Bright Movie Review

Bright is one of those movies that probably doesn’t really jump at you when you read the Netflix back of the box description. It should. This is one of those action movies that brings an actor full circle and back to what made him famous in the first place. Will Smith makes a return to his roots so to speak with “out of recent character” commentary involving a lot of swearing and violence – two things he has professionally avoided during his rap music career. What is so special about Bright?

The background setting is delivered a little late in the movie for my taste, but it does eventually come out that there was a very long war between four races. After the Dark Lord was put down about 2,000 year ago, an uneasy and often turbulent “peace” came about between the Humans, Orcs, Fairies, and Centaurs. Bright picks up with a team of Los Angeles police officers, Jakoby (Edgerton) and Ward (Smith). This partnership is already tested by the fact that Jakoby could not apprehend a criminal that shot Ward during a routine patrol. It seems Jakoby is having trouble cutting ties completely with the Orc population that so easily ostracized him.

Elves kind of run things, they are the money grubbers. They are also high up in the federal government, particularly the “Magic Division”. Orcs are the next ones down the stepping stone and live among humans trying to find their place in society. Fairies are reduced to annoyances – eating out of bird feeders and generally screwing with the lives of humans and orcs. Centaurs apparently were wiped out or something because I don’t remember seeing any of them in Bright, only being referenced by other characters from time to time.

Ward makes his return after a long recovery and is immediately placed back in the patrol car with Jakoby. Ward is obviously not happy with this arrangement but can do nothing about it. The duos first call out to a disturbance leads them to arresting a seemingly homeless man with a sword blocking traffic at an intersection in downtown.

This seemingly simple arrest leads to some major foreshadowing in the film as the suspect talks to Jakoby in Orcish telling him that the two police officers are big players in the prophecy playing itself out that very moment. Distrust comes up between the partners when Jakoby simply says the man is crazy and speaking gibberish, but Ward sees it is something more by the way his partner is acting.

Things go to hell as the movie goes on. While Jakoby is booking the prophet suspect Ward receives a visit by internal affairs. IA wants Ward to get Jakoby to admit that he let the shooter go so the police department can fire Jakoby and be done with this “racial integration” situation. Basically, they could operate without any Orcs in their ranks, something Ward’s commanding officers would love to have happen.

Ward reluctantly takes the wire and begins to attempt to get his partner to slip up about the events that almost ended his life.

This distrust plays major point roles throughout the movie. I won’t ruin the major plot points here. Suffice to say, there is a lot of blood, there is a lot of death and there is a lot of swearing. All things that you would not expect from a movie starring Will Smith based on his filmography from the last decade or so.

Grab Bright on Netflix, or wait for the DVD release.