Bright - Review
This review of Bright is spoiler-free!
I'm sure you've all seen the stories in the news the last few days: "Bright is orc s***!", "Bright is a terrible movie!", "Bright is Will Smith's worst film to date!" While some of those may be true to a large majority of people, I will be one of few to say something in the movie's defense: it's not the worst movie this year. That may seem like a rather small piece of praise for a movie that is getting beaten to death critically, so I promise to spend time discussing some of the better points of this film. But for now, let's take a look at one of the worst pieces of the film's overall package: the world.
The world of Bright is a rather strange thing. It attempts to take the current world climate and convert it to how a similar situation would occur in a fantasy world. Orcs are the downtrodden and "unruly" group of people. It's a little too on the nose for most people, including myself, and I just don't find it to work all that well. While I understand it was not meant to be done with any ill-will, it simply didn't land. Along with this, the true rules for this world's fantasy elements are never truly discussed. We don't know what goes and what doesn't in this world and I believe that is against the film overall. If I were to take the time to try to learn the world I believe it would help my enjoyment overall. There are a few specific points that were used in the story but not explained and I believe that is just do to the world building being so poor.
Speaking of the story, it shouldn't a question that this is one of the main reasons this movie is getting panned across the board. It's not good. It's rather jumpy and all over the place. There is a bit of an odd backstory used for the Orc character Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), which wasn't necessary due to the Orcs already being viewed negatively. Daryl Ward (Will Smith) is a down on his luck cop who is coming off a bad injury that took him out of the line of duty for an extended period of time. I liked the character of Daryl, but in the world he was placed he really doesn't work well. This story again hits some very crude points, and the shoehorned conflict of orcs with the rest of the world just didn't really need to be there. I believe that part of this world could have been done completely differently and the story would have a better feel overall.
I'm sure you're tired of me talking about all the things bad about Bright, so I think it's time I talk about a few positives! The first one being that Bright visually looks fantastic. The design of fantasy races is great, whether that be orc or Elves, and the look of magic and the scenery itself is great. A lot of this film takes place at nice so the use of colored lighting really works to the film's advantage. Secondly, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton really do their best to try to create a rather interesting dynamic between the characters. Being a comedy though, their relationship is put to the side for some meaningless jokes that don't really hit well. Finally, I just want to talk about the potential of Bright. Many people may see this is a film that should not go further (not have a franchise), but I see a world in which this film's sequel lands much better with critics and audiences. Focusing more on the magical world, and looking into how the different races came to be where they did would be an intriguing direction for the story to take.
Don't mistake my hopes for the future of this franchise as praise, Bright isn't a great movie. Being on Netflix and not in theaters, I see a world in which this movie does extremely well as a cult-classic. Having discussed this with a few others, fans of Shadowrun and Beyond Good and Evil may find enjoyment here and come back for multiple viewings. That's an example of people enjoying a movie that doesn't necessarily hit for everyone. So, if you're not busy this holiday season and want to put a movie on that you don't need to focus on completely, Bright wouldn't be a bad choice. The visual work that comes from this film makes it worth checking out even if you're not interested in the world.
