Bright

[Iuz the Evil]

So I just watched Bright on Netflix. Saw that critics panned it. Rotten Tomatoes score in the 30% range...

 

I don't get it at all. Really liked it a lot. One of the more interesting movies I've seen this year. Highly recommend it, was a really entertaining genre mash up and reminded me of Shadowrun in a lot of ways. I'd very much enjoy additional Netflix material in this vein. 

 

Would watch again (and probably will this weekend).

[Ragitsu]

How otherworldly are the elves?

[Iuz the Evil]

Pretty damn otherworldly, actually. But you need to get to the end to find out that part. 

 

There seemed to me to be a class/race analogy, but they didn't beat it to death with a rock in my opinion. Elves are the elite, rich folks. Humans are the majority. Orcs are the underclass. 

 

There's references to a historical conflict, thousands of years ago. But mostly it's an LAPD action movie. 

 

I really enjoyed it. 

[Sociotard]

I had fun. Really best if you don't try to map any real world class/race problems or commentary on it.

[Iuz the Evil]

7 minutes ago, Sociotard said:

I had fun. Really best if you don't try to map any real world class/race problems or commentary on it.

I agree, was glad they weren't so heavy handed I couldn't enjoy the story. Was a fun popcorn movie. 

[Certified]

Overall I enjoyed it, but I can see why it isn't getting good reviews. The movie has a lot of unresolved plot points. With time they had there were too many things going on. With a few changes I think they would have pair down, and shifted the significance of things that never pay off. However, I will say this movie is 48hrs set in a Shadowrun and I support that.

 

My thoughts and spoilers below.

 

After they established the significance of the wand and what it was capable of doing they did not need any other background. The time spent discussing the Darklord would have been better spent focusing on why the elven faction was so much capable than anyone else after the wand. I say this primarily because they seem even more capable than other elves and since we don't get any Darklord payoff the build up around them seems unnecessary. Actually, sprinkling in a few references wouldn't have been terrible, I liked the opening graffiti, I just think the time could have been better spent. The same is also true for the Circle of Light (I think that was there name), we don't have much of a payoff with this faction, more of an introduction. The sword wielding member seems superfluous and while movie law dictates that Will Smith be magic, lays out the big reveal in the beginning. Removing this character entirely allows Nick to come to the conclusion that they are in a prophecy on his own, instead of having it fed to him. 

 

Additionally, their companion was extremely disappointing, since she's trying to communicate, but choosing to do so ineffectively and only reveals herself to be capable at a point when the story seems to have stalled. If she was capable of resurrecting Nick, the bar shootout , and the events that followed could have been made more interesting had Poison been healed, only to die defending our protagonists. Of course they still serve as speed bumps for the, ahem, not  infernal, elves but we could have had a moment where we see not every gang is completely bad and even keep their word. This I think would have added more weight to Nick's execution, where we see an orc who is operating as a gang lord for protection go to very dark places. It also would have set us for the resurrection instead of that coming from no where. With room between those scenes to explain that a wand isn't just a wish machine, but a focus or channel and you have to know how to use it.  Which leads us to the payoff in the climax. 

 

Overall I would, and probably will later today, watch it again. We give it 5 out of 10. Hopefully, the squeal will pay off on the dangling plot threads the movie left. 

[Spence]

16 hours ago, Iuz the Evil said:

Pretty damn otherworldly, actually. But you need to get to the end to find out that part. 

 

There seemed to me to be a class/race analogy, but they didn't beat it to death with a rock in my opinion. Elves are the elite, rich folks. Humans are the majority. Orcs are the underclass. 

 

There's references to a historical conflict, thousands of years ago. But mostly it's an LAPD action movie. 

 

I really enjoyed it. 

 

It was a fun and enjoyable.  I really liked it.

 

59 minutes ago, Sociotard said:

I had fun. Really best if you don't try to map any real world class/race problems or commentary on it.

 

100% agree.  It appears that someone in Follywood has remembered that people watch movies for enjoyment and entertainment, not proselytizing a social agenda.  

 

14 minutes ago, Certified said:

Overall I enjoyed it, but I can see why it isn't getting good reviews. The movie has a lot of unresolved plot points. With time they had there were too many things going on. With a few changes I think they would have pair down, and shifted the significance of things that never pay off. However, I will say this movie is 48hrs set in a Shadowrun and I support that.

 

 

 

My take is that they left things open to additional movies.  But I doubt they could afford to keep Will Smith as the main character.

As for me, the unresolved plot points are actually a plus.  It made the movie better because it felt like it was a real world shown from the perspective of two beat cops.  Personally I am tired of the main character always knowing 100% of everything at the start or by the end.  I miss the old movies that left you wondering and wanting to see more. 

[Beast]

ok movie
total ripoff of shadow run

 

[Sociotard]

Not enough cyberpunk for shadowrun

[sinanju]

I just watched it tonight. I enjoyed it. Yeah, definitely Shadowrun with the serial numbers filed off, though also yes--it was pretty much contemporary, so no cyberware. I got a strong "Alien Nation" vibe from the movie, except instead of newcomers it appears that the elves, orcs and whatnot have been here all along.

 

I also liked the "So, you think you have what it takes to wield Phenomenal Cosmic Power(tm)? Yeah? Willing to bet your life on it?" plot point.

[Ragitsu]

17 minutes ago, Sociotard said:

Not enough cyberpunk for shadowrun

 

There was too little in the way of corporate machinations for Shadowrun, as well.

[Sundog]

Really enjoyed it. Tight, well made, good bit of world building, enough reference to real-world situations to make it relateable.

 

Been hearing a bit about the guy with the sword, and I disagree it was unnecessary. First, it's the kind of lunacy cops have to deal with every day, so it showed the kind of think Ward and Jakoby had to deal with. Second, it set up the interrogation scene by the Feds, which introduced the Shield of Light loonies, without the scene of his arrest it would have come straight out of left field. It LOOKS superfluous, but actually isn't.

[slikmar]

Saw it last night, enjoyed it. Like the characters, hope more to come.

[zslane]

Is it worth a watch if you aren’t a Shadowrun fan?

[Spence]

2 minutes ago, zslane said:

Is it worth a watch if you aren’t a Shadowrun fan?

 

Short answer.  Yes.  I thought it was a great buddy cop actioner.   In fact from what my friends who play Shadowrun, they don't really see it as Shadowrun itself.  It is pre-Shadowrun, pre-cyber and pre-matrix. 

 

But I think it works great if you have never heard of Shadowrun. 

[zslane]

6 hours ago, Spence said:

But I think it works great if you have never heard of Shadowrun. 

 

Hmm. That seems to answer a different question. I’m not so much curious if it is worth watching even if one is unfamiliar with Shadowrun. I am curious if it is worth watching if one dislikes the very concept of Shadowrun.

[Spence]

21 minutes ago, zslane said:

 

Hmm. That seems to answer a different question. I’m not so much curious if it is worth watching even if one is unfamiliar with Shadowrun. I am curious if it is worth watching if one dislikes the very concept of Shadowrun.

 

Well for me early Shadowrun was a lot better that current Shadowrun

 

 

But to try and answer your question.  Shadowrun was future cyberpunk with fantasy races and magic.  In other words having cyberware, accessing and controlling computers by "jacking In", embodying the whole blade runner vibe all while injecting spell-casting magic.   Most of all,  all these items are common.  Common as the kitchen sink. 

 

All Bright has in common with Shadowrun is it has a version of Orcs and a version of Elves.   In Shadowrun the meta-races appear out of nowhere one day (2011ish?) in groups from the Unexplained Genetic Expression.   In Bright there are several comments that imply that Orcs and Elves have been around for thousands of years.

 

So while it is possible for a Shadowrun fan to compare it to what Shadowrun might have been without future tech.  Bright is really its own thing that has a few similarities. 

 

In the long run, it is a good action flick and well worth watching if you have a Netflix account. 

Unlike going to the theater you won't be out $30 if you don't like it. 

If you liked movies like Die Hard or Lethal Weapon and other Buddy Cop movies in general, Bright will be fun. 

[DasBroot]

2 hours ago, zslane said:

 

Hmm. That seems to answer a different question. I’m not so much curious if it is worth watching even if one is unfamiliar with Shadowrun. I am curious if it is worth watching if one dislikes the very concept of Shadowrun.

 

It depends on why you dislike the very concept of Shadowrun.

 

If you dislike it because it puts 'fantasy' races and rare magic in a contemporary setting then skip Bright - because like Spence said that's basically about the only similarity.  

 

If you dislike it because of the Matrix, dragons running megacorps, astral jaunts, giving the Native Americans back all the territory taken from them because they could make a volcano wake up, cybernetic mercenaries, and criminal protagonists fighting against bigger criminal antagonists ... well, you're not going to find that here.

 

I'm a huge Shadowrun fan and I realized right away that if I was looking for that here I'd be disappointed.  As it stands I think I'm neutral to positive about the film overall.  It wasn't what I was expecting -but I'd probably watch more set in the setting. 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

It was okay, as a film.  Kind of surprising to see it on Netflix, it looks like a pretty big budget production.  Some great lines in it and some of the stuff was fairly nice.  I never really envisioned elves being remotely that tough and it was odd having them drop a line about evolution in like some kind of fixation on science!!! in the middle of a fantasy setting, but it was fun enough.  Basically its just a buddy cop movie disguised as fantasy.

[slikmar]

It actually seemed a lot like if you took the middle earth elves and orcs and evolved them to modern day. The elves are every bit more "bitchin" then any other race as they were in Tolkien's books.

[Starlord]

What about disliking it because Will Smith plays Will Smith, instead of Will Smith playing a new character in a movie? 

[Certified]

9 hours ago, DasBroot said:

 

It depends on why you dislike the very concept of Shadowrun.

 

If you dislike it because it puts 'fantasy' races and rare magic in a contemporary setting then skip Bright - because like Spence said that's basically about the only similarity.  

 

If you dislike it because of the Matrix, dragons running megacorps, astral jaunts, giving the Native Americans back all the territory taken from them because they could make a volcano wake up, cybernetic mercenaries, and criminal protagonists fighting against bigger criminal antagonists ... well, you're not going to find that here.

 

I'm a huge Shadowrun fan and I realized right away that if I was looking for that here I'd be disappointed.  As it stands I think I'm neutral to positive about the film overall.  It wasn't what I was expecting -but I'd probably watch more set in the setting. 

 

 

There are some other Shadowrun themes in Bright. The biggest one being racism, granted this became less of an issue with later editions of the game but it was up front and center in the first edition, corruption, which remains fairy consistent seeing how I can't think of a Shadowrun game that didn't end because someone betrayed someone else, and being outgunned, but like racism this was more of a first edition thing and fell away to more gun porn than anything else. 

[Certified]

On 12/24/2017 at 9:11 PM, Sundog said:

Really enjoyed it. Tight, well made, good bit of world building, enough reference to real-world situations to make it relateable.

 

Been hearing a bit about the guy with the sword, and I disagree it was unnecessary. First, it's the kind of lunacy cops have to deal with every day, so it showed the kind of think Ward and Jakoby had to deal with. Second, it set up the interrogation scene by the Feds, which introduced the Shield of Light loonies, without the scene of his arrest it would have come straight out of left field. It LOOKS superfluous, but actually isn't.

 

The core issue I have with the swordsman is he is a collection of unnecessary spoilers. The initial scene itself and the drive back would be fine if he wasn't spouting off plot points we would have covered again later in the movie. mainly because it allows us to set up a more important character for later in the movie. After these scenes the swordsman demeanor, and cadence, change dramatically and continues to take away from the viewer experiencing the story instead of having it spoon fed to us. Overall, it feels like the interrogation scenes were added just in case you missed plot elements. 

[Armory]

I enjoyed it.  It felt to me like it was the first part of something, with all of the history that was touched on.  I hope there are more, although I'm sure it won't be with Will Smith or Joel Edgerton.  Yes, Will Smith played Will Smith, but I was impressed by Edgerton's acting through all that makeup.  I have a hard time believing Smith would agree to do a Netflix movie, I'm thinking this was a planned blockbuster that somehow ran off the rails in some exec's eyes.

 

I thought the elves were perhaps more badass than they needed to be, but then that helps to explain why they run the world.  And maybe all elves aren't like that, maybe these are just the supervillain elves.  We didn't see the elven Fed do anything other than glower and smirk.

 

Yes, I would like to see more from this world.

[Certified]

1 minute ago, Armory said:

I thought the elves were perhaps more badass than they needed to be, but then that helps to explain why they run the world.  And maybe all elves aren't like that, maybe these are just the supervillain elves.  We didn't see the elven Fed do anything other than glower and smirk.

 

This is something I think should have been explained more. It could have been as simple as saying the elves hunting our characters enhance themselves with magic. For all the superfluous scenes why not a scene of the elves warding/enchanting themselves before the hunt? Hey, it worked for Ronan...