Streaming on Netflix
Metadata: 2017 | TV-MA | 1hr 57m
Genre: Action, I guess? Fantasy?
Why I watched it: Um, it is a movie with Will Smith . . . and orcs. And elves. In Los Angeles. This shameless LOTR fan couldn’t resist!
This is one weeeeeeird little movie, and you know what? I loved it. Critics, on the other hand, hated it. I mean, they really hated it. More than one called it “the worst movie of 2017.” I heartily disagree. This movie is the most original thing I’ve seen in a long time, and I really enjoyed watching it, albeit in a bemused and “what-in-the-world-am-I-watching” sort of way. Sure, Will Smith plays a character we’ve all seen him play a million times before. Sure, the plot gets a little . . . confused sometimes. And sure, the movie tries a little too hard to be “woke.”
But this wildly imaginative, quirky movie is a ton of fun. Will Smith’s character, an experienced police officer nearing retirement, reluctantly navigates LA’s “interracial tensions” with his orc partner, played by Joel Edgerton. (Who, go figure, makes a very sweet and lovable orc.) When the unlikely pair encounters a dangerous magical object, they “become embroiled in a prophesied turf war,” as the Netflix description puts it. This movie has explosions, a scary blonde elf-assassin who sort of looks like Legolas’s evil twin, a budding bromance, quippy (kinda bad) dialogue, and loads of charm.
I give Bright an “A” for “Absolutely, I’d watch it again.”
Happy Streaming!
Grace
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