Echelon Conspiracy Similar to I, Robot

Conspiracy Thriller: Shane West & Ving Rhames

The Three Laws of Robotics - a robot can't hurt anyone, a robot has to listen, and a robot has to protect itself - form the foundation of most robot or computer-related tales since these 3 laws were first created by Isaac Asimov.

That said, it's likely only the comic-con crowd that would reference these in the movie theatre. In Echelon Conspiracy, Shane West (A Walk To Remember) plays an IT programmer caught between a government network and the FBI.

Essentially, a government supercomputer attempts to control everything and it's up to Shane West & Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) to stop it. This is exactly why holding F12 while booting up was Bill Gates' best idea.

The film moves along moderately and predictably, with no real twist or surprise. The script is decent, but if Will Smith came in to interrogate the Echelon network, it could be better.

The film tries to gain credit as a thriller by playing on the audience's fears of The Patriot Act and American foreign policy, but it is less thriller than cautionary tale. The biggest flaw of Echelon Conspiracy is that it was made 10 years too late.

It falls on deaf ears the same way Minority Report would have if we actually had police officers with precognitive abilities. It spends its time preaching to the choir while director Greg Marcks fails to say anything truly new.