Bright (2017)

Not as horrible as critics make it out to be. But it's really only worth seeing on streaming.This would not be worth seeing in the theatre. It's a mash up of gritty cop drama and Lord of the Rings-style fantasy. It's an interesting concept, but most of the characters are underdeveloped, especially the villains. Only Joel Edgerton's Orc character is a fully fleshed out, compelling character. He is the best thing in the film.

Almost a great film, but the ending lets it down just a bit.

The concept is brilliant: buddy cop + _Lord of the Rings_ sequel. What you'd expect is a somewhat humorous popcorn action flick. Instead, Bright turns out to be quite dark and deep. It's about racial prejudice, for a start. It's about police corruption. It's about hard choices and trusting people you don't like. And, of course, it's about good versus evil.

The Orcs are a stand-in for just about any oppressed minority. It's a clever bit of allegory, if a bit obvious. Less obvious is the portrayal of the Elves, who turn out to be the arrogant, uber-entitled 0.1-percenters. If you always thought the elves in LOTR were a bit snooty, you'll love this switcheroo.

Will Smith is as good as ever, playing an older and more world-weary version of his character from films like _I Robot_. Joel Edgerton is fine as the Orc, and Noomi Rapace seems to have been born to play an evil Elf.

Unfortunately, after a lot of gritty action superbly directed by Ayer, the ending arrives as a bit of an action-movie cliche. There was so much more meat here, in the characters, in the politics, in the weird magical backdrop. I was hoping for a more character-driven ending, instead of the usual mindless brute-force head-bashing (as superbly exemplified by every DC comix movie of recent years).

Nonetheless, Bright is well worth a watch. It fails in some of its higher aspirations, but reverts to being a very entertaining buddy-cop romp. Which isn't so bad.

Ninety nine times out of a hundred, whenever I have a varying opinion with critics at large, I understand how we have both come to our separate opinions and move on with my day. About once a year though, there is a movie where all I can think about the vast majority disliking a movie is: "This world is fucking crazy". The last time it happened was with _Chappie_, and today, it happened again with _Bright_.

_Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

Everything about Bright is a true achievement in being terrible. For a movie with a very interesting world and a cool premise, Max Landis and David Ayer and the cast managed to create true dog shit. The largest problem lays with Landis's terrible script with some of the worst dialog I have ever heard and Will Smith's acting and (what I can only assume to be) ad-libbing. Every single actor/actress does a terrible job, but I pin at least half of that on Landis. All of the dialog is so stilited and the general plot is so full of holes, so slow and bogged down with nonsense, and incredibly ham-fisted with it's obtuse social commentary. Will Smith is a real actor who has real acting skills, he has two Emmy nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, and although there are a few bad spots on his IMDB page, he usually does a fine job. His performance in Bright is essentially just Will Smith being Will Smith who exclusively speaks in pop culture references (which raise a few questions about the world of Bright [Shrek exists in a world where humans and orcs have lived together for thousands of years?]) and curse words. I guess no one wanted to make Will Smith mad so they let him make whatever stupid quips he wants, but it becomes clear that no one making this film gives half a fuck. As bad as the script and plot are (which is a true testament to Landis's ability to punish the audience) it's almost possible to overlook how terrible the the CG and fight choreography are. The explosions and blood spray are below Windows Movie Maker quality and big fight pieces make no sense and are incredibly lazy and confusing. This movie is so stupid that it can't even follow its own rules. Suspension of disbelief only works when the movie works within its own world. Every 15 minutes, Bright does something that either makes no sense or defies the rules it created. I won't go into it much of it to not spoil anything, but a big part of the movie is the hunt for and protection of a magic wand. In Bright's world, only a "bright" can even hold a magic wand. If any non-bright touches a wand, they instantly explode. There is apparently no way to know if someone is a bright or not is to grab a wand and see if you blow up or not and they make it seem like brights are rare. So, given this, why does everyone seem to think that they are a bright and try and grab the wand? One minor character even manages to and even though they don't become a burst of goo, there is no way it makes sense for them to be a bright. Bright makes no sense and is easily one of the worst movies I have seen. From a technical stand point, the camera work is fine, the sets are fine, the sound equipment works and was mixed properly, but this is only place Bright can get any points. It's stupid. It's stupid, and dumb, and it makes no sense. I usually disagree with the opinion of the media critics 95% of the time, but I have to agree with them here. I like lame Sci-Fi, Action, and Fantasty movies; I legitimately like Suicide Squad (David Ayer and Will Smith's previous collaboration) and I get nothing positive out of Bright. Unless you are looking for a movie to trash with your friends while you are trashed, stay far away from Bright; it is terrible. TERRIBLE.

Sometimes friends say "just go and enjoy the movie and don't be too critical of the plot". I tried that for the 2021 Bond movie, it did not work. So after thoroughly enjoying this movie and coming out of it on a high, I was amazed to see the criticism. Some of the critiques make sense: the backstory is not explained, and why are orcs hated if 1000 years ago it was an orc who united all to overcome the dark lord? However, this movie was a unique fantastic spectacle, and at its heart was an orc hero who despite being ostracised was noble, honest, brave, and lovable. Will Smith was an excellent reluctant hero too. The action was intense but I never felt exhausted. And it was funny in the best way thanks to the virtuous innocence of the orc. It worked for me and I highly recommend it.

Well, you do get the feel that it will work as a series. But you also get the feel that like all the good shows Sci-Fi puts out, Netflix will only let it run long enough for you to get involved before they cancel it...so it is probably better it's just a singular film.

The bad would be that, at least the introduction of Will Smith in the film mirrors ID4 so much its a little unsettling...it gives the feel that "I've seen this before" and that feel kind of lingers throughout the movie as it seemingly resembles other films you've thought you've seen before...but can't exactly place, at least not all the time.

The good news is, the opening credits do the same thing and that works to brilliantly set up the films universe. It gives it a very 90s gangland LA feel from the get-go with a play on race relations without mentioning actual races that is only really beaten by Marvel's use of Mutants.

It all makes for a very familiar movie. You do feel like you've seen it before and that works both as a strength and a weakness. Ultimately, however, it is more of a strength as the feeling that it's not totally fresh actually helps you get involved in the movie. It helps you so suspend your disbelief enough to fully by into the new world, that magic is real, at least until the credits role.