Today’s quick review: Bright. LAPD officer Daryl Ward (Will Smith) has been in the line of fire from orc and cop alike ever since he was partnered with Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), the city’s first orcish police officer. Their tenuous partnership is put to the test when they find a wand, a magical weapon that could be devastating in the wrong hands. Unsure of who they can trust, Ward and Jakoby must protect the wand long enough to get it to safety.
Bright is an urban fantasy movie set in a fictional version of Los Angeles that’s populated with humans, orcs, and elves. The three races maintain an uneasy coexistence, but distrust and hatred abound. At the center of this tension are Officer Nick Jakoby, an orcish outcast who’s reviled by his fellow police officers, and Officer Daryl Ward, an ordinary police officer with the misfortune to be his partner.
Bright takes this setup and spins it into an inventive buddy cop movie. Ward and Jakoby have an interesting dynamic. Neither one likes the other, and the combination of their conflicting personalities and the political situation surrounding Jakoby put them at odds with one another. But both of them are good men and good police officers, which is enough to give the film plenty of heart.
The setting is a peculiar one, transposing the racial tensions of real-world Los Angeles to races lifted from the fantasy genre. The orcs absorb most of gangster culture, while the elves take on the role of the glamorous elite. The allegory isn’t very subtle, but this doesn’t prove to be much of a sticking point. Bright takes real-world cultural issues as a starting point and goes on to tell its own story.
Bright backs up its characters and setting with a solid story and some well-executed action. The story invovles a multi-way hunt for the wand that Ward and Jakoby found, putting them on the run from human and orcish gangsters, corrupt cops, and elven terrorists. The action makes good use of the film’s fantasy elements, combining a healthy dose of gunplay with the superhuman strength and agility shown by the orcs and the elves.
Watch Bright when you’re in the mood for a solid action movie with an original premise. Bright combines the buddy cop and fantasy genres in a surprisingly natural way, and apart from a few rough edges on its setting, it achieves what it sets out to do. Give it a shot if you’re curious. For urban fantasty movie that goes heavier on the fantasy, try Hellboy or Hellboy II. For a gritty tale of police corruption, try Dark Blue.
6.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for an original premise, solid execution, and a good mixture of character, plot, and action.