I, ROBOT - HARDWIRED turns the movie into a much darker vision of the future.
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!
What was done?
The faneditor cut out a lot of scenes, especially towards the ending for a darker atmosphere. Almost all comic features were removed, so the movie is more a sci-fi thriller than it was before.
Did it work?
Yes, for almost everything, except for the ending, although it was still good. But in the end the scene when the robot should be twinkling and IS NOT, it just takes too long. I expected Sunny to twinkle, I expected him to be not convinced by Viki. And then the ending monologue felt rushed and the end was too fast. This would have worked better, if some of the fighting sequences and surpressing sequences would have been put after Spooner got arrested. It would have also been good to get more of Spooner's failure to see or hear. He is the one who could have saved them all, but did not succeed.
Conclusion:
Even though the ending did not work so well for me, I was very well entertained and actually watched a great movie, which felt superior to the original version, which left me kind of empty and unsatisfied. Yes, the new ending is depressing, but still it is true to a dark vision of a roboterized future. Very well done. Looks like I become a Scaperat fanedit fan.
The Extras:
no extras whatever. There is a trailer, but it is not on the DVD, there is no menu and no chapter selection.
Video editing quality:
Good, I did not see any transitions, just the cut to the finale had a somewhat wrong timing to me. Unfortunately the picture quality is rather poor, compared to the original DVD. The image is crispy, unsharp and lacks detail.
Audio editing quality:
Very good, considered that it is just stereo. No flaws found here.
ratings:
movie rating: 4 of 5
video quality (compared to the original): 3 of 5
audio quality (compared to the original): 4 of 5
editing: 4 of 5
which means an overall rating of 4 FE stars.
Watch it, it's well worth it.