Henny's Movie Review: Bright (no spoilers)
In five words: TV movie with untapped potential.
Bright is a Netflix movie with an original take on the well-known "buddy cop" genre. Set in present Los Angeles, similar to our own, the movie tells a story of a world where fantasy creatures like orgs and elves live among us. Like most buddy cop movies our protagonists get into trouble and they have to solve it before the end credits roll. The movie has an intriguing setup with much potential to become a franchise; however with a meager story and 90s television quality filming it was mostly noise. I think everyone who is BRIGHT enough should watch something else on Netflix.
The story follows a human cop (played by Will Smith) and his org partner (played by Joel Edgerton) doing their job when they are called to investigate a building. There they discover an ancient weapon and learn that they have to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. As aforementioned the story is quite meager and the only saving grace is the interaction between the two protagonists. The cinematography sets a grim depiction of LA with org street gangs ruling the streets, and it is mostly shot at night. The music is almost non-existent, which can also be said for the antagonist, setup and payoff. The three act structure of the movie consists of an unimpressive quite boring beginning, almost no middle (mostly noise), and an anticlimactic ending.
The movie fails on almost all levels. The story needs more depth, especially since we are talking about a mystical world with magic. I understand that the movie isn't focused on telling an epic story, but tries to tell a more grounded story. A story about a couple of cops doing their daily jobs in a mythical world. I get that, but why do all the characters react like this is a big event. All I'm trying to say is that the story doesn't fit how everyone is reacting. In addition the movie attempts to depict a world with different social classes where the Elves represent the rich, humans the middle class, and the orgs the lower class. Even though this is an interesting setup this aspect of the movie is dropped almost immediately after it was introduced (like most things in this movie). There are side stories that go nowhere and instead of setting up a scene, in order for it to be paid off later, the movie tend to run through it all without any setup. The movie uses close-ups for most scenes and everything is framed in the middle (like 90s television shows). This limits the world that they are trying to build and sometimes detracts us from what is truly important. Furthermore, the most important thing for a movie that is character focused is to show character growth, well there is very little of it.
Does that mean that the movie has nothing positive? Well no, I can without a doubt say that the org cop has some funny lines and moment and in my opinion should have been the main character. Also there are some action scenes where they slow everything down, which is also quite good. And lastly the make-up, CGI, and practical effects were very good.
Really people there are a lot of better things out there that can truly brighten your day.
I give this movie a 4.
In five words: TV movie with untapped potential.
Bright is a Netflix movie with an original take on the well-known "buddy cop" genre. Set in present Los Angeles, similar to our own, the movie tells a story of a world where fantasy creatures like orgs and elves live among us. Like most buddy cop movies our protagonists get into trouble and they have to solve it before the end credits roll. The movie has an intriguing setup with much potential to become a franchise; however with a meager story and 90s television quality filming it was mostly noise. I think everyone who is BRIGHT enough should watch something else on Netflix.
The story follows a human cop (played by Will Smith) and his org partner (played by Joel Edgerton) doing their job when they are called to investigate a building. There they discover an ancient weapon and learn that they have to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. As aforementioned the story is quite meager and the only saving grace is the interaction between the two protagonists. The cinematography sets a grim depiction of LA with org street gangs ruling the streets, and it is mostly shot at night. The music is almost non-existent, which can also be said for the antagonist, setup and payoff. The three act structure of the movie consists of an unimpressive quite boring beginning, almost no middle (mostly noise), and an anticlimactic ending.
The movie fails on almost all levels. The story needs more depth, especially since we are talking about a mystical world with magic. I understand that the movie isn't focused on telling an epic story, but tries to tell a more grounded story. A story about a couple of cops doing their daily jobs in a mythical world. I get that, but why do all the characters react like this is a big event. All I'm trying to say is that the story doesn't fit how everyone is reacting. In addition the movie attempts to depict a world with different social classes where the Elves represent the rich, humans the middle class, and the orgs the lower class. Even though this is an interesting setup this aspect of the movie is dropped almost immediately after it was introduced (like most things in this movie). There are side stories that go nowhere and instead of setting up a scene, in order for it to be paid off later, the movie tend to run through it all without any setup. The movie uses close-ups for most scenes and everything is framed in the middle (like 90s television shows). This limits the world that they are trying to build and sometimes detracts us from what is truly important. Furthermore, the most important thing for a movie that is character focused is to show character growth, well there is very little of it.
Does that mean that the movie has nothing positive? Well no, I can without a doubt say that the org cop has some funny lines and moment and in my opinion should have been the main character. Also there are some action scenes where they slow everything down, which is also quite good. And lastly the make-up, CGI, and practical effects were very good.
Really people there are a lot of better things out there that can truly brighten your day.
I give this movie a 4.
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