Netflix’s Bright Review – It’s A Good Movie If You Can Ignore The Lack Of Context! (Spoiler-Free)

Bright is an interesting movie, to say the least. In my honest opinion, it’s a good movie to watch, but once you start to question the lore and some of the things happening in the movie, you’ll start to see its problems.

Bright is set in fantasy-like Los Angeles. The twist here is that Elves, Orcs, Fairies, and Humans coexist in this fantasy world for over 2000 years. The story tries to add some level of social commentary, which I thought was OK for the most part, with Elves being the elite one percent while Orcs are systematically oppressed, but it wasn’t properly fleshed out in my opinion. I kept waiting for a brief flashback to explain why the Orcs became oppressed and how the Elves came to be the elites in the world but it was never explained. I still don’t know what it even means to be “blooded”, which is a term you’ll hear quite a lot in this movie.

They also mentioned prophecies involving a Dark Lord returning, rare beings are known as “Bright’s” who can wield magic and impending doom on the horizon but that wasn’t touched on much either. I was left trying to come up with my own explanation as to what was happening on screen. It was poorly handled and left me out of the loop.

However, that’s all the negative I have for this movie. Hearing that there’s a sequel in the works might help tie in these loose holes in the plot.

I personally enjoyed the movie for what it was, the acting was good and the action scenes were pretty great. With Will Smith, you know what you’re gonna get so I wasn’t too worried there. Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) did a pretty good on his part. I really did enjoy his character and found myself cheering him on throughout the movie. The dynamics between Daryl Ward (Will Smith) and Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) is what made the movie great. Their constant banter was the foundation that kept me from switching off my Netflix.

Tikka (Lucy Fry) performance was also great, however, I’d like to see more of her and her character in the sequel and learn a bit more about what it really means to be a Bright. I literally know next to nothing about her, her cause and why she did the things she did. The FBI squad that was hunting down the wand also left me with no impression what so ever. I didn’t know their motives or why they wanted the wand.  I just know that they’re always one step behind everyone else. Honestly, you could take them out of the movie and nothing would even change.

If I’d were to recommend this movie, it would be on the bases of seeing Daryl Ward (Will Smith) and Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) funny banter, great action scenes and the concept of magic in a modern LA. The context was greatly lacking and could even ruin the movie for you.