In an alternate present-day where magical creatures live among us, two L.A. cops become embroiled in a prophesied turf battle.
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Movie Queen41
12/23/2017
4 / 10
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._
