Merry and Bright

I'm not sure if Netflix planned to release its new movie at Christmastime because it was called Bright, or called it Bright because they were planning to release it at Christmastime. It's kind of a chicken-or-the-egg thing, and at this point Netflix has enough power that I think either could be true.

But either way, I did indeed watch it in the thick of Christmas season; on the actual first night of its availability, in fact, mostly because it was Friday night and it felt like the type of night for a genre movie. (What genre Bright is actually in may be the subject of further discussion.)

I didn't fully consider the similarity of the name and the season until I paused it to go to to the bathroom, and could not help noticing this on my return:

Bright Christmas tree, Bright movie.

Critics say it's not so bright. In fact, because there seems to be a tendency to go on a frenzy when there's blood in the water, a number of authorities have come forward to call it the worst film of the year.

That's just nonsense, and this isn't just the 2017 Contrarian Vance talking. Yeah, I'm the guy who liked The Emoji Movie, which means you should probably not trust me on anything. But Bright is not that bad. It's definitely sort of bad -- I give it only two stars out of five. But it's trying, and that's more credit than I can give a lot of movies these days.

Weirdly, it's kind of like Lord of the Rings if Lord of the Rings were real, set on Earth (instead of Middle-earth) and fast-forwarded into the 21st century. This is a world where magic is real and the others who share the space with humans are orcs and elves. (And fairies, though only one fairy gets one quick scene in which it is smooshed by Will Smith.) In a rather obvious allegory for race relations, orcs are the lowest rung of the racial totem pole, while elves actually occupy a very elevated position, something like the 1%. Humans are somewhere in between. This particular movie is about an orc who joins the police force and partners with a very wary Smith, and the day-to-day prejudices and earth-shattering end-of-the-world scenarios they face. David Ayer is the director so it probably resembles End of Watch, though I'm only guessing because I haven't seen that.

And though it doesn't totally work, or possibly work at all, I liked what they were going for, and I really liked the performance of a barely recognizable Joel Edgerton as the orc cop. He brings a real sensitivity to the role that took me aback.

And if the movie is trying to be about different types of creatures (races) living together in harmony, that's something we need in the holiday season, and something we really need in 2017.