Bright

One of my alltime favorite movies. Good action, cool story and amazing music. Don’t listen to the bad reviews watch it yourself.

Cool action flick, nothing more, nothing less. Good choice to put on after a long day of work.

Using fantasy stories to provide commentary on contemporary society is hardly a new concept, especially in regards to racism. Just look no further than Dr. Seuss’ short story The Sneetches or the whole Mud-bloods vs. Pure-blood theme of the Harry Potter series. However, if there is a comparison to be made with David Ayer’s latest creation that gives an End of Watch urban cop thriller spin to a Middle Earth-esque mythos; it would be Disney’s Zootopia. Both movies use odd else-where settings (Zootopia with anthropomorphic animals, Bright with orcs and elves) in order to examine racism and the wealth disparities that exist within our own. I certainly give Bright plenty of credit for it’s intriguing “Middle Earth in the modern day” concept and the large amount of money that was obviously put behind it (it’s the most expensive Netflix movie yet). From a visual effects and cinematograph perspective; it’s certainly the best-looking of the Netflix features that have been released thus far. With all it’s impressively thrilling action sequences that have all the blood and grit of those nostalgic R-rated 90’s action flicks and wild shenanigans courtesy of the MacGuffin magic wand; nothing here feels cheap or like a glorified TV movie as with some past Netflix features. But the film’s core strength is it’s two main leads. I’ve always loved Will Smith ever since he first stepped out of that rare cab on the popular tv show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Smith has a natural “adorkable” charisma that lighten up a room and posses solid acting chops to boot. Even if he may not always be in the best movies (Wild Wild West, Concussion), Smith always manages to elevate things somewhat and Bright is no exception. Smith, much like with his previous role of Deadshot from Suicide Squad, utters plenty of hilarious one-liners while also being a more morally grey character than his previous roles. Despite being despicably racist and mean towards his Orc partner, Smith brings a certain vulnerability and humanism to the role that gives the down-on-his-luck Daryl Ward compelling layers. Smith also shares great Bad Boys-like chemistry with co-star Joel Edgerton, who despite having to act with pounds of prosthetic Orc make-up, manages to still turn in a very solid performance. While I wish Nick Jakoby’s backstory was more thoroughly explored, Edgerton still manages to be compelling by playing up to the character’s innocence. Much like with Ayer’s and Smith’s previous heavy flawed but enjoyable Suicide Squad, if you can accept Bright on the level of being a B-level low fantasy action flick with solid action and funny dialogue; then it’s passably fun on that level. However, upon watching this I can’t help but feel that the concept presented would have been better served if it was a six part Netflix miniseries rather than a movie. The script is written by Max Landis; a screenwriter full of clever ideas but can’t coalesce them into a great screenplay to save his life (Ex. American Ultra, Mr. Right, Victor Frankenstein). In all honesty, the further away we get from Chronicle, the more that movie is starting to look like a fluke. Where the aforementioned Zootopia was able to deliver a surprisingly fair and balanced portrayal of societal racism and prejudice from all angles while still telling a compelling coherent story, Bright is not able to do the same. The first twenty minutes of this movie in particular lays the racism subtext on way too thick with particularly heavy-handed lines such as “Fairy Lives Don’t Matter”. Sheesh, and I thought Spike Lee lacks subtlety. Landis is also pedestrian when it comes to developing the backstory and fantasy LA setting, with the fantasy elements seemingly placed at pure random at times. For the most part Bright’s LA looks like normal LA with Orcs and Elves in it, but other times with little explanation there would be Guillermo del Toro-style magical trees, gothic seedy churches surrounded by normal square buildings, and a Dragon flying in the background (I bet a certain Dothrakian queen is worried sick right now). There is also a subplot involving an Orc gang and Nick that is very sloppily injected into the third act that honestly felt like padding and it’s made worse by the fact that it leads to a moment that is frustratingly ripped straight from Training Day!! I really liked the concept, the action, and the two main leads but it’s execution and attempts at world-building left much to be desired. There is a sequel currently in the works and despite my reservations, I am still personally interested enough to see what lies in store for Daryl and Nick next.

The trailer was more fun than the movie. 3 points because Will Smith is a good actor, dont understand why he did this movie though...

I actually had high-hopes for this feature, what with Will Smith doing his Will Smith thing and the concept seemed interesting (I had not read the graphic novel); It started interestingly, with the way racism was turned on its head - very cool, very likable. BUT THEN - the horrid writing and plot-holes became apparent. So much potential just to turn in to a splatter movie with pretty CG? I couldn't make it past the first out. This *must* have been a movie set as a movie release that the studios realized was junk and so sold it to Netflix, which isn't above bottom-feeding. And this movie qualifies. Horrid. Just horrid.