I know Will Smith has been cancelled since he slapped a comic at some awards ceremony, but I will always like him. He was kind to my daughter when she met him while on a school trip, and I will forever be grateful to him for that. Also, I just like the guy. That's why I watched Bright on Netflix.
It's an ambitious cop movie, set in an alternative world where epic fantasy creatures live side by side with humans. It kind of reminded me of I, Robot and if Tolkien had written it, this would be his script. Elves are gorgeous, beyond rich and run the world. Orcs are anti-social gangster thugs. Fairies are the winged versions of cockroaches. Humans are bigoted against the fantasy creatures. Through all this magical world stuff Will Smith is a cop just trying to sell his house while still recovering from being shot by an Orc -- and guess who they stuck him with as a partner? Yep, an Orc -- one who might have let him be shot. So when they find a bright (special otherworldly) girl who has a magic wand (think like a nuclear bomb that grants wishes), things get even more interesing.
The violence is definitely over the top, while the world-building and characterizations were on the decidedly scanty side. Most of the dialogue anyone could have predicted. Yet for all its flaws I thought it was a decent film. If it had been my story, I would have flipped things so that the Orcs ran the world and the elves were the thugs, but there you go. Will Smith is getting older (aren't we all?) but he can still be cheeky-charming. This wasn't a stretch for him but I still appreciated him in the role; I think another actor would have ruined it. Available on Netflix.
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