When I first saw the ads for the new Netflix movie, Bright I was intrigued. The basic premise of Orcs, Elves, Fairies, and Humans co-existing in modern day LA had a lot of promise. With Will Smith being on board raised expectations a bit, the man has done some good solid Sci-Fi/Fantasy work after all. Men in Black, Independence Day, I Am Legend and so on. So like a lot of fans I waited eagerly for it to come out and when it did the wife and I sat down with beverages and snacks and waited to be entertained.
By the end of Bright, we were still sadly waiting to be entertained.
One theory that I have heard as to what went wrong with this movie is that most of the budget was spent on Mr. Smith’s salary leaving little for special effects and production values. The overall feel of this is that is a rushed, half-baked pilot for a series that will never get made. The same material has been done better before, think Alien Nation for example. A bored and tired looking Will Smith mumbles and sleepwalks through any scene where guns aren’t firing or cars exploding and nobody else on the cast does a whole lot better. Inexcusably for this kind of movie, even the villain was yawn-worthy.
Basically, Bright is a botched execution of a great concept and fails on any number of levels. I was left feeling disappointed and a little cheated. There are a few… if you will pardon the expression, bright spots but they are few and sadly far between. This movie is a mess, a predictable lackluster mess at that. If I would have paid for it in a theatre I would have wanted my money back, as it stands I begrudge the two hours I spent hoping it would get better.
I give these lackluster Bad Boys meets The Hobbit wanna-be fantasy flick a charitable two out of five bananas and want everyone involved in it to hang there heads in shame for a minute and think about what they have done.
What did you think of Bright?
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