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So I saw the movie Bright which released on Netflix on 12/22/2017 and as a fan of Fantasy, Science Fiction and movies in general I thought I would share my thoughts on the movie and would be happy to exchange comments and opinions with readers. I am trying not to post spoilers, so if you do comment don’t leave spoilers though the movie doesn’t have that original of a plot that there is much to spoil.
Overall I enjoyed the film though I thought it could have been a lot better and added a lot more. The modern day setting with the 9 races from ancient times co-existing was only passively referred to and the primary races in the film Human, Orc and Elves were the only major on screen races (Faeries were shown but not sure if they classify as one of the 9 races). Hidden in the backdrop of several scenes were a centaur police officer, mentions of dwarves in Florida as well as we see flying dragon (giant lizard?) in once scene indicating that there is a lot more in the world than just the small scope of what was shown in LA.
So the movie which has a tremendous amount of bad language and I would bet it holds pretty close to a record for the number of F bombs dropped in the film is gritty, and reminds me a little like LOTR/Training Day mash up in modern times. The concept of pairing an Orc police officer with a human is a comparison between races and gender pairing genres and the often comparisons to Orc’s and gangs are realistically further stereotyping the majority of Orcs. Elves being the wealthy elitist is another stereotype enforced by the film, done for amusement and one would assume that elves with extremely long life spans (assumed not referenced in the movies) would have more time to accumulate wealth.
Orcs are clearly physically more powerful than humans, but appear to be the underdogs except when clustered in their own gangs. The Magic Feds referenced in the film don’t get much of an appearance and at best appear somewhat inept, at worst lazy. Brights which are the movies version of sorcerers or magic users seem to be few and far between but there are a few and it is presumed some are working with the federal agencies.
The movie does a good job showing that elves have agility far superior to both humans and orcs, and that the majority of elves are not the “evil” race but obviously with some exceptions. There is reference to a few different orders or groups one that seems to want to resurrect the dark lord and another that seeks to stop it from happening.
The film could have done more to show how the races somehow managed to merge and integrate into each others societies, some sort of recap would have helped. They do show the power of magic and you know from the preview there is a magic wand so it isn’t a spoiler to tell you that magic is extremely rare and very powerful. The fact that it still exists means there could be some greater powers in the world beyond what you see in the snippet of this Fantasy/LA mash up and I would have liked to have a peek at how the rest of the world looked.
The film sets up an ending which could easily support a sequel and honestly I would enjoy seeing another stab into this world and seeing more, especially when you realize what happens to the protagonists of the film and where it leaves what could be a huge story arc hanging.
Bright I think should have been toned down a bit for a PG-13 / TV-14 audience to grab a wider scope of interest from people who may not let their teens/kids watch it, I thought the language was slightly excessive to the point where it just didn’t seem realistic. One would have assumed if all the races merged there would have been more multi-race slang words thrown out instead of it being so English dominant, though we hear some Orc and Elvish it isn’t frequent.
All in all I agree with the audience and not the majority of critics, I think the film was good and a solid 7 out of 10 but it could have been better by flushing out more backstory and scoping the environment a bit more.
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I have been obsessed with computers, tech, gadgets and games since the early 1980’s having grown up on the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers.
By day I work in the IT Security Industry and have been in IT for over 20 years. On my spare time I am a Vlogger, Blogger, Streamer, Gadget Reviewer, affiliate marketer, influencer and entertainer. I am also an avid movie fan, TV Show fan, Anime fan, video game fan and fan of trying anything and everything new.