Will Smith’s Netflix film ‘Bright’ isn’t getting the best reviews

A reported budget of over $90 million apparently couldn't save Smith's fantasy crime flick

Dec 22, 2017

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The reviews are in for Will Smith‘s Netflix movie, Bright, and things don’t look too good.

The movie is an urban fantasy crime story about a cop and his orc partner in a world where humans and magic existing side by side.

But a reported budget of over $90 million apparently couldn’t save it from becoming a flop with critics.

–Will Smith on Trump presidency: ‘This is the darkness before dawn’–

The reviews are in…

Some of the critics pointed out the fact that Smith seemed to simply be retreading old ground with this movie.

“The problem is that this richly-constructed world often comes at the expense of characters … Will Smith is more or less on autopilot, doing what everyone pretty much expects from a Will Smith action movie these days. In fact, if the name ‘Ward’ wasn’t directly printed on the uniform of Smith’s character, we would’ve just assumed that we were looking at Suicide Squad’s Floyd Lawton,” Cinemablend wrote.

“Smith seems lost here as Daryl, even as he retreads his wiseacre pose from films like Independence Day and especially Men in Black,” opined The Wrap.

Others slammed it as a failed attempt by Netflix to copy the success of superhero blockbusters.

“Congratulations, Netflix! You can make a visually grotesque, dreadfully dull and hopelessly convoluted would-be franchise action movie just as well as the stereotypical Hollywood machine! If anything, Bright is a giant Christmas/Hanukkah gift from Netflix to the major studios. It shows the streaming giant falling on its face in its attempts to replicate the so-called Hollywood blockbuster,” wrote Forbes.

“(Ayer) strayed into empty superhero theatrics with the slapdash Suicide Squad (co-starring Mr. Smith) and again dilutes his integrity with Mr. Smith’s lightweight sitcom likability. You’ll find beatings, shootouts, car crashes, awkward analogies and a measure of buddy badinage in Bright, but true enchantment is in short supply,” said the New York Times.

But by far the best takedown was from Vanity Fair:

“While I had the misfortune to see Bright in a theater, most people will simply press ‘play’ out of curiosity on their Roku remote. I am willing to concede that this might elevate the experience a little; the ability to take a quick trip to the kitchen or restroom after shouting ‘no, don’t pause it’ to your partner on the couch will be liberating.”

Yet despite the negative reviews, Netflix has ordered a sequel, which makes Bright streaming giant’s first franchise.