Movie Reviews this week looks at the alternative futuristic sci-fi movie Bright starring the stalwart Will Smith (Independence Day), who always brings a certain bravado, signifying a touch of danger to his roles.
We join the movie finding out that orcs, elves, and humans all live together in a futuristic alternative universe, where elves are in charge; the bourgeoisie of the planet, humans are the middle class, and orcs are not just the working class but are looked down upon, by both humans and elves, the basis of this being that in some distant war, thousands of years ago the orcs pledged their allegiance to the Dark Lord, and although they lost the war, they have been underfoot in the midst of the other races from then on. It does a very blatant comparison to any unjust society through any era of human civilisation and for this, it deserves recognition.
We meet Daryl Ward played by Will Smith (Independence Day), who is a cop looking just trying to survive till his pension in five years time. He has been paired up with the first (Los Angeles Police Department) LAPD orc police officer Nick Jacoby, played wonderfully by Joel Edgerton (Warrior), who is completely unrecognisable as the honour seeking orc. His personal battles of being a sellout to his race by being a cop, and never being accepted by his colleagues has been played numerously in many a cop tv show, but not many have tried to apply that in such a futuristic universe as this.
In the routine of an incident, our two protagonists come into contact with an elf, Tikka played by Lucy Fry (Vampire Academy), who has a mythically wand, which apparently can give anybody their heart’s desire, the only problem being only a “bright” can handle it, anyone else who touches it is simply destroyed. What follows is a life and death struggle to preserve their lives whilst the owner of the wand, a powerful elf; Leilah, played by the wonderful Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, I must admit her as an elf suits her to a tee), as well as the LAPD, and various gangs are trying to get their hands on this wand, for all the possibilities it can provide.
