Bright: Netflix Movie

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Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by TheFeniX »

Alternate Title: "FASA is going to sue somebody."

Provided they weren't... what IS up with FASA these days? They still exist? This movie popped up on my Netflix feed. Coming out soon. Like tomorrow. Whatever, Will Smith is a "too old for this shit" Cop partnered up with an Orc. Oh yea, there's fantasy monsters in a "modern day, but not" setting. Some Elf chick finds a magic wand and everyone wants it.

So.... essentially Shadowrun 2017. You know, just a lot shittier, because in 2017 the Shadowrun-verse was going through the Great Ghost Dance which would be kickass to see.

Heard it's bad, which keeps the trend going since everything not PnP after the Genesis and SNES games is pretty meh. Please don't mention Microsoft's attempt to turn a series completely grounded in RPG mechanics into a Objective Based Team Shooter. And the isometric games can piss-off since it's the 2010's and co-op is an afterthought in a Shadowrun game.

Fuck, a good Shadowrun series would be awesome. It doesn't even have to "go" anywhere. Just a bunch of runs by some poor slots trying to stay one step ahead of Lonestar and Corp Hit Squads.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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FASA haven't existed for years.

Microsoft own Shadowrun now.


I was kinda hoping Bright would be good. But it's been a long ass time since Will Smith was in a good movie. (I mean what the fuck happened, he used to be a basically solid guarantee of fun times, how does he pick so many terrible things to be in).
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Guardsman Bass »

The reviews I've read have said it's got some interesting stuff, but the movie is a mess. It might have been better as a multi-episode mini-series instead of a single film.

I'll still give it a watch, though, at some point.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by LadyTevar »

They've green-lighted a sequel
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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Guardsman Bass wrote: 2017-12-22 12:50am The reviews I've read have said it's got some interesting stuff, but the movie is a mess. It might have been better as a multi-episode mini-series instead of a single film.
Having watched it, that's about what I would say.

It could have been a lot more.

I don't know anything about this "Shadowrun" many people speak of, but it reminded me of was Alien Nation with fantasy races instead of Tenctonese.
I'll still give it a watch, though, at some point.
If you're already subscribed to Netflix go ahead - I had some fun with it, it wasn't a total waste of time. It's certainly better than a lot of the SyFy bullshit that has come out in the past, and some of the other Netflix stinkers. At least this has some potential.

I was a bit disappointed because it could have been much more. It didn't quite hit the highest mark, but there were some nice spots in it. It was bit heavy-handed in spots (Orcs are obviously stand-ins for urban black gangs, police brutality/corruption is the norm, etc.) Some of the humor felt forced, some was actually pretty damn funny ("We aren't in a prophecy, we're in a stolen Toyota Corolla" - well, maybe you had to be there.)

Interesting/unusual bits: the lead is in a multi-(human)racial relationship and no one gives a damn. Nice to see that presented as completely normal and not worthy of comment (of course, with actual alien species around maybe humans wouldn't be so divided over such differences). The Orcish and Elvish languages are well developed enough so you can easily tell the difference between them either spoken or written. At one point you get the impression that inter-species relations are better in places other than LA, which is a pretty crapsack city (think Detroit in Robocop) You can glimpse hints and signs that there are several other fantasy species out there besides elves and orcs (they have fairies, but they seem unintelligent and are viewed as pests/vermin). Orcs have a better sense of smell than humans, and in a couple scenes their nostrils flare/move in a way you don't usually see with special effects make-up that make them more believable as a species, it's a small detail but they got it right. While orcs are super-strong they are also slow and not graceful, humans aren't as strong but are more agile. Elves are more agile still - the point being that while each group might have a "super power" of sorts they aren't paragons, they clearly have weaknesses, too even if that isn't completely developed. And one gang leader is in a wheelchair and there's a bit where there is some frank mention/showing of problems that come with that you usually don't see in fiction. (That's a colostomy bag, boys and girls). Like I said, there was some thought put into this and you get the impression there is a big world behind this story.

Downsides: a lot of the scenes are dark and somewhat hard to follow. Granted, everything takes place over one night so logically there would be a lot of darkness but at times it gets in the way. The plot isn't anything spectacular, some bits you can see coming. Some of the attempted humor falls flat. It does feel like a lot of this has been done before.

Yeah, maybe it would have worked better as a series, but some things would have had to have been less cardboard. Not sure if they had enough story to do that. But then, they had to cram a lot in a fairly short time period.

I'll put it this way, I liked it well enough I'd at least check out the sequel.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Solauren »

I'd like to see this treated as a back-door pilot episode, and expanded into a series. One were the cop-partners get pulled more and more into the 'Federal' level stuff, and along the way, more and more is unveiled about the history/functioning of the world.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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Broomstick wrote: 2017-12-25 08:22am
Guardsman Bass wrote: 2017-12-22 12:50am The reviews I've read have said it's got some interesting stuff, but the movie is a mess. It might have been better as a multi-episode mini-series instead of a single film.
Having watched it, that's about what I would say.

It could have been a lot more.

I don't know anything about this "Shadowrun" many people speak of, but it reminded me of was Alien Nation with fantasy races instead of Tenctonese.
.
[/quote]
Shadowy is to big to go into totally. Short version cyberpunk, future and magic all mixing in. There was a great big event in the 2000s where magic and fantasy races came back but not as separate races but as goblinisation aka congratulations your now an elf or orc or orc statyr or orc oni or your still human but now you see spirits. Toss in a massive cataclysmic event with that, a moderate world war and super science, and you get Shadowrun where orcs rob McDonald's with laser swords and robot arms chased by private security using ghost jaugars to sniff out the perp before taking him out in a hail of lightning bolts and submachine gun fire.

And I did not even mention the dragons, being from beyond or Science vampires. Shadowrun has Shadowrunners, elite teams of mercs for hire paid to do everything from hit jobs to corporate theft to couriers for advanced but haunted hot rod cars. The world is controlled by thirty or so mega corporations and in the cracks between the Shadowrunners make their money.


I've heard this movie compared to two npc guards running from an evil shadowrunner team.

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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by bilateralrope »

TheFeniX wrote: 2017-12-21 02:44pm So.... essentially Shadowrun 2017.
Really ?

I didn't see any hint of cyberpunk in the trailers.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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Broomstick wrote: 2017-12-25 08:22amI don't know anything about this "Shadowrun" many people speak of, but it reminded me of was Alien Nation with fantasy races instead of Tenctonese.
Same basic concept. Imagine what you said with a healthy serving of "Bladerunner" and Dungeons and Dragons thrown in, but without "Orcs and Trolls = evil" angle. Also "libertarianism took over, as well as a 1920's view on capitalism."

Corps can file for extrateritoriality, which essentially makes them governments in their own right and can enforce their own laws on their property. Even the local cops do not have jurisdiction on Corp Property.
Interesting/unusual bits: the lead is in a multi-(human)racial relationship and no one gives a damn. Nice to see that presented as completely normal and not worthy of comment (of course, with actual alien species around maybe humans wouldn't be so divided over such differences).
This was one angle I was hoping for. In a setting like Shadowrun, the KKK (Humanis Policlubs) don't care about skin color, only race (Human vs Orc/Elf/Troll/Dwarf). Black/white/etc do not matter. Nationality is also, generally, not a big deal. But there is still bias against Native Americans (though the NAN, Native American Nation, is a serious contender in the 6th World). And the Japanese still don't always play nice with the Gaijin in places since this all did come out of the real-world 1980s when Japanese business was super-scary for some reason.
Mr Bean wrote: 2017-12-25 10:06amShadowy is to big to go into totally. Short version cyberpunk, future and magic all mixing in. There was a great big event in the 2000s where magic and fantasy races came back but not as separate races but as goblinisation aka congratulations your now an elf or orc or orc statyr or orc oni or your still human but now you see spirits. Toss in a massive cataclysmic event with that, a moderate world war and super science, and you get Shadowrun where orcs rob McDonald's with laser swords and robot arms chased by private security using ghost jaugars to sniff out the perp before taking him out in a hail of lightning bolts and submachine gun fire.
Well, it's not THAT crazy, but it is pretty crazy.
And I did not even mention the dragons, being from beyond or Science vampires. Shadowrun has Shadowrunners, elite teams of mercs for hire paid to do everything from hit jobs to corporate theft to couriers for advanced but haunted hot rod cars. The world is controlled by thirty or so mega corporations and in the cracks between the Shadowrunners make their money.
Not just that, but even governments and social services (eg. the police) are run much more like for-profit businesses, rather than services. Which, coming into 2018 is "funny" because "private prisons" were kind of a "look how shitty the 6th world is" kind of deal in 1980. How far we've come....
bilateralrope wrote: 2017-12-25 10:12pmI didn't see any hint of cyberpunk in the trailers.
Honestly, the Cyberpunk aspect of SR is one of the easiest portions of the lore to write-off these days. While The Matrix is a huge part of the lore, everything being interconnected doesn't exactly "Wow" anyone in the 2010's. The "dealing with Fantasy creatures and magic being completely mundane and part of daily life" combined with the Dystopian civil liberties and economics was much more interesting.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by LadyTevar »

Just saw it.

While I still got the "two guys caught in a ShadowRun gone bad" vibe, there was a lot of heavy stuff in here with the history and backstory. Great "old cop/young cop" movie in here as well. Really deep themes, really impressive that it all took place in one night.
8/10
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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TheFeniX wrote: 2017-12-25 10:32pmHonestly, the Cyberpunk aspect of SR is one of the easiest portions of the lore to write-off these days. While The Matrix is a huge part of the lore, everything being interconnected doesn't exactly "Wow" anyone in the 2010's. The "dealing with Fantasy creatures and magic being completely mundane and part of daily life" combined with the Dystopian civil liberties and economics was much more interesting.
All things being equal, their Matrix is still a great thing to have fun with. The real world IoT isn't exactly the best analogy in the world and the only reason nobody's "wow'ed" by the Shadowrun Matrix is because of movies like the Matrix trilogy. There's about 10+ different ways to play the world depending on if you want to play the cyberpunk, the corporate espionage, the street gangs, or even the LA celebrity scene that's off the charts from today. Nearly everything is basically taking today and turning it up to 11 after adding the elements it does. The players always picked my game's route, after crashing the train in the first session, so to speak. Why I never plan more than one session ahead.

As for Bright. I got the feeling of Shadowrun. But I more saw the idea of historical niches than what Shadowrun did with its sudden explosion of fantasy races into the population. More alternate present, and the dialogue and plot played it up. Wars in the past led to biases still playing heavily on the emotions and whims of the peoples of all races. Nevermind the dangers of magic given what some...factions tried to do. And the factions were trying to do it again. The two cops were caught right in the middle of it, between what I'll just call the dark elves, their own greedy precinct partners, the feds, and the gang. Talk about a randomly bad place to be for a night.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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Gaidin wrote: 2017-12-29 11:04amAll things being equal, their Matrix is still a great thing to have fun with. The real world IoT isn't exactly the best analogy in the world and the only reason nobody's "wow'ed" by the Shadowrun Matrix is because of movies like the Matrix trilogy. There's about 10+ different ways to play the world depending on if you want to play the cyberpunk, the corporate espionage, the street gangs, or even the LA celebrity scene that's off the charts from today. Nearly everything is basically taking today and turning it up to 11 after adding the elements it does. The players always picked my game's route, after crashing the train in the first session, so to speak. Why I never plan more than one session ahead.
I'll preface by saying I've always loved Decking and the mini-game in the Genesis version was aces as well as the FPS version in Dystopia. However, I've never GMed a team where the Decker didn't feel like he was either holding up the game or playing by himself. Even Mudanes could get into the magic action with "Force of Will" against manifest spirits or, though hard to setup I HAVE done it, Astral Gateways through Free Spirits.

A good Combat Decker was a solid teammate, even in 2nd or 3rd edition. But near any security could be bypassed by someone with electronics instead of decking into it. Maybe if I focused on voice recognition locks, but that would, generally, be unfair. And even then, I'd have to come up with a reason for a random jackpoints or Fiber line to splice.

And man, it is REALLY fucking hard to design runs where the Decker doesn't feel like I'm throwing him/her a bone with "hack the slave node to unlock the maglock stopping the progress of the REAL shadowrunners." Even mages on Astral overwatch feel connected easily due to commanding spirits from said Astral. Or blasting Mages/Adepts through their Spell Locks/Foci. Or just providing Intel.

However, until the changes to Decking in later editions, which addresses issues with it, Decking was basically a Single-Player campaign. Like DMing an Astral Quest. 2XS handled it well, but even then the Protagonist had to hitch with his Decker contact to have any tension.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by GuppyShark »

I was really misled by the thumbnail, I thought there would be Christian elements when the thumbnail was Will Smith holding a sword with crosses on it. On the movie itself: Quite well done, it must have been fun for Will Smith to be able to act as the one overcoming his own internal racial prejudice instead of having to be the one to inspire that in others. I'd like to see more.

And of course, as always, Naggarond must be destroyed.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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GuppyShark wrote: 2018-01-01 02:29am I was really misled by the thumbnail, I thought there would be Christian elements when the thumbnail was Will Smith holding a sword with crosses on it.
That is something I pondered in the shower this morning. If The Dark Lord was thrown down 2000yrs ago, and the Orcs have a historical Savior of their people, was there a Jesus leading the Humans? Was he a carpenter who became a rebel-rouser? Was he a victim/martyr that the humans of the time rallied around? Where does Human Religion fit in?
And most especially -- Why are Brights considered A Bad Thing? Which side of The War were they on?
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Enigma »

LadyTevar wrote: 2018-01-01 05:59pm
GuppyShark wrote: 2018-01-01 02:29am I was really misled by the thumbnail, I thought there would be Christian elements when the thumbnail was Will Smith holding a sword with crosses on it.
That is something I pondered in the shower this morning. If The Dark Lord was thrown down 2000yrs ago, and the Orcs have a historical Savior of their people, was there a Jesus leading the Humans? Was he a carpenter who became a rebel-rouser? Was he a victim/martyr that the humans of the time rallied around? Where does Human Religion fit in?
And most especially -- Why are Brights considered A Bad Thing? Which side of The War were they on?
I got the feeling that it isn't being a Bright that is bad but they are the only ones able to wield a magic wand. It is like handing someone a nuke. One could do a lot of damage with it.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by GuppyShark »

The backstory is certainly interesting, probably more of because of what went unsaid. Unlike Shadowrun, the implication is that these species have coexisted for at least a few thousand years, yet their world is still recognisable.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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GuppyShark wrote: 2018-01-01 06:56pm The backstory is certainly interesting, probably more of because of what went unsaid. Unlike Shadowrun, the implication is that these species have coexisted for at least a few thousand years, yet their world is still recognisable.
That's something that bugged me about the film. Having Orcs, elves and dwarves pop up only a couple decades ago, that's one thing, but if they've always been around, Los Angeles, the Alamo, Ford automotives, the Illuminati, etc. should be butterflied away by all the changes society would have had back in the Roman Empire when this crazy stuff first happened.

But that would require more set design and changes than a Netflix original movie budget would allow, or the lack of creativity from the writers.

The only significant change seems to be that 'the Elves run everything', which makes me wonder if this is still the United States of America or if it is some other country with Los Angeles as a city more or less remaining the same.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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I think the idea is that the 1% still runs everything, the only difference is that in this universe they have pointy ears.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

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Watched this. Not bad.

The backstory is a bit light, and as noted pretty much completely ignores any butterflying, but here is what I could gather:

--their fundamental B.C./A.D. divide is a great battle with the Dark Lord, who may have been Elven (but that's just a wild-ass guess). The Dark Lord is perhaps believed to be still alive by at least some, enough that there's a small faction of Dark-friends attempting to facilitate his return.
--The Battle involved the Nine Armies, which included orcs, who had formerly been working for the Dark Lord but were turned around by Jirak, some sort of Orc hero who was 'unblooded'.
--Elves are a small segment of the population, but very powerful and wealthy. Also very fast, agile and deadly physically, a Human and Orc are no match in single combat without guns. They're also the only magic users that we see apart from the last-minute revelation about Ward.
--Orcs are pretty clearly, in the parts that we saw at least, inspired (in terms of design) by Los Angeles gangsta/hip-hop culture. Football jerseys seem popular, which follows an offhand comment at one point about how there are no Orcs in the NBA but 'half the defensive lines of the NFL are Orcs' or something like that. The treatment of Orcs as something of a lower class is a pretty clear parallel to race relations. Orcs seem to be holding on to some kind of warrior ethos where you have to be 'blooded' (perform a great feat of heroism and be acclaimed by your peers) to stand out. They also have a pretty strict internal honour code as well.
--Magic is less prominent in this universe than you'd think. Wands and 'Brights' (magic users) seem to be very rare, with Wands being treated like nuclear waste when handled by mundanes. Magic seems to be strictly regulated, perhaps forbidden for the most part; when it pops up, the Federal authorities (some department of magical control? whatever) get involved, and they seem to have the power/authority to handwave Ward and Jacoby into heroes at the end of the movie.
--There's a centaur policeman in one scene, so presumably centaurs are one of the Nine... races? if each Army was an individual species/race, anyway. I didn't see any other nonhumans, though there was a peculiar figure in the Orc party scene that I couldn't quite place (watching the movie on my phone, so tiny screen). Well, there are fairies, I guess, but they're apparently viewed as more of a pest species than anything.
--In the distance in a night scene, there's definitely a dragon flying around.

It definitely wasn't quite what I had expected, and it wasn't like... a *great* movie... but it was pretty decent. The weakest part is how apart from all the fantastical stuff, it's still pretty much identical to today's world. They needed more backstory. Probably spent the writing money on special effects and Will Smith's salary, though.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Vendetta »

I think the lack of significant backstory or difference from the real world was mostly a hindrance because the missing backstory is basically the villain's motivation. The Dark Lord returning is one of those "probably bad" things, but since the world seems to have spun on much the same we can't really divine what the bad would be if the villain got her way.

It's not the worst movie around, but the macguffin could just be a briefcase of cash.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by GuppyShark »

A few quick updates.

1) There's going to be a sequel w/ Will Smith.
2) They released a video on the backstory of magic in this setting and it's as meh as expected: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRRoAZcwQMY
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Raw Shark »

Just saw it. EA's assessment seems on-point, with one quibble: I don't think all Elves are as superbadass as the Inferi. We don't see the others do any really impressive physical feats besides agility and speed that I recall. I'd theorize that the leader permanently suped herself and to a lesser extent her lieutenants up with the wand.

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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Elheru Aran »

Raw Shark wrote: 2018-01-08 06:18pm Just saw it. EA's assessment seems on-point, with one quibble: I don't think all Elves are as superbadass as the Inferi. We don't see the others do any really impressive physical feats besides agility and speed that I recall. I'd theorize that the leader permanently suped herself and to a lesser extent her lieutenants up with the wand.
It's possible, but frankly all we saw of the Elves besides those three were the 1% types in the Elven-zone and that one Fed. So I'd be wary of saying 'those three are just special', though it's definitely possible and even likely.
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Re: Bright: Netflix Movie

Post by Tsyroc »

There was a dragon flying way off in the background of one scene. I'm not sure they are considered a race though.

I think Dwarves were mentioned at some point and there was a street sign warning of some sort of humanoid lizard people.

Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, centaurs.... lizard men?

It was interesting that there were elf only communities and they were posted as such, even on freeway off ramp signs. Some just looked like gaited communities but looked more like a whole section of the city was for elves only. The elf area of the city was beyond Beverly Hills on steroids and also reminded me of the bit in The Last Action Hero where Jack Slater points out that all the women are ridiculously hot because it is California, and not because they are in a movie.


I noticed the part about the orc hear of the last war being a carpenter but didn't put it together with Jesus. I was wondering if Christianity exists in this world and whether the cross shaped pool under the tree was another way of having crosses tied to some higher power in this world.


Anyway, in general I liked this movie. I've watched it twice and liked it better the second time around. The first time I got a little tired of Will Smith doing so much of the same ol' Will Smith schtick. I do think that the directing could have been a little better in some of the scenes. I also thought there were a couple of continuity things. The main one being that they never explained what the black stuff that was killing Tikka was after she used the wand to save Jacoby. She'd clearly used the wand before with no apparent harm to herself. Was the black stuff a side effect of using the wand to raise someone from the dead, or had the wand been booby trapped (like the binding spell) to kill someone if they used it too much without the owner's consent?
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