Will Smith Takes on Racial Tensions in Crazy-looking, $100 Million Netflix Movie

    0
    Will Smith, center, plays opposite Joel Edgerton who is an orc.

    #OrcLivesMatter.

    That’s the message that comes through the three-minute trailer for the highly anticipated, and moderately crazy-looking, big-budget Netflix film Bright.

    The first full trailer, dropped after a Comic Con panel, features Will Smith as a LAPD officer swatting a fairy out of his birdfeeder then riding on patrol alongside his partner. Who is an orc.

    Oh, and there are elves, too.

    And — interestingly enough — there are tensions between the races, and tensions between the nonhuman races and the police.

    “Everybody’s just trying to get along and have a good life,” Smith’s character tells his daughter early in the trailer. “All of the races are different. Just because they’re different doesn’t mean anyone is better or worse.”

    Then, Smith’s partner, portrayed by Joel Edgerton, is referred to as “the diversity hire.”

    The metaphors are not exactly subtle.

    Oh and then there’s a magic wand and some shooting and stuff.

    Bright is one of 40 original films Netflix is scheduled to release this year, in addition to its many original TV series. Bright may be the most anticipated, though, directed by David Ayers of Suicide Squad fame. Er, infamy.

     

    In an age of reboots and franchises, an entirely new idea is a most welcome addition to the cinema scene, even if its just on our home cinema systems. Plus, genre mashups are always fun, and cop-buddy-fantasy-film hasn’t been done. The closest thing — Graham Baker’s Alien Nation, is nearly 30 years old now. Will Bright become a cult classic (and weirdly unsettling TV series) as Alien Nation did? That remains to be seen, but the trailer is certainly intriguing.