2017 Film Review: Bright (2017)

Directed by: David Ayer
Written by: Max Landis
Starring: Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace
IMDb Link

Bright is set in a fantasy alternate of our world, with orcs and elves and such, and follows a pair of LA street cops; one a tired and conflicted human (Smith) returning after a leave of absence, the other the only orc on the LAPD (Edgerton), his position achieved due to affirmative action and the trust in him tenuous at best.

The film's key strength is in its makeup and effects work. The orcs, particularly Edgerton's Jakoby, are fascinatingly realistic, with so many nice touches to the look and design; every time Jakoby's ears twitch its a reminder of how much work went in to making this feel as real as possible. Likewise, the makeup work for the elves, while nowhere near as elaborate, evokes the gaudy personality usually associated with them in fantasy.

The acting is overall decent, but Edgerton in particular is excellent. Even under all that makeup, he manages to emote convincingly and plays his character with eager aplomb. His act of spilling the beans is at the end of the movie is both hilarious and telling of just how much Edgerton put in to the character. Smith isn't quite as good, playing here a character far less charismatic than is usual of his roles, but still manages to hold his own for the most part alongside Edgerton.

Where this movie falls down is in its writing. In terms of structure, the movie tries to combine buddy cop with high fantasy and only manages to get each of them half-right in the process. The social commentary the film appears to want to make is only touched upon lightly and then abandoned completely when it needs to expose a lot of magic jargon. Combine that with dialogue that doesn't mean much and doesn't sound like people talk and you have what is essentially a very good looking, movie that becomes insufferable as soon as it opens its mouth.

The Short Version: Bright is a mix of decent acting, great makeup, and bad writing. The dialogue is atrocious most of the time and the structure and tone are at odds with themselves, but for every awful line there's a reminder that the effects work on this movie is truly oustanding, and that Joel Edgerton is a really good actor.

Rating: 4/10

Published December 29th, 2017