Composer
Marco Beltrami has been the go-to guy for the horror/suspense genre since Guillermo del Toro's Mimic in 1997, so it's no surprise that he sounds so comfortable on his first foray into sci-fi with Alex Proyas'
I, Robot. Similar to his score for del Toro's
Hellboy,
Beltrami utilizes bombast like it's emanating from the baton itself. His tendency to over-utilize heavy percussion sometimes gets in the way of the melody, but this is a
Will Smith summer action movie so it's fitting -- thankfully, there is no lame
Smith-jam over the credits.
I, Robot isn't del Toro's best work -- that would be his excellent minimalist score for the Owen Wilson serial killer drama The Minus Man -- but it complements the material nicely, resulting in a serviceable but eventually forgettable entry into the realm of blockbuster fly-by's. ~ James Christopher Monger