Bright

The second collaboration between Will Smith and director David Ayer sounded fantastic on paper, but unfortunately, it’s less than the sum of its part and it just doesn’t quite live up to its potential.  That said, there’s fun to be had in this R-rated, fantasy buddy-cop movie, and the news that Netflix have commissioned a sequel means that perhaps in time we can appreciate this film as setting up the universe for bigger and better films in the future.

Premise:  In an alternate modern-day reality where Orcs, Fairies and Elves live alongside Humans, LAPD Officer Daryl Ward (Will Smith) is assigned to partner Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), the first Orc police officer.  But a supposedly routine call to a disturbance sets off a chain of events that soon puts both of their lives in danger.

Verdict:

Whilst Bright is by no means Netflix’s first “proper” movie, it is arguably the company’s first attempt to make a full on “blockbuster”, teaming movie-star Will Smith up with the director of the very well received cop drama End of Watch, for a contemporary fantasy cop thriller.  But although the idea of a cop drama set in a modern world where fantasy creatures live alongside humans sounds like a stroke of genius, the film itself unfortunately doesn’t quite manage to fulfil the promise of that concept.

I think the blame for the muddled narrative and tone of the film begins and ends with the script, written by Max Landis (who doesn’t exactly have a stellar writing record, having been previously responsible for the forgettable scripts for American Ultra and Victor Frankenstein among others).  At times the script almost seems to ignore the fantasy elements, becoming a “normal” police drama where the fantasy setting is entirely superfluous.  At other times, when the script does mention the wilder fantasy elements – such as the war two thousand years ago between humans and the fantasy creatures who sided with “The Dark Lord” – those ideas are glossed over so quickly that we get no real understanding of them.  Hopefully, these are concepts that will be expanded upon and explored more in the greenlit sequel.

“…Max Landis’ script inelegantly executes its interesting ideas…”

Even the “rules” in relation to the magic wand that is discovered don’t necessarily make complete sense.  The magic wand is said to bestow great power to those rare beings capable of wielding magic – the so called “Brights” of the title – but it will instantly kill anyone else who touches it.  You would have thought that if Brights are that rare, then a wand would not only be completely useless (and deadly) to most people, but it would also be difficult for someone in possession of a wand to find a Bright to sell it to.  Nevertheless, in the film it seems that absolutely everyone wants to get their hands on a wand, and that they expect untold riches and power to come their way if they can get it.

Given the patchy quality of Max Landis’ script (which inelegantly executes its interesting ideas, and which has some pretty weak dialogue), it’s good news to hear that David Ayer will be directing and writing the sequel, having previously written the Oscar-winning Training Day, as well as writing and directing End of Watch.   Hopefully he will be able to tighten up some of the more muddled elements, and also recreate some of the realistic cop relationships that were so well developed in End of Watch.  It certainly feels like Bright is the kind of film that might be improved in hindsight if it leads to sequels that live up to their potential (a little like the first Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts films are arguably underwhelming in isolation, but good scene-setters for future instalments).

“…feels like a bit of a patchwork of different ideas…”

That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot to enjoy in this first Bright film, it’s just that not all of it hangs together well, and it feels like a bit of a patchwork of different ideas.  For example, there’s a plot thread involving questions over whether Jakoby’s real loyalties lie with his people or the badge, but it does feel like something we’ve seen many times before.  Noomi Rapace plays the main villain of the film, but her motivations are unclear because they’re connected to the mythology/history of this world, which has not been fully fleshed out.  Equally, Edgar Ramírez is completely wasted as an Elf federal agent tasked with dealing with magical incidents, and I can only hope his character was being introduced now to do something worthwhile in future films.

But despite all that, the film is still enjoyable, provided you come at it with suitably managed expectations.  There are some tense action scenes, and the main characters aren’t invulnerable super-cops like in Lethal Weapon.  Their relationship is an interesting one, as it’s not just based on flippant banter – instead there is genuine mistrust and suspicion between Ward and Jakoby that comes to a head once matters escalate.  Jay Hernandez is also good in a supporting role as a local sheriff’s deputy, and the various LA gangland characters have the same feeling of authenticity that they had in End of Watch.

“…never quite lives up to the potential of its premise…”

Ultimately, the film is far from perfect, but it’s also far from the disaster some have claimed it is.  Netflix must have been suitably impressed with its performance, given that they almost immediately greenlit the sequel, saying that Bright had been streamed more times in its first week of release than any of Netflix’s other films.  And while the film never quite lives up to the potential of its premise, I can’t help but hope that the sequel can build on the groundwork laid here to create a truly entertaining exploration of this fantasy world.