Many reviewers have taken a dim view of Will Smith’s newest film. And rightly so. But the most illuminating responses have come from regular people - especially the Will Smith lovers - who are not all that thrilled about this new movie.
Bright, an original Netflix flick that was released at the end of 2018, is a mishmash of Smith films you’ve already seen, just with a whole lot more explosions and gun action.
Here’s the gist of it: in a dystopian Los Angeles, there is a massive distrust between races that have been forced to live together.
There are elves (who are essentially just rich people), orcs (who are looked down upon), fairies (whose magical powers can be used for good but aren’t) and humans. Smith plays a human LAPD officer, Darryl Ward, who is stuck with an orc called Nick Jakoby- played by Joel Edgerton - for a partner.
While on the job together, Ward is attached by an orc. No one is arrested but Ward blames Jakoby and the distrust intensifies. They are forced to make a different choice when a magic wand - which is sought after by just about everyone - lands in their possession. Then there’s fire, explosions, lots of shooting, kaboom, the end.
A post shared by Will Smith(@willsmith) on Dec 27, 2017 at 5:23pm PST
But here’s why this is essentially a few movies you’ve already seen just rolled into a neat 118 minutes. Firstly, Smith is a cop. Smith is the good-looking half of a cop duo. It’s like Mike Lowrey is resurrected. But Bright is not nearly as entertaining as Bad Boys.
Smith is also in an environment where aliens or creatures that aren’t human are abound and its his job to save us from them. Remember Men In Black? How about I, Robot? Oh, and true to form, Smith has a love interest. His wife is played by Dawn Olivieri, but her function is just to make Ward look like a struggling family man.
Bright is like déjà vu . Except the writing tries to make Smith out to be the cool guy. Like when a dad tries to tell jokes and it’s just awkward for everyone. There is a line he says that falls so flat, it’s hard to ignore it.
“We’re gonna titty bar gun fight die,” he says as Ward and Jakoby ready themselves for a shootout in a strip club.
There’s also, unsurprisingly, an attempt to address today’s race woes by inflicting belligerent, ignorant remarks on the made up ones. But again, the lines fall flat. If you’d like a way to just pass the time without seeking too much mental stimulation, then Bright is right up your alley.
Bright is on Netflix now