Netflix's Bright

[baron arem heshvaun]

Trailer of Netflix's $100 Million dollar feature

[Damien McGurrell]

Shadowrun called ...

[Rosgakori]

I'M SO READY FOR THIS.

It's either fun fantasy movie with lot going on for it...or hot garbage. Either way, it has elves, orcs and Will Smith in it so I'm game.

[Kalshane]

The trailer makes it feel like a cross between Shadowrun and the Alien Nation movie.

[John Kretzer]

This looks really fantastic...I can not wait.

[JoelF847]

I really hope that it will be followed by a series set in that world. If they do a good job, they should be able to leverage that to have a non-Will Smith story that goes a lot deeper than their movie does.

[JamZilla]

JoelF847 wrote:

I really hope that it will be followed by a series set in that world. If they do a good job, they should be able to leverage that to have a non-Will Smith story that goes a lot deeper than their movie does.

I agree with this. Even from the trailer it strikes me as a world too rich to really explore in a 2 hour movie.

But then, if it isn't very good then maybe we won't want to explore it any more!

[Valandil Ancalime]

I was thinking Shadowrunish (though SR has slightly higher tech, but reality is catching up...) or d20 modern.

[Freehold DM]

SHADOWRUN WOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Spanky the Leprechaun]

It's watchable; there's worse crap on Netflix. Of course, watching a steaming bowl of porcupine vomit is more palatable than half the drek on Netflix, but this is doable.

[Spanky the Leprechaun]

I don't know how that cost $100 million somebody must be hiding some other expenses somewhere but it's doable.

[Scrapper]

I'm actually hoping for a series or at least another movie. It was a lot to cram into two hours, but they did touch on a lot that could be built on. Loved the Centaur on guard duty in the Elf District! The dragon flying the night sky was a nice touch as well in one scene. It did feel very much like Shadowrun, though the history was a little changed, and the setting could be a prequel to the modern Shadowrun era by 30-40 years.

[Simeon]

I found that the overall ambiance and setting to be far more compelling than the actual story itself. The world is quite well built. I agree with Scrapper that those little touches of fantasy are what make it so rich.

[Freehold DM]

I FRAKKING LOVED THIS CHUMMER IT WAS ALMOST PERFECT EXCELLENT CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO SHADOWRUN FANS

[DM Livgin]

Good setting, enjoyable moment to moment delivery, the plot itself felt unsatisfying.

[MMCJawa]

bleh. I thought this movie was overstuffed and sort of poorly developed. Definitely gave me flashbacks to the director's last movie (Suicide Squad).

[Stockvillain]

It was a fun show, but I couldn't help but feel like it was supposed to be a pilot the entire time.
They seem to have put a lot of thought into the backstory of the world, but you only get to see little glimpses of that backstory where it directly pertains to the plot.
It's pretty much a cop movie with fantasy elements, when you break it down.

[Overlap Pete]

Halfway through... good world-building... I keep thinking this is the pilot for a new Netflix Special TV Show... I'm almost certain they will do that after watching this.

[Rosgakori]

I liked the orc. Thought Noomi Rapace looked cool. Makeup was great.

That's about it. Horrible script, poor middle-school level social commentary that was just there to make this slightly edgy, both Noomi and Lucy Frey had nothing to say or do, they were plot points. Will Smith was unimaginable a&@$+&#, but somehow still likable because Smith but as a character he made no sense. Visually unimaginably boring. Jacoby, who should have been btw the main character, lost all his hero moments to Will Smith because of course.

So yeah, not a fan.

[thenovalord]

It was ok
Liked that elves were as awesome as they should
Way to much f@*@ arse s*~* swearing though

[Hama]

It was really fun to watch.

Hated Noomi Rapace, as I do in everything.

[GM PDK]

Yeah... the swearing was useless. Makes it impossible to watch with young ones. Or old ones.

[Vidmaster7]

I never understood that. people ok with seeing someone get shot or in this case skin and organs burned off leaving behind a skeleton but not ok with hearing a few "bad" words.

[Hama]

I like swearing in movies, makes it more human. People swear, drink, smoke and stuff, I'm pretty sick of the today's clinical celean-ness of films.

[Vidmaster7]

Hama wrote:

I like swearing in movies, makes it more human. People swear, drink, smoke and stuff, I'm pretty sick of the today's clinical celean-ness of films.

"stuff" Is my favorite part.

[Freehold DM]

I know its impossible, but some shadowspeak in the movie would have made me squee.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Rosgakori wrote:

I liked the orc. Thought Noomi Rapace looked cool. Makeup was great.

That's about it. Horrible script, poor middle-school level social commentary that was just there to make this slightly edgy, both Noomi and Lucy Frey had nothing to say or do, they were plot points. Will Smith was unimaginable a@@$@@!, but somehow still likable because Smith but as a character he made no sense. Visually unimaginably boring. Jacoby, who should have been btw the main character, lost all his hero moments to Will Smith because of course.

So yeah, not a fan.

Pretty much this, except i don't like Will Smith at all.

[Freehold DM]

Haters gonna hate.

[Hama]

Movie was good.

[Black Dougal]

I enjoyed this movie and hope for more of the story. I find it ironic that the critics had a major hate on for this but gave Last Jedi demigod status. I know there are reports that the writer has been a major douche bag in his personal affairs but taking that out of the equation, the story, while it has issues, is serviceable.

[Rysky]

Sexual harassment and assault puts you a step beyond “major douche bag” I’d say.

[Black Dougal]

Rysky wrote:

Sexual harassment and assault puts you a step beyond “major douche bag” I’d say.

I would agree with that. I guess my point was that I was prepared to hate the movie based on the reports of his behaviour, and wonder how many critics would have approached this the same way. But from creative viewpoint, the movie itself was not a waste of time.

[GM PDK]

For the price tag this movie was s$%$. There, I said it.

[Aberzombie]

Finally watched this the other night. I thought it was interesting and entertaining, and might have some potential for expansion.

[Kalshane]

I enjoyed it. I thought the makeup and special effects were pretty well-done. All the major elf and orc characters looked the part. (Some of the random elves in the Elf Town scene, not so much.) The elven "assassins" were really cool.

The movie as a whole didn't blow me away, but I didn't regret the two hours I spent on it. Solidly 3/5 for me. Definitely a little overstuffed on the world-building (the whole Shield of Light thing definitely felt wedged in to setup a future sequel/series)

All the little background touches (the afformentioned dragon and the centaurs, in particular) were nifty.

[BigNorseWolf]

centaur horse patrol....

[Freehold DM]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

centaur horse patrol....

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Jenner2057]

I liked it. Hope there are more movies or (dare I hope) series to further flesh out this world.

[Curious]

I found it above average for what it is. I do not get all the hate critics have dropped on it for failing to be something more than a buddy cop movie.

[phantom1592]

Ehhh... I didn't care for it.

It had some decent world building, and I think the overall idea was really neat. However the script was rubbish. The amount of swearing and social commentary was showing how hard they were trying to be 'edgy' and it fell really flat.

It seemed designed for people who were major fans of Training Day and fantasy genre... and that's too small a niche.

It reminded me of a Barbie sized Leatherface figure I saw in the local FYE the other day. Cloth, removable clothes on a LEATHERFACE doll... I'm not sure who the target audience was for that, and not sure I want to...

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Freehold DM wrote:

Haters gonna hate.

It's good to see your sense of humor is intact.

[Freehold DM]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

Haters gonna hate.

It's good to see your sense of humor is intact.

it is!

[Freehold DM]

phantom1592 wrote:

Ehhh... I didn't care for it.

It had some decent world building, and I think the overall idea was really neat. However the script was rubbish. The amount of swearing and social commentary was showing how hard they were trying to be 'edgy' and it fell really flat.

It seemed designed for people who were major fans of Training Day and fantasy genre... and that's too small a niche.

It reminded me of a Barbie sized Leatherface figure I saw in the local FYE the other day. Cloth, removable clothes on a LEATHERFACE doll... I'm not sure who the target audience was for that, and not sure I want to...

i own 2 of those!

Not really. But if this movie was that doll, I would.

[Vidmaster7]

Rysky wrote:

Sexual harassment and assault puts you a step beyond “major douche bag” I’d say.

I mean you can still be a major douche bag and have other worse descriptors.

[Shadow Kosh]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Pretty much this, except i don't like Will Smith at all.

Haven't seen this yet, but from what I have seen of it and what I know about Will Smith, I assume Will Smith's character is Will Smith, fantasy world cop. Because all of Will Smith's characters are Will Smith, only with a different job.

[BigNorseWolf]

Shadow Kosh wrote:

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Pretty much this, except i don't like Will Smith at all.

Haven't seen this yet, but from what I have seen of it and what I know about Will Smith, I assume Will Smith's character is Will Smith, fantasy world cop. Because all of Will Smith's characters are Will Smith, only with a different job.

And you'd be correct.

[Shadow Kosh]

Black Dougal wrote:

Rysky wrote:

Sexual harassment and assault puts you a step beyond “major douche bag” I’d say.

I would agree with that. I guess my point was that I was prepared to hate the movie based on the reports of his behaviour, and wonder how many critics would have approached this the same way. But from creative viewpoint, the movie itself was not a waste of time.

Hollywood is weird these days. Unproven accusations can get you blackballed, but both a confession and a guilty verdict for raping an underaged girl gets you a standing ovation.

[BigNorseWolf]

Thats getting a little heavy for a discussion about not-shadowrun movie on netflix.

[Alzrius]

I enjoyed Bright. I really don't understand the visceral levels of hate that the movie seems to be getting. It wasn't a perfect movie by any means, but it had some fun aspects to it and it was an enjoyable-enough picture.

Its failures can be summarized (to my mind) as follows:

Spoiler:

• The Shield of Light organization was handled very poorly. You take the organization dedicated to stopping the Dark Lord's return, show that they apparently have foreknowledge of what's about to happen (the "homeless" guy speaks orcish and makes statements relevant to what's about to happen, such as saying that Will Smith's character is "blessed"), and then - after having him info-dump a bunch of background information - forget about them completely.

• The bit with Nick having let that orc kid go was presented as being a major plot point, but had nothing to do with anything at all. The kid can't shoot Nick, so his father does it. Tikka then resurrects Nick. The kid refusing to do the deed because Nick saved him is therefore entirely irrelevant.

• The proverbial bar on the inferni's combat prowess was set too high for the heroes to believably defeat. Seeing them dismantle a S.W.A.T. team without breaking a sweat (helped by the fact that the officers kept charging the elves instead of hanging back and shooting them, for some reason) made it very difficult for me to believe that the outnumbered, injured, and exhausted heroes could then defeat them in battle.

• Why the hell did the Altamira gang members keep trying to get the wand when it's apparently common knowledge that only one in a million humans can touch the thing without exploding? A couple of them grabbed it as though they didn't realize that it was instant death to them, for crying out loud! Everyone kept talking about it granting wishes, but it self-evidently was a death sentence for virtually everyone, since magic is apparently unusable for pretty much all of the population. That made it a very poor mcguffin.

By contrast, I liked the following:

Spoiler:

• Will Smith was indeed Will Smith, the way he is in every movie, but I like Will Smith so I see this as a plus. "Fairy lives don't matter today." Hilarious!

• The movie subtly subverted the trope of using the fantasy races as analogous of real racial groups by virtue of how it kept the real world's racial issues present as well. The scene where Will Smith confronted the gang members right next to his house, for instance, or when his Hispanic friend made that whole "they're still mad at us about the Alamo" joke. I thought that was a brilliant way of showing that the issues with orcs and elves in society wasn't just "this is X real-world group with a coat of paint" but rather that they had their own social issues.

• Other than the Shield of Light guy, the movie did a good job with restraining itself from trying to cram world-building down our throats. Nick's talking about Jarik, who rallied the Nine Armies, felt appropriate for why he'd start talking about him then. Prophecies were casually mentioned, and the Dark Lord was left as an enigmatic figure. Most movies wouldn't be able to resist going overboard with all of those, so I appreciated that this showed some self-control there.

• I enjoyed the way the movie presented Nick and Will Smith as having different forms of significance. Nick was resurrected in front of the other orcs, who immediately identified him as a prophetic (perhaps messianic) figure, whereas Will Smith - in a twist that, to be fair, we all saw coming - was a Bright. The fact that the movie had them display such different strengths, rather than something much more cliched like having them both be Brights or something like that, struck me as reminiscent of the diversified roles you have in a D&D party. Hence, I quite liked that.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the sequel.

[Aberzombie]

Shadow Kosh wrote:

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Pretty much this, except i don't like Will Smith at all.

Haven't seen this yet, but from what I have seen of it and what I know about Will Smith, I assume Will Smith's character is Will Smith, fantasy world cop. Because all of Will Smith's characters are Will Smith, only with a different job.

It makes me realize that Will Smith is a lot like John Wayne (only less awesome). They were both popular for essentially playing themselves, over and over.