Inferni! Inferni!
First, a note on Netflix
This film was funded entirely by Netflix. A "Netflix Original," and in my many ways it seems to be a first. I mean, Will Smith is the star (although there are many other fine actors). Will Smith, you know, the guy traditional associated with action blockbusters? It had a large budget, and is heavily advertised on the platform.
As described below, the initial reviews seem bad for the critics, but the general user base seems to enjoy the movie. What will be the future of it? We already know a sequel has been ordered (which I'm happy for), but should we expect Netflix to have anything to "learn" from this apparent critical failure?
I think not. Netflix knows exactly what they are doing. The content they produced is keyed to their subscriber base, and ot any gaps that are currently missing in the catalog. Sure, not everything they produce will be perfect creations, but to the large extent, they will at least appeal to a large segment of Netflix users, critical acclaim aside. I find this really cool you know? Data driven content development.
Don't listen to the critics
Bright initially came on my radar because of the extremely negative reviews it was getting from professional critics. Many describing it as the "worst film of 2017," but, in some cases, not worth "Best worst film of 2017" because it was so boring to watch. I didn't quite get the precise details of the hate. Most of the complaints seemed to be that the film was formulaic. That it had tired social commentary aspects.
The thing is though, I thought the general concept looked so damn cool. Tolkien races integrated with an otherwise modern Los Angeles? Sure, whatever, I'll give it a spin.
The result? Man, I was delighted for nearly the full 2 hour runtime. No particular part of the plot or dialog was stellar or anything; the main fascination was in the details of that initial concept. How does society look when there are radically different sorts of "people"? (beyond the ways we are radically different, I mean, where there are massively strong orcs, and massively dexterous elfs, and where pest control also includes dealing with faeries?)
And magic too! That bit was quite surprising (for some reason). I mean, it's part of the general lore, and so it should have been expected, but it was the part of the story that really broke it out from the traditional buddy cop/ police procedural tropes.
So, long story short, if you enjoy fantasy related themes, you should certainly give it a watch this weekend.
Spoilers ahead!
This is certainly not what the total film looks like
Details, details
As touched on earlier, nothing in this movie is revolutionary except for the general modern/fantasy mashup. The plot is very boilerplate. With that being said, I'd like to comment on a few aspects that I found enjoyable
The elves
This fed is absolute magic!
My experience leading up to actually watching the film didn't have any conception of how the elves fit into this picture. It was more about the orc cop + human cop thing. Therefore, I naturally started to wonder about our elven friends after noting their absence through the first part of the film.
They had their part in the graffiti that served as the info dump during the opening credits, and seemed to be basically the rich one-percenters that ran the world. This made sense from a normal fantasy conception. But would we get any elf characters? What exactly was special about them save for the pointy ears and fair complexion?
Well, as it turns out, they have their own gated section of town. They are rich powerbrokers as expected. And, it turns out, there are some of them that want to use magic wands to resurrect the ancient and defeated "Dark Lord." Wow. Ok, so certainly getting into some fantasy business here.
In fact, one of the key elves in the film is a high-level official in an agency focused on controlling magic related activities (the "magic feds" lol). This "good elf" is trying to track down the leader of the "bad elves" who has lost track of her magic wand. This wand is an icicle looking artifact that grants near unlimited power to the wielder, but can only be controlled by specific people (seems to be usually elves) that are titular "Brights." If a non-bright attempts to grasp it ungloved, they explode. Neat.
This wand becomes the mcguffin that moves along the plot, as Ward and Jakoby stumble upon it and a bad-turned-good elf, and from that point on it becomes something of a chase movie as the trio try to survive the bad-elf Inferni who are in pursuit of reclaiming the wand.
The Orcs
blood of my blood
One of the complaints of the movie was that it was attempting an apparent ham-fisted social commentary. This might be the case, but if you look at it from an in-world perspective, it seems a bit more natural. That is to say, these races really do have a history of brutal war, and are actually completely different in some obvious ways. The orcs have their own social constructs (the idea of being "blooded"), have their own myths and legends.
This is true for many societies and cultures in our actual world, but exaggerated in Bright. The central concept of Jakoby's attempted (and forced) integration with the LAPD is the story of the conflict that arises in our modern culture, and the need for integration and cooperation across peoples becomes more natural (the internet), and necessary (facing existential challenges together).
The history of the world in Bright is hinted at with vague references to the "Nine armies" that banded together 2000 years ago to put down the Dark Lord. The orcs had a storied leader at this time, and I was quite surprised when Jakoby became essentially this hero renewed. He seems to accept the prophecy, the fantasy, and all the mythos that we as the viewer do.
This is apparent in his ready acceptance of the local Orc leaderships show of fealty (Jakoby is blooded by them), and his overflowing description of the events to the Magic Feds at the end (we found an elf, a wand, we are pretty sure they want to raise the dark lord, I was resurrected, etc lol).
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This is contrasted with Ward, who seems to be the face of the hero for the human perspective
The humans
The face of human greed
Most of the humans depicted in the film seem to be greedy and squabbling. Initially strictly xenophobic when confronted with the first orcish police officer, the introduction of the wand into the plot also brings out there conventus nature. A twist on the traditional "dirty cop" take, the magic wand is a powerful artifact worth an incredible amount of money, and so Ward's supervisor and colleagues immediately decide to make it disappear from the crime scene, as well as to murder Jakoby.
This serves as an initial and powerful decision point for Ward, who takes the more heroic path, grumbling all the time. Ward seems almost like a modern human living in this world. All the magic related concepts need explained to him. He is gruff, very focused on traditional police work. A good foil for Jakoby who seems all in to all this magic stuff.
Which brings me to one of the truly infuriating points of the film. One of the high points is where Ward grabs the wand anticipating it will blow him and everyone else up, but instead turns out that he can wield it, and is in fact a bright. He then actually uses it to cast a spell and blow up the big bad.
First of all, this was awesome! This is the cliche stuff that I love about fantasy. The hero fulfilling destiny etc. And what does ward do after this? He drops the damn wand! Like, it's something disdainful. The obvious thing to do would have been to cheer and start waving it around and whatnot, but typical to his character, he used it in a pragmatic way and then discarded it when it was clear they had to get out of the building.
This is compounded later on with his encounter with the magic feds. He doesn't bring up that he is a bright. He basically tells Jakoby to shut up, and eagerly goes along with the Magic Fed Elf in the pursuit of a non-magical explanation for all the events. A coverup.
This is disappointing, but in retrospect I think I nice setup for the story that follows. That is, the reluctant hero-wizard that grows in power and competence, but doesn't necessarily revel in the power. It's simply a means to an end for righting wrongs, and protecting the people around him.
Misc
Some random stuff ( as usual )
- Yup, there was a centaur and a dragon depicted in the film. The centaur is easier to find, and at first might be confused as a horse mounted cop. The Dragon was more subtle, during a transition scene seen flying near the moon.
- I thought that conceit of the fugitive elf only speaking english once she "trusted" Ward was a bit silly, but, whatever.
- While I did enjoy the badassery of the Inferni Trio, as they massacred (like, 20?) armed gangsters in the club scene, it was somewhat confusing that Ward/Jakoby/Tikka were able to take them out later on. This is obviously just another example of a contrived by-the-book fantasy plot development (unbeatable enemy beaten by hero characters), but still, I quibble.
- What was going on with the wand turning red when Ward grabbed it?
- I have to imagine the faeries will play a larger role at some point. It's to believe that they are a simple pest, although it would make Ward seem like a murderer if they are proven to be conscious entities in their own right.
- Dwarves were mentioned. Wonder if we'll see them in the next film. What other mythological creatures? Trolls? Goblins?
I've only read up to your spoiler alert, as I'm looking forward to watching this in the next day or two.
Just a thought, though - Will Smith did do three Men in Black movies, so he's not a complete stranger to the other-beings-living-amongst-us premise...
For sure! He seemed (mostly) natural in the film.
Lemme know what you think once you check it out :D