It has at last been confirmed that everyone’s favourite friendly droid, R2-D2, will be making an appearance in Star Wars Episode VII. So in honour of the beloved bot, we thought you might fancy checking out some of the other great robots from cinema history, all available to enjoy in high definition on Blu-ray this weekend.
Robots
This animated movie, starring Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams and Greg Kinnear, features robots as loveable and personable as the great R2. Set in a robot world, the story follows ingenious idealistic inventor Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) as he moves to Robot City to make his fortune. On arrival at the city, Rodney is disgusted by the corrupt order, and forms a band of angry droids to take on the powers that be. Robots is perfect family entertainment and according to the BBC, “director Chris Wedge stunningly captures the metallic tints and textures” of this brilliantly constructed mechanical world. On top of the ground-breaking visuals, the Blu-ray also includes an audio commentary and deleted scenes.
i,Robot 3D
Like the droids in Star Wars, the robots in this futuristic sci-fi flick set in Chicago 2035 are living and working side by side with humans. But, when a woman is flung from a high storey building, it looks like a robot may be responsible. Will Smith stars as Detective Del Spooner, a man on a mission to find out if this was just a freak incident, and whether the robots can really be trusted. The film has been exclusively converted to 3D for Blu-ray, and boasts a plethora of extras including extended and deleted scenes, and a piece on creating the incredible CGI effects.
Real Steel
Like i,Robot, Real Steel is a sci-fi film in which robots are starting to replace humans, but this time as boxers. Directed by Shawn Levy, the film follows Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), a boxing promoter who attempts to train an old, discarded robot to victory whilst struggling to reconnect with his son. Packed with a near perfect blend of death defying action and stunning special effects, this is a great film to watch on Blu-ray. The disc is replete with extras including deleted and extended scenes with introductions by Levy, a blooper reel and four featurettes – Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story, Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s Champ, Making of Metal Valley and Building the Bots.
