NETFLIX’S BRIGHT REVIEW: A JOYFUL CHRISTMAS OFFERING…

Netflix’s upcoming film “Bright,” which releases yesterday may have cost upwards of $90 million to make, but a slew of negative reviews and a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 26% just go to show that cash does not directly translate to quality. Ayer, who also directed ‘Suicide Squad’ acknowledged that his “work can be polarizing,” directs this cinematic show-piece.

Among the numerous reviews panning the latest work from director David Ayer, Indiewire’s David Ehrlich said that “Bright” is “the single worst movie of 2017.” Ayer took to Twitter to defend his work and responded to Ehrlich saying, “This is going on my fridge. Highest compliment is a strong reaction either way. This is a f*cking epic review.”

CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

Joel Edgerton is unrecognizable under makeup as the orc partner of human cop Will Smith in David Ayer’s fantasy-based crime flick, a pricey Netflix original.

As genre hybrids go, you might be able to imagine films less promising than director David Ayer and screenwriter Max Landis’ Bright. In pairing the gritty, Los Angeles cop flick Ayer often makes with the fantasy world of orcs and elves, though, Bright is sufficiently weird-sounding that it all but begs viewers to come in armed with pitchforks and lanterns.

The finished product, isn’t quite involving enough to merit the kind of pile-on mockery that greeted Ayer’s DC Comics abomination Suicide Squad.

Stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton play it mostly straight here, doing their part to sell the dopey premise, but the screenplay offers viewers little reward for our own suspension of disbelief. Rumored to be the most expensive Netflix original film to date, the pic may well attract eyeballs on the streaming outlet. But its potential as a franchise-starter just may be… laughably!

Imagine an alternate version of our own reality in which humans and mythological creatures had always lived alongside each other – elves, humans, faeries, orcs, and dragons all live together in a world that closely resembles ours.

Presumably, that world would be rather different, in physical form and daily behavior, from the one we know. But as Landis’ screenplay imagines things, this fantasy L.A. is nearly identical to ours except in two ways: Graffiti has orcs and elves in it, and downtown sports some Dubai-like architecture, thanks to the ultra-rich denizens of the “Elvin Special District,” who spend their days “just runnin’ the world and shopping.”

Human cop Daryl Ward (Smith) has the misfortune of being the partner of the nation’s first orc policeman, Edgerton’s Nick Jakoby. Orcs are hated by humans because, two thousand years ago, they fought on the side of the Dark Lord, or something like that. Nowadays, orcs (known by the lovely epithet “pigskins”) are a permanent and violent underclass, and only the fear of bad PR keeps bigoted officials from booting Jakoby out of the L.A.P.D.

While Smith is as full of charm and bravado as ever, it’s Edgerton who steals the show. His portrayal of Jakoby is heart-warming.

While, actual magic seems to be pretty rare in this world, so it’s a big deal when Jakoby and Ward arrive on a crime scene where rogue elves (led by Noomi Rapace, wasted here) have thrown violent spells around and incinerated some folks.

A much bigger deal is that one has left her magic wand behind, inspiring a bloody race to obtain it that pits corrupt cops against gang-bangers and the aforementioned elves.

If Bright spends less time imagining its world than it does having people bicker in all-too-familiar ways. It’s possible that this screenplay holds a record for the number of times people tell each other to “shut up,” but if not, those words are spat out often enough that it’s hard not to guffaw when they pop up at a moment that should be dramatic.

The script suffers as it tries to shape into something tangible that will neatly fit into a 2-hour runtime, but Bright is a compelling narrative that needed more time to breathe.

It could have been something truly special if it had slowed down the pace of its narrative to allow for a fuller exploration of its engaging world. But Will Smith and Joel Edgerton are a compelling duo we’d love to see again in a sequel, or even a new series produced by Netflix, so hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll see of the world of Bright.

7/10