One watcher’s review of Bright…
…if you haven’t heard of Bright, it is the new movie starring Will …
~Spoiler Free – NO Spoilers Here~
… Smith et. al., that debuted on Netflix on December 22nd.
I’ve seen a lot of differing opinions – which yeah, that’s with ANY movie… but here’s mine. ?
As a fantasy writer, someone who loves MMORPG’s, and someone who loves and appreciates a good story… personally, I REALLY liked Bright. Like a lot.
When you take a look at movies like this, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Especially one like this – it’s not something that’s been done mainstream – at least, not much that I can remember.
I’ve seen some reviews likening it to a mashup of a cop movie meets an MMORPG game – I can see that. I don’t agree with it per se, but I can understand the comparison.
Now, for the good…
The story concept was great. While some tropes of the movie are expected in a “cop” movie, that is also true for movies of all genres. I like how they used the backdrop of what seems like a typical “cop movie” to make something that isn’t typical.
Lots of action – yeah, if you don’t have a lot of action in a movie like this, then what’s the point, right? Plenty of action to keep you entertained.
Interesting, and believable — yeah, believable — characters… given the premise. ?
People (and orcs I guess) are not perfect creatures, we all have our flaws, some darkness, and a backstory. And they did that very well in this movie with several of the characters.
If you have a story where there are characters that are intriguing, and you care about what happens to them in the story, then you have the makings of a good story… that’s true in books or in movies.
I also thought they did a good job of differentiating the races in the movie, even if some feel they may have been a bit cliche.
And… the bad…
While there were characters I cared about, there were others that slightly annoyed me — simply because they didn’t feel “fleshed out” enough.
Characters in a movie, if they are going to play a noticeable role and have significant influence in the storyline, need at least enough backstory so that it doesn’t confuse the watcher, or at least so that those characters don’t feel flat and one-dimensional.
If there is any major complaint I would say, it is that. The other “bad” observations are much less on the bad scale.
Now… that “bad” being said… I really hope they make another one (there are already rumors!) and in that next one, they give a little bit more story to those elements and characters that I felt probably had a kick-ass backstory, but we didn’t get to see.
One can only hope.
So… final analysis – definitely worth seeing. Go check it out, make it a movie night. And let’s see if we can get a sequel.
Oh… and it has a GREAT soundtrack… like, really good, definitely one I’ll be picking up.
Have you watched it yet? What did you think… comment below!