole driver of a light mystery. Sonny and Spooner’s interactions are fantastic, but they’re usually driven by Sonny giving exposition. Spooner is usually just running from things as they unfold.
All in all, not a bad performance (there were plenty of objectively worse ones), but I don’t think it does the movie any favours. There are plenty of great things about i, Robot, but Will Smith is not one of them in my opinion.