Cassie BatesonI recently watched Bright on Netflix. They didn’t do much in the way of promotion, I saw one trailer which piqued my interest and then I never heard about it again. Will Smith snagged the lead which is enough to make me watch it. When my friends suggested ordering a pizza and settling in for a movie I was happy to oblige.
Bright sports an interesting premise which I have never seen done. What if a great battle (a la Lord of Rings defeating Suaron) took place 2 thousand years ago? How would society play out? How would the people on the losing side be treated afterward? Orc, as usual, chose the wrong side. They’re relegated to the slums and being lower class citizens. Prejudices run high even after all those years. The humans are still the majority with the Elves being the extremely wealthy.
The movie hinges around Will Smith’s character Daryl Ward and his Orc partner Jakoby. Jakoby is the first Orcish police officer and is facing prejudices on both sides. Daryl is just returning to the force after being injured in the line of duty. The duo responds to a disturbance which is where the action starts. The disturbance turns out to be at a Shield of Light safe house, where they find a young Elvish woman and a legendary magic wand. Magic wands can only be wielded by a ‘Bright’ and are extremely dangerous. The rest of the movie is a roller coaster ride of twists and turns trying to keep the wand out of the wrong hands.
The film has mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. It’s an interesting mash up of your standard fantasy and action based cop movies. If you like either of those, you can see it on Netflix at your leisure. Which, let’s be honest, if I can see a movie from the comfort of my couch that’s definitely the way to go.