Bright Review

Bright is a very unique type of tale presenting a modern world where it's not just humans, but a plethora of mystical creatures. They live in separate parts of society and while some try to get along, gang violence is a big issue. Despite the very Shadowrun like backdrop the narrative is focused on a buddy cop style where two people just try to live through a wild night. Ward (Will Smith) is a human coming back from a fresh injury and his partner is Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) an Orc. Things are rough as no one likes an Orc on the force though Ward doesn't particularly care.

A magical wand gets thrown into the mix and the two attempt to protect an elf as well as the wand against a series of threats. It's basically just a night of action and combat as the two desperately attempt to escape their pursuers. There are multiple parties at play with a mix of fast paced action and lore building to understand the complexities of the advanced world they've setup. It does a decent job of this and really just feels like a small story in a possibly larger world. You get a variety of locations though all very low class within this society.

The story really isn't anything too imaginative, but the fantasy settings does definitely make the film stand out from others. The core characters were well developed and definitely likable. Many aspects of what's shown in the movie mirrors current society in an extreme fantasy land sort of way. That of course being with all the mythical creatures that are present in this world.

It paints an interesting picture and is a thrilling time, it just doesn't carry too much depth. It's a rather dark movie with it taking place over the night, but decently well shot. I was impressed with the CGI as it did bring the atmosphere they were aiming for to life. There was however one part that stuck out towards the end with Ward though that was the only bad CGI I noticed.

The Conclusion

It's a decent fantasy film bringing a Shadowrun style of which I love. The acting is solid with everyone working to make the world feel real. I'd definitely like to see more of this setting and Bright really paints a unique environment I'm not sure any films have tackled previously. The CGI is great with only one scene being bothersome and the action was well presented.

The gun fights felt tense and the mix of magical elements was exciting. The core characters were great and this sort of world they built shows a lot of future potential. I thoroughly enjoyed Bright, but there wasn't a ton of depth to it. It's very much a straight forward sort of buddy cop against the world story. It is cool though, and really fun.

Bright Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 6.5