Bright (2017)

[aabattery]

Discuss and stuff.

[Webslinger]

Netflix enters the big-budget blockbuster arena with a thud in Bright, a film so poorly executed from the ground up that I can’t help but wonder what the corporate bigwigs saw in it; perhaps they just assumed that viewers would be too busy multitasking to notice the glaring flaws? The principal concept – a buddy cop film set in a world in which fantasy creatures coexist with humans – has potential, but Max Landis’s script doesn’t do anything fresh or meaningful with it. It initially seems that Joel Edgerton’s orc cop character Nick may be a vehicle for social commentary in the vein of Zootopia, but he ends up being a boring, one-dimensional character whose arc is underdeveloped and whose allegorical importance is undercut by the filmmakers’ decision to portray each other orc character in the film with the broadest gangster stereotypes they can devise (all the while portraying the fairer-skinned elves as wise, elegant, and affluent – with the exceptions of the few who are evil). As if ineffective social commentary didn’t make Bright enough of a slog on its own, we’re also treated to a bizarre, often unintentionally hilarious pairing of director David Ayer’s brash, edgy cop drama tropes and silly fantasy terminology; the fact that all involved play this juxtaposition completely straight just makes much of the plot feel unbearably childish. Adding insult to injury, Will Smith delivers one of the stiffest performances of his entire career; he’s on autopilot from start to finish and never shares believable chemistry with Edgerton. And to cap it all off, the climax has a howler of a twist that is telegraphed so blatantly and so early in the film that I was shocked they saved it for the end instead of making it part of the plot as soon as the two leads acquire their Leeloo-knockoff elf and her magic wand. There are a few slivers of humor that save the film from the bottom of the barrel, but overall, there’s greater fascination to be had in pondering just how the filmmakers went so disastrously wrong than there is in actually watching the film. 

 

D+

[Blankments]

Bright is a dull kind of bad. It's creative in the sense that we've seen all these plot elements before, just never in the hodgepodge mess that this film presents. The dialogue is obnoxious and although it's certainly more cohesive than his last work, Ayer's direction remains haphazard and difficult to follow, especially in his action scenes. Edgerton is the only part of the cast worth singling out, trying hard to make the cringe-y material work. Bright is a total waste of time, even if you leave it on the background, as the only thing of interest here is some decent makeup. Offensively mediocre. D

[That One Girl]

THE DARK LORD’S COMING

[Webslinger]

"Fairy lives don't matter today!" has to be Line of the Year, no?

 

I've said this elsewhere in the forum already, but I really can't overstate how unintentionally hilarious it is to hear tough, f-bomb-laden cops-and-thugs talk one minute followed by statements about wands in the next. The cognitive dissonance of the dialogue is more explosive than any of the film's actual pyrotechnics.

[CoolioD1]

YOOOOU DON'T WANNA FUCK WITH UUUUUUSSS

[cookie]

It's not good but it's not irredeemably awful either. Edgerton and Smith were the only ones who kept me engaged tbh cause the plot didn't make a whole lot of sense and it's surprisingly shoddy for a $90m production.

[Chewy]

It's fun seeing how badly the cop tropes and the magic mumbojumbo mix but the movie itself is super dull. Like the worst parts of an Underworld movie mixed with Sabotage. Even Big Willie is playing against type here as Mean Dullard opposite Orc Cop's Misunderstood Nice Guy

[aabattery]

3 minutes ago, Chewy said:

It's fun seeing how badly the cop tropes and the magic mumbojumbo mix but the movie itself is super dull. Like the worst parts of an Underworld movie mixed with Sabotage. Even Big Willie is playing against type here as Mean Dullard opposite Orc Cop's Misunderstood Nice Guy

 

Will Smith is such an asshole in this. Supremely unlikable, which is honestly kind of a feat in itself.

[Chewy]

Just now, ReyReyBattery said:

 

Will Smith is such an asshole in this. Supremely unlikable, which is honestly kind of a feat in itself.

 

Got banned for posting this lmao but not 10 minutes into the movie and he's already killed a fairy and yelled "NO HOMO, SHUT UP AND DRIVE" at Orc Cop

[That One Girl]

50 minutes left.

 

one of the things on the wall of the bathroom says “‘I love orcs’ -nobody”

[That One Girl]

Can I give a lower grade than an F?

[DeeCee]

You’re all nuts. 

 

It’s not great but it ain’t that bad.  

 

 

[aabattery]

21 minutes ago, DeeReyEgonnnnn said:

You’re all nuts. 

 

It’s not great but it ain’t that bad.  

 

 

 

[cookie]

21 hours ago, Chewy said:

 

Got banned for posting this lmao but not 10 minutes into the movie and he's already killed a fairy and yelled "NO HOMO, SHUT UP AND DRIVE" at Orc Cop

I actually missed the first ten minutes so I missed this part.

 

Allow me to change my rating to Fuck This Movie.

[Rorschach]

"From the director of the Academy Award Winning 'Suicide Squad'"

 

What an ugly mess. Talk about a great concept wasted by inept direction and writing. This is pretty much Suicide Squad 2.0, right down to having similar actors, dull style, cringy jokes, underdeveloped villains, etc. Like Suicide Squad, the first act has some okay set-up but once the actual story itself gets going, it gets repetitive as hell. The only things I can think of off the top of my head that was good was Edgerton's performance, the Orc make-up, and some of the world-building ideas. Again, it's a pretty cool concept on paper but executed poorly.It's not the worst thing ever like some critics are saying but it's still pretty bad. 

D+

[Barnack]

22 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

The only things I can think of off the top of my head that was good was Edgerton's performance, the Orc make-up, and some of the world-building ideas.

Pretty much this.

 

I thought the first act was also ok (enough to earn a D, I achieved to watch all of it after all), but when the fight sequence in the strip club happened I told myself, oh if that made the final cut we are in for an hard time and then yes it became a long series of non sense and bad action set piece.

[That One Girl]

do orcs have uh mad hops?

[Blankments]

Wrote a film criticism essay on this. Check it out if you wanna.