Pretty much yeah, but fantasy creatures instead of Aliens.
It wasn't bad, but it sure wasn't good, either. I was sort of interested in the worldbuilding they did, but the actual story they told in that world was pretty shallow, at best.
I think it was because it was at night and less lighting is an easy way to save money.
The Inferi fight scenes were really nice. I'd like to see more of them. More than anything the movie reminded me of Underworld (albeit better acting and visuals) in that it really created an interesting world setting but ended up bogged down by poor writing.
I loved all the background stuff, like the centaur cop in riot gear (riot barding, I guess?) and the dragon flying across the night sky in one of the night cityscape shots.
I actually loved the movie, and holy crap, all the f-bombs. Wife liked it too. Other than making magic super-rare, it's one of the best modern fantasy settings I think I have seen, where the fantasy stuff wasn't campy, or like many others, restricted to the shadows that only the heroes encounter but the rest of the world doesn't know about. I really want to see more Shadowrun-esque modern fantasy on t.v. and movies.
Interesting note, the actress who played the evil elf lady's female henchman (woman?) also played Rose's older sister in The Last Jedi. Talk about a breakthrough...your first two English speaking films release a week apart
Edit: This article is in Vietnamese, but it has pictures of her in both characters that are better than anything I can find on google images.
Pretty much yeah, but fantasy creatures instead of Aliens.
It wasn't bad, but it sure wasn't good, either. I was sort of interested in the worldbuilding they did, but the actual story they told in that world was pretty shallow, at best.
Yes, I could do with another one. Or a TV series, please. I thought they did a good job of getting the backstory in without too much exposition - the visuals in the opening titles, the graffiti, etc.
It wasn't quite like Alien Nation - AN didn't have another species of aliens who were above the humans, and IIRC, the alien cops weren't looked down on by their own people as Jakoby was in this. That made for a different character dynamic here.
AdmiralHalsey wrote: So is it set in the Shadowrun verse, or just a cheap copy of it?
Completely different, as much as urban fantasy can be, anyway. No cyber-tech stuff, it's firmly modern tech in modern 2017-era. And as far as I know from what they say, the non-human races (of which there are more than Elves and Orcs) have always been around, rather than a worldwide change like Shadowrun. About 2,000 years ago, an Orc warrior who was a nobody rose to lead an alliance of the races to defeat a Sauron-esque dark lord and the Orcs that sided with him. A bunch of terrorists from a shadow faction are trying to bring him back, and two cops who don't like each other stumble into the middle of it. Only certain people can use magic, by being able to touch and use magic wands (without being burned to dust) which are idiotically rare.
Much, much better than the Underworld movies. It would make a badass series, even without the characters from this movie.
There's a whole series worth of themes in there about how the Dark Lord was an elf, and the hero that ended his rule was an Orc, but how the Orcs are the ones still blamed for the whole thing.
Probably because it's easier to blame the Orcs who apparently don't have any wizards than the elves, who have loads, and are likely to turn you into a burning skeleton if you suggest they're the bad guys. I'm not entirely sure about who runs this country; is it roughly democratic (meaning that the sheer number of humans can shape public policy, even if the elves are the 1%) or do the elves run the place, using the humans to keep the orcs sufficiently downtrodden?
We're told that the proportion of elven "brights" is significantly higher than in humans (1 in a million, we're told) and no-one mentions orcs at all, implying there's none. However, that could simply be elven propaganda; if you tell everyone that only a tiny minority of humans can pick up a wand without exploding, then most of them won't pick one up. It's not a complete lie, since we see one guy explode, but the actual proportion of humans with the power could be higher, unless there's another less-fatal way to test for it. Or perhaps the elves just booby-trap the wands.
Shadowrun might be an influence, but saying it's "a Shadowrun movie" is simply lazy nerd-speak, I think. Even if Shadowrun didn't exist, I don't think the idea of taking Tolkienesque fantasy and bringing it into the modern day is something no-one could think of. The thing it made me think of was Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, although that's much more overtly magical and somewhat more high-tech, so still not a good comparison. The world of Flintloque, perhaps? (although that had undead and dwarves, too).
Lots of movie reviewers are slaughtering this - "the first movie designed by algorithm lol I are totes witteh cos it's on Netflix yeh" etc - and...yeah, I don't get it. Why they're so amped to gak on it I mean - it's not the greatest story ever put to film, but it was fun to watch with an interesting premise and did a solid job of combining cop movie and fantasy tropes, and I closed out the browser window actually interested to see what they do with the sequel.
Pretty much yeah, but fantasy creatures instead of Aliens.
It wasn't bad, but it sure wasn't good, either. I was sort of interested in the worldbuilding they did, but the actual story they told in that world was pretty shallow, at best.
Yes, I could do with another one. Or a TV series, please. I thought they did a good job of getting the backstory in without too much exposition - the visuals in the opening titles, the graffiti, etc.
It wasn't quite like Alien Nation - AN didn't have another species of aliens who were above the humans, and IIRC, the alien cops weren't looked down on by their own people as Jakoby was in this. That made for a different character dynamic here.
You should rewatch alien nation the alien cop was looked down upon and no one wanted to partner with him, the only reason the "hero" did was because his partner just got shot up by an alien and he wasn't being allowed to investigate it. I think most of wills and jakoby's dialog was lifted straight from alien nation
Automatically Appended Next Post: what I didn't get though, is how after jakoby dies, the other orks start worshiping him. they just got done killing him, a elf saves him, now he's some sort of leader? made no sense to me. you'd think the orks would just kill him again, because that would be orky
what I didn't get though, is how after jakoby dies, the other orks start worshiping him. they just got done killing him, a elf saves him, now he's some sort of leader? made no sense to me. you'd think the orks would just kill him again, because that would be orky
They mention it many times. 1) there is a prophecy. 2) An unblooded ork did the same thing and then united the 7 (9?) races.
sirlynchmob wrote: You should rewatch alien nation the alien cop was looked down upon and no one wanted to partner with him, the only reason the "hero" did was because his partner just got shot up by an alien and he wasn't being allowed to investigate it. I think most of wills and jakoby's dialog was lifted straight from alien nation
You should reread my post. I was talking about the orc getting abuse from other orcs, not from human officers. I don't recall the alien policeman in AN having that problem, although I could be wrong. I've not seen AN in 20 years.
I wonder what the other races are? Humans, orcs, elves, centaurs, ???
what I didn't get though, is how after jakoby dies, the other orks start worshiping him. they just got done killing him, a elf saves him, now he's some sort of leader? made no sense to me. you'd think the orks would just kill him again, because that would be orky
They mention it many times. 1) there is a prophecy. 2) An unblooded ork did the same thing and then united the 7 (9?) races.
they weren't in a prophecy, it was a stolen corolla yes an ork did it 2000 years ago, but they never said that ork died and was brought back by a renegade elf. There might have been a prophecy, but it was never specifically mentioned so it didn't seem to be common knowledge, and if jakoby didn't know it, he just assumed there could be one, I doubt the other orks knew any differently. so I still find the orks change of heart about killing jakoby really odd.
there were also fairies and dragons.
and thinking about it being xmas today, I can't help but chuckle, jesus was the dark lord he came 2000 years ago and his followers are awaiting his return
I just assumed that Orcs in this setting are very tribal and extremely superstitious/spiritual, hence why most of them are in gangs, and the blatant use of magic shocks them hard.
Yodhrin wrote: Lots of movie reviewers are slaughtering this - "the first movie designed by algorithm lol I are totes witteh cos it's on Netflix yeh" etc - and...yeah, I don't get it. Why they're so amped to gak on it I mean - it's not the greatest story ever put to film, but it was fun to watch with an interesting premise and did a solid job of combining cop movie and fantasy tropes, and I closed out the browser window actually interested to see what they do with the sequel.
Just like Warcraft. The movie was wasn't a master piece, ok. Being fair I'll give it a 5,5 or a 6. But they gived him 32 in Metacritic. WTF? And then, they suck the dick of Disney giving The Force Awakens a 8,1 in Metacritic. When its a worse version of episode IV.
Movie critics are the worst. I just ignore them.
I can't remember the last time I saw a film get such a wide variety of reviews.
Personally I quite enjoyed it as the piece of entertainment it was. A good training day-esque story and script, some excellent set pieces and action, but I think most importantly it was quite fresh and original (although as people have said, a bit Alien Nation). It also didn't completely turn into the Will Smith show, as some of his films can become.
I think where it has possibly drawn a lot of heat is in the not-so-subtle commentary on racism and relations in society. A lot of the media (rather than film press) seems to have given a review depending on what side of the political fence they sit on, as everything seems to be these days. But, I think the film is well worth watching if you just view it as a piece of entertainment, and you get to see a police centaur (which is one of the coolest things I have seen this year).
To be honest I just loved him for taking the typical fantasy genre (Dark lord with orcs vs alliance of races, etc...) and putting it in a contemporary vision of a world with that kind of story has his past history.
Lance845 wrote: I really enjoyed it. Good world building. Would like to see a revisit to this world with other characters exploring more aspects of it.
Yes indeed. Loved it. Joel is really pushing the anti bigotry movies in a quiet way.
Watched it with the missus who hates Fantasy stuff, and she loved it. Though she said it would make a much better series as they could dig deeper into the world.
I was shocked. I liked it too but I wasn't expecting her to like it.
Wife and I watched it this evening. I thought the ending was a little kludgy but overall it was a decent movie. I wouldn't have felt cheated had I paid to see it in the theater. And that's about my max praise for any movie I've seen over the past 2-3 years.
I liked it. It's not an Oscar contender, but that's OK. It was an enjoyable flick at the end of the day.
I'm not what is going on with the critics. It is by no means the best movie of the year, but it is far from the worst. Considering trite like the emoji movie came out this year. It really feels like the critics are just bagging on it because it's from netflix.
The sequel has already been greenlit, so I assume this means that netflix has seen the viewer numbers, and catered to who matters, the audience, instead of the critics.
I imagine part of the reason for people dislike it is the writer, Max Landis has recently been implicated in a number of the 'dark side of Hollywood' type situations.
And, yeah, I really believe them. I've seen a decent number of interviews etc with him over the past few years and each and every time the guy has gotten my hackles up.
Yodhrin wrote: Lots of movie reviewers are slaughtering this - "the first movie designed by algorithm lol I are totes witteh cos it's on Netflix yeh" etc - and...yeah, I don't get it. Why they're so amped to gak on it I mean - it's not the greatest story ever put to film, but it was fun to watch with an interesting premise and did a solid job of combining cop movie and fantasy tropes, and I closed out the browser window actually interested to see what they do with the sequel.
I imagine it's because reviewers still believe themselves the reason for people heading out to watch movies. That they're the reason for putting people in the seats of massive movies based on their criticism and reviews alone.. Netflix kind of takes that sort of pseudo-power out of their hands.
I might be thinking into it a bit too much, but critics and user reviews tend to vastly differ alot nowadays.
Watched it this weekend, really enjoyed it. Agree the story itself wasn't the greatest, but really would love sequels and/or a series to expand upon the world. They gave a nice amount of background fluff and I wanna see more.
I was sad that I didn't see any dwarves, and I totally missed the Centaur cop, so now I have to watch it again.
My girlfriend had a hard time following what was going on at first, till I told her "It's lord of the rings only it takes place now instead of 1000 years ago" and then she got it. She didn't like the fairy bashing though, she thought it was mean.
Compel wrote: I imagine part of the reason for people dislike it is the writer, Max Landis has recently been implicated in a number of the 'dark side of Hollywood' type situations.
And, yeah, I really believe them. I've seen a decent number of interviews etc with him over the past few years and each and every time the guy has gotten my hackles up.
Not one of the negative reviews I've seen mentioned anything along those lines, and if a reviewer allows personal feelings about the writer to bias their critique of the film in terms of its form, content, and execution they should be sacked for being garbage at their job. EDIT: And this kind of "yeah he looks like a wrong'un to me" sentiment is exactly why some folk find the "just believe the accuser" push extremely worrying - human beings are gak judges of character in 99.99% of cases, the people who "get your hackles up" will turn out to be perfectly fine, normal, pleasant people nine times out of ten while the guy you really like and have a pint with after a round of golf on Thursday afternoons and who's a volunteer at the local foodbank could be a wife beating monster for all you know.
Sasori wrote: I liked it. It's not an Oscar contender, but that's OK. It was an enjoyable flick at the end of the day.
I'm not what is going on with the critics.
I saw one review saying that Bright was "easily the worst movie of 2017", and I'm like... pump your brakes, kid. I didn't particularly love it, but worst movie of the world, where the feth did that come from.
I'd be interested in seeing a sequel because although I thought the main story wasn't great, they did do some very good worldbuilding and I think you could tell some really compelling stuff within it, even though they failed to do so this time.
Yodhrin wrote: Not one of the negative reviews I've seen mentioned anything along those lines, and if a reviewer allows personal feelings about the writer to bias their critique of the film in terms of its form, content, and execution...
Roger Ebert wrote a lot of books which expanded on film reviews, and I loved reading them because, well, he's a very good writer and I love the movies. One of the things that he said that really stuck with me was that if a film reviewer was good at their job, you could tell from the review if you would like the film even if they didn't.
Having watched it, its nowhere near as awful as reviewers made it out. I was interested at first, then thought I'd give it miss after it was panned. Then I remembered Max Landis wrote it, so gave it a go.
I'll need to watch out for commentary by him on it. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing the film expanded upon a bit, however that's probably unlikely. If Max if wrote a comic based on it I'd just gobble that up (his Green Valley series was pretty good).
Oh, but on the negative reviews. Others have said that the negative spin may be down to it being a Netflix release, and so critics are against it as it could "kill traditional media". I doubt that of course. Screen Junkies also gave the film a meh review, and they're friends with Max Landis. However, if there's any talk about shenanigans on his part then that could have coloured their review as well (seeing as they fired one of their staff this year over abuse claims). He was my favourite contestant when they were still doing their Movie Fights show.
The wife and I really enjoyed it. Action was good, and the movie was genuinely funny at times. That bit where the Orc turned on what sounds like Cannibal Corpse and he says its the most beautiful love song ever written made me laugh
I may have to rewatch it. One thing's confusing me.
Spoiler:
The guy who was shooting the cops from the window at the Shield of Light base. Was he a Shield of Light member who somehow survived the Inferni assassin's attack? The assassin came alone from what I can tell. If he was a Shield of Light member then why was he shooting at the cops (and not helping the elf)? Confusing.
...That and I was wondering why he kept his head up when he was reloading? I guess it can be handwaved away that he didn't, but as a later scene shows the building's walls were made from wood so they got him anyway (uh, those walls were supposed to be wooden right, as when one of the elves busts through one near the end planks go flying...).
Wyrmalla wrote: I may have to rewatch it. One thing's confusing me. The guy who was shooting the cops from the window at the Shield of Light base. Was he a Shield of Light member who somehow survived the Inferni assassin's attack? The assassin came alone from what I can tell. If he was a Shield of Light member then why was he shooting at the cops (and not helping the elf)? Confusing.
...That and I was wondering why he kept his head up when he was reloading? I guess it can be handwaved away that he didn't, but as a later scene shows the building's walls were made from wood so they got him anyway (uh, those walls were supposed to be wooden right, as when one of the elves busts through one near the end planks go flying...).
Spoiler:
I dont recall that guy being a shield of light
i was thinking he was inferni since the elf was also inferni and just managed to jack the mcguffin
Wyrmalla wrote: I may have to rewatch it. One thing's confusing me.
Spoiler:
The guy who was shooting the cops from the window at the Shield of Light base. Was he a Shield of Light member who somehow survived the Inferni assassin's attack? The assassin came alone from what I can tell. If he was a Shield of Light member then why was he shooting at the cops (and not helping the elf)? Confusing.
...That and I was wondering why he kept his head up when he was reloading? I guess it can be handwaved away that he didn't, but as a later scene shows the building's walls were made from wood so they got him anyway (uh, those walls were supposed to be wooden right, as when one of the elves busts through one near the end planks go flying...).
Spoiler:
I dont recall that guy being a shield of light
i was thinking he was inferni since the elf was also inferni and just managed to jack the mcguffin
Spoiler:
Rewatching it he's with the Shield of Light. In the scene with the assassin you see him for a second shooting the assassin, which makes her drop the wand. I guess he was defending the other Elf from what he seen as a potential threat when the two cops show up.
...Then you consider that the first Shield of Light guy knew both the characters immediately. I guess that information wasn't communicated to the other guy.
Not entirely sure what is going on with movie critics here. I mean, it doesn't deserve an Oscar or anything, but I did like it. Even suggested it to a few friends. I look forward to the sequel.
I think a lot of critics and groups have lost touch with other viewers. I saw a Nerdist article earlier saying how Batman and Robin was an underrated film. I just don't think they care anymore.....
I could see the arguement that Batman and Robin was an underrated childrens film or drinking game film. It still doesn't mean I can force myself to sit through it again.
Anyhow, I do think #metoo and the 'Max Landis' factor probably has a lot of impact on it.
Several people I personally have a great deal of respect have talked about some experiences around him and yeah, it did fit in with the gut instincts I had from seeing him in interviews.
Dreadwinter wrote: Not entirely sure what is going on with movie critics here. I mean, it doesn't deserve an Oscar or anything, but I did like it. Even suggested it to a few friends. I look forward to the sequel.
I think a lot of critics and groups have lost touch with other viewers. I saw a Nerdist article earlier saying how Batman and Robin was an underrated film. I just don't think they care anymore.....
I think at some point, beyond the normal human tendency to dogpile, it's also being able to have a witty diss that is turned into a pull quote somewhere else.
I just started watching it right now. My initial excitement has waned with the lockerroom scene where literally every Caucasian with a speaking role is racist towards the Orc cop and the only tolerant one is Will Smith.
warboss wrote: I just started watching it right now. My initial excitement has waned with the lockerroom scene where literally every Caucasian with a speaking role is racist towards the Orc cop and the only tolerant one is Will Smith.
Yes it does play heavily on racial bias at times but to be honest Ive experienced that kind of BS in real life. Ive been the only white guy saying "hey can we cool it on the race bashing?" several times. Ive also had simular experiences about gay bashing too. It does happen though I do feel on the fence with this subject because on one hand its a fantasy movie, I want to forget my world and watch fantasy. But its also a pretty good platform to show that kind of subject matter, kind of a we exclude differences regardless of what that difference is
To be fair, they also had Latins, Asians and I think the black gangsters at the beginning had a few disparaging things to say about the Orc as well, so its not as if the white characters were the only racist (speciest?) ones.
I couldn't help but think of Discworld when I was watching that exchange. "Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because—what with trolls and dwarfs and so on—speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green."
There was no reason to devolve into racial stereotypes within the human race when they've got other actual species and their differences to focus on. It's enough to use allegories for minorities (whether racial or religious) with the various fantasy races; it's unnecessary to additionally pander to skin color stereotypes as well. At least with latinos and blacks, they had a single positive character respectively with Will Smith and Rodriguez to show that they're not all bad. Can you think of a single caucasian human in that movie that was positively portrayed? All it would have taken was a single positive portrayal of a Caucasian (whether cop or otherwise) or even just a "diverse" group of cops in that lockerroom being racist towards the ork to not make it so obvious. Also, I posted the previous post right after pausing the movie not long after that scene which is why I didn't comment on the rest of the movie until now.
Watching the movie right now. I'm really enjoying it.
I haven't trusted what a single professional review has had to say in a long time. This just further cements my opinion how out of touch they've gotten.
Maybe is because here in Spain we don't have that political enviroment, but I had 0 problems with the lockeroom scene. In this kind of fantasy settings I don't separate humans. If a human is being racist, is just reflecting a racist human, it doesn't matter his skin colour when you have orcs, centaurs, elfs, etc...
The female officer was assian, and racist towards the orc too. And she was the only assian in the movie that I noticed. Everyone was racist towards the orc, even Will Smith during the first half of the movie.
Galas wrote: Maybe is because here in Spain we don't have that political enviroment, but I had 0 problems with the lockeroom scene. In this kind of fantasy settings I don't separate humans. If a human is being racist, is just reflecting a racist human, it doesn't matter his skin colour when you have orcs, centaurs, elfs, etc...
The female officer was assian, and racist towards the orc too. And she was the only assian in the movie that I noticed. Everyone was racist towards the orc, even Will Smith during the first half of the movie.
chromedog wrote: I think the elf fed was more hispanic looking than just "white" - even the elves had a few skin tones. The bearded fed was white, though.
One of the elves was asian (the same actress who played "Paige Tico, Rose's sister in TLJ).
Frazzled wrote: Will Smith attracts a lot of negative reviews at this point as well.
I never understood this...
Will Smith's movies never disappointed me.
I cannot say that every Will Smith movie has been enjoyable or as good as his peak performance in the blockbuster hit Wild Wild West. But I do not hear Will Smith and think "dear god that film is ruined!"
Only real Will Smith stinker I can think of is that sci-fi one with his kid where he was the man without fear, or apparently any other emotion. I thought his performance in that one was particularly poor.
Best part is it inspired my buddy to GM again in a Savage Worlds modern fantasy setting, where we are beat cops shifted onto a new anti-magic task force.
I'm having a fine old time as the department's only pixie, who in our first session being the size of a Ken doll was a point of humor among our group.....until some members from a rogue militant group with machineguns took cover behind a vehicle, and I realized I could simply fly under it and begin shooting them in the ankles with my teensy-weensy bow shooting these cute little arrows....tipped with the horrendously incapacitating pixie poison that I gave myself as a racial trait at character creation.
AduroT wrote: Only real Will Smith stinker I can think of is that sci-fi one with his kid where he was the man without fear, or apparently any other emotion. I thought his performance in that one was particularly poor.
Shark Tales aged poorly now, and Seven Pounds was awful. Though that one was just more of a personal dislike since I'm not sure how well it sold.
I don’t get the will smith hate either. I don’t love all of his movies but most of the time he does a good job. There’s definitely a lot worse leading men in Hollywood that somehow keep getting parts.
I think Will Smith has been in quite a lot of bad movies, without necessarily being bad in them. Suicide Squad, Hitch, I Am Legend, Focus, Collateral Beauty, After Earth, Hancock etc etc. Not all complete Turkeys, but I'd say his hit rate is down towards 50/50 in terms of quality, which isn't great for a supposed A list lead actor.
Plus there's "a touch of the Cruise" about him, it may just be my natural British cynicism, but there's something a little false about him whenever I see him being himself on camera that just makes me think there's skeletons littered in a variety of closets all over the place.
Azreal13 wrote: I think Will Smith has been in quite a lot of bad movies, without necessarily being bad in them. Suicide Squad, Hitch, I Am Legend, Focus, Collateral Beauty, After Earth, Hancock etc etc. Not all complete Turkeys, but I'd say his hit rate is down towards 50/50 in terms of quality, which isn't great for a supposed A list lead actor.
Plus there's "a touch of the Cruise" about him, it may just be my natural British cynicism, but there's something a little false about him whenever I see him being himself on camera that just makes me think there's skeletons littered in a variety of closets all over the place.
Pretty much my take on him, I think he's moved beyond 'actor' into 'brand', so long as you don't expect anything other than 'hell no' Smith he can put in passable 3 star turns
He's like the black Sean Connery - no matter what film he's in, he always plays Will Smith. That works sometimes, and not so well at others.
Although Sir Sean did that during his film career. IIRC. He's still playing himself in the Bond films, but that was the first thing anyone remembers him from, so that's OK. With Mr Smith, he made his name in TV, so when Independence Day came around, he was playing the Fresh Prince of Area 51.
He absolutely did not play “Will Smith” in After Earth, and his performance in that movie was particularly poor. I did quite enjoy Hancock though, even I Am Legend.
AduroT wrote: He absolutely did not play “Will Smith” in After Earth, and his performance in that movie was particularly poor. I did quite enjoy Hancock though, even I Am Legend.
sadly like a lot of Shyamalan output there was a half decent film fighting to get out but for some reason his idiosyncratic fupwittery always derails proceedings
AduroT wrote: He absolutely did not play “Will Smith” in After Earth, and his performance in that movie was particularly poor. I did quite enjoy Hancock though, even I Am Legend.
sadly like a lot of Shyamalan output there was a half decent film fighting to get out but for some reason his idiosyncratic fupwittery always derails proceedings
Had a chuckle at that description...
Imma steal that!
Also, news on Bright front, via twitter (that I can't find atm), there are discussions of a Bright series too. Not sure if it's a spinoff or continuation of this movie's characters.
I could stand to watch a few episodes of a Sarcastic Ginger Fed & Prim Elvish Fed cop series, or something along those lines. The Magic Task Force would be a good vehicle for exploring the setting.
AduroT wrote: I don’t know that MTF would work for the setting since magic is apparently rare in day to day life and their whole thing is seeking it out.
Its not just magic. It seems they deal with cults like the Inferni and the Shield of Light as well, who are looking for magic and might find it.
Not to mention that there could be incidents that might be seen as magical, but have completely mundane reasons behind them. The vatican would do that with miracles; if they hear talk of a miracle, the church would send down some priests to see if God is really behind it.
The Racism sub-text was about as subtle as the Oscar Movie of the Year Award Winning film Crash. However, it hit all the right notes for a urban, buddy cop movie in a Tolkeinesque setting. Overall, a competently done film which many genre movies can not pull off.
The only wierd part for me was the initial "Shield of Light" guy, what his role was, and why it was in the film. It seemed like an excuse to shoehorn in exposition. However, the grafitti in the credits was an inspired way to tell and share backstory and immerse you in the setting.
I agree, the ending was a bit klunky but overall it did what it needed to do. Another pass through the script and possibly some different editting was needed.
Necros wrote: Watched it this weekend, really enjoyed it. Agree the story itself wasn't the greatest, but really would love sequels and/or a series to expand upon the world. They gave a nice amount of background fluff and I wanna see more.
I was sad that I didn't see any dwarves, and I totally missed the Centaur cop, so now I have to watch it again.
My girlfriend had a hard time following what was going on at first, till I told her "It's lord of the rings only it takes place now instead of 1000 years ago" and then she got it. She didn't like the fairy bashing though, she thought it was mean.
Switch “girlfriend” to “wife” and remove the bit about missing the Centaur, and this is spot on to how my experience with it went. I felt it was the lovechild of LotR and Underworld. The racist tones were pretty powerful, and I thought the movie was great. My wife was PISSED at the fairy bashing though.
Watched it in dribs and drabs this weekend when my tiny people weren't bothering me but I enjoyed it. It's not going to win any awards but I really dig the world they built. Will Smith was fine in it. I'm interested in the sequel but I think I'd be even more interested in a spin off series that didn't focus on the cops and could grow the world.
I thought it was so-so. I liked the concept very much, but I thought they could have been a little more creative with how orcs and elves were represented beyond urban African-American/Latino equivalents and rich people.
In the scene where Will's character is shooting at the corrupt cops
.... his bullets can be seen in the backgroudn sparking and such. Do you think that the LAPD in this world are using Explosive ammo ala Shadowrun to deal with the tougher exteriors of the Orcs
Also I love the line where the one cop says, "My ancestors in Russia were killing Orcs by the hundreds" Great throw away line that added a lot of depth to the character and the world.
In the scene where Will's character is shooting at the corrupt cops
.... his bullets can be seen in the backgroudn sparking and such. Do you think that the LAPD in this world are using Explosive ammo ala Shadowrun to deal with the tougher exteriors of the Orcs
Also I love the line where the one cop says, "My ancestors in Russia were killing Orcs by the hundreds" Great throw away line that added a lot of depth to the character and the world.
Spoiler:
He was shooting up a metal gate thing, but at the same time its kind of the generic thing bullets do in hollywood
Switch “girlfriend” to “wife” and remove the bit about missing the Centaur, and this is spot on to how my experience with it went. I felt it was the lovechild of LotR and Underworld. The racist tones were pretty powerful, and I thought the movie was great. My wife was PISSED at the fairy bashing though.
Loved the little video Netflix did, and the shadowrun reference, they knew what they did, and poked fun at it, consider me subscribed until the new one drops
Just watched bright this weekend, it was actually much better than I thought it would be, I was pleasantly surprised. A pretty solid flick I thought. It managed to do its thing without being ridiculously preachy, Will Smith managed to hold it together, it was well nuanced, and was lots of fun.
I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Well there are a lot of possibilities, I hope we see them in the sequel.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Did you not see the dragon flying over the city at the end?
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Did you not see the dragon flying over the city at the end?
dragons & faeries
Considering that Faeries seem to be worth even less to people of that society than Cats and Dogs, I'm gonna assume they arent one of the Big 9. And Dragons being Dragons, probably also not one of the 9.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Did you not see the dragon flying over the city at the end?
dragons & faeries
Considering that Faeries seem to be worth even less to people of that society than Cats and Dogs, I'm gonna assume they arent one of the Big 9. And Dragons being Dragons, probably also not one of the 9.
Sure the faeries might not make the cut, but surely dragons would. In a war of 9 races, why wouldn't you count the original weapons of mass destruction.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Did you not see the dragon flying over the city at the end?
dragons & faeries
They showed a Dragon near the start as well. There's a long shot of the city with a dragons shadow flying through the clouds.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Did you not see the dragon flying over the city at the end?
dragons & faeries
Considering that Faeries seem to be worth even less to people of that society than Cats and Dogs, I'm gonna assume they arent one of the Big 9. And Dragons being Dragons, probably also not one of the 9.
Sure the faeries might not make the cut, but surely dragons would. In a war of 9 races, why wouldn't you count the original weapons of mass destruction.
Well, Dragons have always been hard to read. Sometimes they are good guys, sometimes they are bad guys. Most often they just want to be left alone.
Human, Orc, Dwarf, Goblin, Panahu, Giant, Ogre, Brezzik (Lizardmen), Elf, Centaur. Those are the races that were in the Alliance anyways.
A little more info here, including some infographics:
What with the dragons playing no part in the film other than set dressing, we don't know if they're just animals - in which case they probably wouldn't count as one of the "nine races", any more than horses, oxen or dogs would.
the Brezzik are apparently lizardmen or maybe beastmen depending on what group of folk you follow on twitter 0 no idea on panahu although one account featuring a missing image (or one I cant see in my country) says they most closely resemble walrus people (although from the way they put it the image is far from clear)
AduroT wrote: I don’t know that MTF would work for the setting since magic is apparently rare in day to day life and their whole thing is seeking it out.
Its not just magic. It seems they deal with cults like the Inferni and the Shield of Light as well, who are looking for magic and might find it.
Not to mention that there could be incidents that might be seen as magical, but have completely mundane reasons behind them. The vatican would do that with miracles; if they hear talk of a miracle, the church would send down some priests to see if God is really behind it.
Hmmm.. although it has been many years since I read Piers Anthony's Tarot series, I think you have his series plot line solidly stated. This trilogy was an incredible eye-opening experience, IIRC.
I liked the movie, even with a way-too-familiar and formulaic plot regarding police racism. As previously pointed out, the shower scene with Will being the only supporter was a common and cheap play. But, I still really look forward to seeing more and I may watch it again to pick up on some of the world building that zoomed over my head.
Will wasn’t really a supporter though, more merely a tolerater. He definitely didn’t speak to liking the situation, but he was willing to suck it up and play ball long enough to retire.
AduroT wrote: Will wasn’t really a supporter though, more merely a tolerater. He definitely didn’t speak to liking the situation, but he was willing to suck it up and play ball long enough to retire.
I certainly agree, but just too often in similar scenarios the story protagonist is the 'lone voice' to further their hero status in the plot. That was certainly the same here. However, I really did like the movie and hope Netflix continues - most of their series and movies are very well done.
I don;t think he was even the "Lone Voice" in this one. To me, it spoke to the "Blue Wall" mentality that you protect and speak-up for your partner if you are a good cop. However, he clearly did not like Jacoby or the situation that much, and seriously considered just blowing the guy away when he had the chance.
AduroT wrote: Will wasn’t really a supporter though, more merely a tolerater. He definitely didn’t speak to liking the situation, but he was willing to suck it up and play ball long enough to retire.
That was what I liked. Will was just as racist as the others, but didn't want to be in a position to be obvious about it. Being 'white', I found it uncomfortably easy to identify with. It was very much a 'Hey, I'm not as racist as those guys so it's ok' moment.
Yeah, that's what I got as well. Its clear Ward hated the orc as well, he just didn't want to say it. Hence his bad attitude towards Jakoby and his attempts at getting another partner.
AduroT wrote: Will wasn’t really a supporter though, more merely a tolerater. He definitely didn’t speak to liking the situation, but he was willing to suck it up and play ball long enough to retire.
I certainly agree, but just too often in similar scenarios the story protagonist is the 'lone voice' to further their hero status in the plot. That was certainly the same here. However, I really did like the movie and hope Netflix continues - most of their series and movies are very well done.
Most yea, Id agree. Ive only seen 2 or 3 that I decided to turn off and Ive watched probably......8 or so maybe more. Good stuff
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Dragons are a distinct possibility, depending on how intelligent they make them. Considering Orcs are a regular part of society, and the Air Force was not scrambled to gun down the one we saw flying at night, I'm betting that there are sentient Dragons.
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Dragons are a distinct possibility, depending on how intelligent they make them. Considering Orcs are a regular part of society, and the Air Force was not scrambled to gun down the one we saw flying at night, I'm betting that there are sentient Dragons.
Or they are a protected species, or they aren't always hostile.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: the Brezzik are apparently lizardmen or maybe beastmen depending on what group of folk you follow on twitter
0
no idea on panahu although one account featuring a missing image (or one I cant see in my country) says they most closely resemble walrus people (although from the way they put it the image is far from clear)
Panda / Furbolgs maybe ? Or Rakasha (tigers) as its a kind of India-ish word
ChargerIIC wrote: I've watched it for the third time. It's become a good movie to pick and watch when I want some action. The interaction between the cops is pretty good and the world is suprisingly complex.
I was trying to figure out what the nine races are.
We see Elf, Human, Orcs, some kind of snake related woman, and several people with horns. Dwarves are mentioned but I didn't see any. Did I miss any?
A Centaur was shown, but other than that I think you listed them all that were shown or mentioned.
Well that's 7. Wonder what the other 2 would be.
Dragons are a distinct possibility, depending on how intelligent they make them. Considering Orcs are a regular part of society, and the Air Force was not scrambled to gun down the one we saw flying at night, I'm betting that there are sentient Dragons.
Or they are a protected species, or they aren't always hostile.
Or the US military found out that dragons don't care about what's going on below them, but attacking a dragon only pisses it off, and you end up with a flying Godzilla situation, so you let them go about their business. I mean, assuming Dragons are magical, and the capabilities of magic in the Bright setting.....
This was better than I expected. Honestly it gets points from me if for no other reason than Will Smith actually managed not to agitate me during his time on screen. A sufficiently large enough step away from his usually cocky wise cracking smart ass without a soul performances that I could enjoy him in a movie.
I do wish the plot was a bit stronger. I don't know it felt thin. The world building is incredible, and really got my attention thought. This is a world I'd like to see more of.
I think youre a bit biased simply because she is incredibly sexy in the Underworld movies. Cmon, this is a safe place, you can admit she breaks that hotVStalent scale in those movies
Agreed its was ultra cool Vampire/Werewolf gothic chic - it looked fantastic, felt right and was great fun.
Vampires have been cool and sexy for more than a hundred years and show no sign of becoming less so.
Plus Kate suffered for her work - she got pneumonia shooting that film (its in the rather fun movie commentary with her and her then husband, she archly comments to him on Sophia taking her top off (cut scene) and why she wasn't there, he said oh that was when you were in hospital or something similar!)
Underworld was the "Best shiny-arse movie" of the year (it was up against "the matrix" but Kate wore the suit better.)
Without the tight PVC and leather, it would be just another Vampire:the masquerade rpg session. (Not that I'm implying that they *homaged* the game, Sony winning that frivolous lawsuit showed that)
chromedog wrote: Underworld was the "Best shiny-arse movie" of the year (it was up against "the matrix" but Kate wore the suit better.)
Without the tight PVC and leather, it would be just another Vampire:the masquerade rpg session. (Not that I'm implying that they *homaged* the game, Sony winning that frivolous lawsuit showed that)
They didn't rip off White Wolf lore anymore than they did Anne Rice's vampire stories. Those two settings have much more in common with each other than with Underworld.
A lot of WW fanboys, however, DID do that sort of thing when the movie came out.
I liked the game and the background, I just couldn't stand most of the "Tragically hip" d*cks that played it. The game and the movie probably share the same inspirations - in much the same way that Firefly and Traveller did (Joss Whedon DID play Traveller a lot during his college years ... explains why the show was so lame, really. )
Let's not speak of AR. Her writing wasn't very good at the best of times.
he came 2000 years ago and his followers are awaiting his return 
