Bright (2017)

In a world of humans, rich elves, and poor orcs—and a good deal of racism—policeman Daryl Ward (Will Smith) is forced to work with the first Orc on the force (Joel Edgerton). On a routine call the two cops run into a magic user known as a Bright and a magic wand. Wands can do almost anything in a Bright’s hand and are fatal in anyone else’s. An evil elf needs that wand to bring back The Dark Lord who was vanquished 2000 years ago and everyone else wants the wand for its undefined power. At least I think that’s a reasonable synopsis. Based on the dialog and murky picture, maybe this was Ace Venture III.

If you are making a mashup of an ‘80s buddy cop flick (“I’m going to retire and worried about my pension”—honestly, that’s in the movie) and Lord of the Rings, wouldn’t you want to make it fun? It wouldn’t have to be a comedy, although that’d be a good choice, but fun? Exciting might be a good option too.

And obviously you comment on race relations because otherwise, why would you make this? Well, Bright doesn’t comment on race, but it is racist, so its got that going for it.

Bright is neither fun nor exciting nor thoughtful. It is ugly. It’s ugly in theme, in dialog, but mostly in cinematography. Everything is muddy and tinted blue-green. If you want to see what is going on, you’re out of luck. In the numerous fight scenes, I had no idea who was shooting at whom, who’d been hurt, and where anyone was. If everything else worked, Bright would be terrible due to the obscuring style of photography. But nothing else works. The only enjoyment I could gather from this is in arguing over which of the rotten parts is the most distasteful. Character is way up there. Do you remember when Will Smith was amusing? Yeah, it was getting harder to remember before this, but after Bright I’m thinking that it was just fairy tales told by those remembering a fantasy 1990s. Smith plays one of the many unpleasant characters I never want to see again. Not just unpleasant, but uninteresting. His Orc partner is less unpleasant but is naïve and mentally deficient (and the racial message is…?). Don’t look for consistency either in these cutouts. Our villainess can take out entire SWAT teams with ease at one moment, but can’t shoot straight the next.

Dialog gives character a run for the money. It is some mix of old buddy cop film banter, random obnoxiousness, lines that are supposed to be profound but aren’t, jokes that lack humor, and the word “fuck.” If you like the word “fuck,” you are in for a treat. If you like dialog to be humorous or witty or develop character, well… They do say “fuck” a lot.

Bright is the first big budget Netflix movie, which does not bode well for the future. It’s directed by David Ayer’s, whose last film, Suicide Squad, is a masterpiece by comparison. Bright is a foul, cheap-looking, amateurish piece of fan-service. Netflix is threatening to make a series from this. Take that as a threat.