Don't. I repeat do not... expect Bad Boys with orcs and fairies and elves. This is one of the ways the film has been marketed. It's a tough and gritty cop drama, but with mismatched partners: human Will Smith and an orc. What a ripe situation for a buddy comedy, right? Well, actually I'd have to agree with you IF this was the route that Bright had taken. However, it's not. It's typical David Ayer humorless gritty cop drama (Dark Blue, Harsh Times, End of Watch, Sabotage, Suicide Squad) like most of his other films. Sometimes it works (Training Day), but it's mostly tired. Bright decides to cross genres and pit fantasy characters -- like the aforementioned orcs and elves and fairies-- with real life LAPD. It's difficult to pitch a movie like this: Okay, so there's like all these super nerdy fantasy characters, right? But now we put them into a Training Day type movie where we attempt (and fail) at examining real-life race problems with cops within the U.S. I truly believe there is a way to do this and somewhat succeed, but Bright isn't that movie.
Bright is the story of our world-- IF we shared it with fantasy characters. The orcs are known as the thugs around LA. The elves are the rich posh assholes. The humans are... well... humans and they have to co-mingle with these creatures. The first ever Orc cop Nick (Joel Edgerton) has been forced to partner up with Ward (Will Smith). Their partnership has already begun quite rocky. While Nick is purchasing a burrito, Ward is shot by another orc. Nick chases the orc on foot, but he "gets away". Everyone, including Ward himself, and Internal Affairs, believes Nick allowed the assailant to get away because of a clan-blood-pact or something and that he will always value orc lives over human lives. This puts into motion a plan within the department to frame Nick and get him ousted from the LAPD. However, the story leads us into the territory with this evil elf Leilah (Noomi Rapace) trying to summon a dark lord to enslave humanity. Only she needs a magic wand to do it-- a wand that has been stolen by elf defector Tikka, who just happens to be in custody of - you guessed it-- Nick and Ward. Oh, and there's only like a fraction of a percent of people who can even use magic wands. Those who can't explode and die when they touch it. Those who can are called Brights. Yeah.
Here's the deal with this movie. It's always going to sound kinda stupid no matter how you explain it, but there is a right way and a wrong way to present the movie. The right way should've been to hire charismatic actors to lend some serious credence to the story (like Will Smith and Joel Edgerton). However, it still ends up... pretty stupid. The biggest reason Bright doesn't work the way it is intended to is that it is a movie that must earn its audience's attention. Because of the fact that it's always going to sound like a dumb idea, there needs to be a fun and inventive way to grab the audience and show them that this is a world that is worth discovering and going on an adventure inside of it. But, it isn't. The dialogue is terrible. Will Smith is able to transcend a lot of bullshit because he is such an enthralling actor (he even sold me on Seven Pounds and that movie was a pile of pig shit). But there hits a breaking point where not even Will Smith can save it. The dude makes a Shrek joke reference that not only doesn't land, but it's got me shaking my head embarrassed at one of my favorite actors. Most of the film is like this. Poor dialogue that doesn't feel organic and it's either strange strings of yelling and profanity... or explanatory dialogue to make sure the confusing plot isn't too confusing for viewers. There are also plot holes galore. Character motivations don't make sense. Where the story winds up doesn't make sense. People are looking all over the city for this magic wand holding trio and yet the only people who can seem to find them are the bad guys. Ward is portrayed as a family man who will do anything for his wife and daughter, yet all of the "police" moves he makes puts himself in such danger that he doesn't seem to give two shits about his own well-being and never once considers his family before pursuing a fruitless suicide mission. Even Nick's motivation of becoming a cop isn't believable. When I found myself constantly questioning what in the hell is going on followed by questioning why someone would do something they just did... I had to realize that what I was watching wasn't any good.
It's just not an interesting movie to watch. You watch it to see if the outlandish combination of genres actually works and after only about ten minutes you'll realize it's not. I am one who will pretty much watch anything with Will Smith. The dude has a charisma that's only matched by a handful of actors in Hollywood, but he's been on this trend of picking dark and brooding characters that he's losing that Will Smith charm that made him a star in the first place. He picked roles in movies like Independence Day and Men in Black and Bad Boys and even the shitty Wild Wild West where his snarky magnetic and fun performances elevated the films from decent to great. Yet, nearly every movie he's chosen since Men in Black 3 have been these intense, quiet, depressed, subdued and angry characters that it's difficult to watch Smith and have the same kind of joy we once felt with him. I understand an actor wants to challenge themselves and not tie themselves down to a single role type, but by trying to avoid the spunky characters he used to portray, he's giving us characters too flawed and unhappy to enjoy. Seriously look at the movies: After Earth, Focus, Concussion, Suicide Squad, Collateral Beauty and now Bright. What could've been a really interesting buddy-cop dynamic went a darker and more uncomfortable path. Smith doesn't like his orc partner. He doesn't want anything to do with him and he expresses that. Nick's retorts are to take the high road and make jokes (like one half of a buddy cop duo), but Ward's responses are so dark and hostile and uncomfortable, he becomes a seriously unlikable character. This is fine to have, but most audiences, including myself, don't want to watch Will Smith as unlikable. In fact, the movie is so populated with unlikable characters, the only person we do connect with is actually Nick. But, we're supposed to feel bad for him and the way that he's treated just because he's different (and we do), but we're also supposed to care that they want to oust him from the police department... when he's actually a pretty terrible cop. He makes the most mistakes of any cop on screen and I'm supposed to care about this Orc not losing his job? He's supposed to be the first one ever to finally become a cop and all I can think about is how??
Bright's reach exceeds its grasp too often that the audience is left confused and angry. It tries to do so many things at once (including make racial and political statements that only weakly translates) that it fails to successfully complete one of them. This is such a new world we're thrown into that we only get part of the mythos of the world. We're left with so many questions about just the world in general that it's difficult to become immersed in the plot. Then we have the characters that are hard to connect to and a villain whose motivation we don't exactly understand and a build up to a battle that doesn't really ever happen and characters that seem important but in the grand scheme of the movie don't contribute anything... it's just an exhausting exercise of surrealism crossing into realism that doesn't pan out. It was a decent effort, but it didn't work this time and even someone as charismatic and film-saving as Will Smith can't bring this one back from the dead.
D+
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