“Only a Bright can control the Power of the Wand”

Directed by: David Ayer

Starring: Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace

Synopsis: Human cop Ward (Will Smith) and his Orc partner Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) inadvertently stumble upon a powerful wand and a destructive elvish plot headed by Noomi Rapace’s Leilah.

About an hour in I took a break. Then another thirty minutes and another break, before finally biting the bullet and finishing it off. Which I suppose is the main benefit of Bright being confined to Netflix. At least it can be consumed in bite-sized chunks. It would be tough to do it any other way.

The question I kept coming back to: Who is it even for? Its world is compiled of fairies, elves, orcs and magic wands, yet it’s coloured by blood splattered shootouts and f-bombs. As if that somehow adds maturity to the outlandish setting. Perhaps the foundation of an interesting idea is there – fantastical beasts living side by side with us, and the tensions caused by this – but it’s just far too underdeveloped, overstuffed and heavy-handed.

A film which serves as an allegory for interracial tensions becomes weirdly packed with undoubtedly offensive racial stereotypes all of its own. Putting aside the shortcomings of its message, not even Will Smith and the prosthetic-covered Joel Edgerton (who have a reasonable chemistry) can polish the dodgy dialogue that they’re forced to spout throughout (“dude, you can’t go through elf town!”).

David Ayer’s last film Suicide Squad was bad. This is even worse.