Joel Edgerton reflects on Bright and the negative response to the movie from critics. Directed by David Ayer and released on Netflix in 2017, Bright stars Will Smith as LAPD officer Daryl Ward, with Edgerton playing his partner, Nick Jakoby, an orc. The film, which sees Daryl and Nick attempting to protect a powerful magic wand and its wielder, was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, and currently sports a lackluster 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In a recent interview with Inverse, Edgerton reflects on the negative reviews for Bright, revealing that he thinks the reception was more negative than the film deserved. The actor also points out that audiences, generally, were far more receptive to the fantasy movie. Check out Edgerton’s full comment below:

“I have a lot of feelings about
Bright
. In general, I’m fascinated by the critical response versus audience responses of movies. Either the audience score is super low and the critics love it, or the critics hate it, but the audience is like, ‘Actually, we love this.’ Occasionally you get a double win or a double loss. My brother’s TV series,
Mr Inbetween,
is one of the rare double wins.

“But
Bright
was one of those ones that I think was in the sort of low 30s for the critics, but it struck a chord with people. Netflix would be able to tell you that with their algorithms, but enough people were taking the time to rate the movie high, which meant that there was definitely an appetite for more. And I often thought the critics were a little bit too harsh on that movie.”

Bright’s Negative Reception Explained

The Will Smith Movie Was Still A Hit

While reviews varied, most critics seemed to agree that Bright doesn’t come together into a compelling whole. The film has elements of Ayer’s past work, most notably End of Watch, and it attempts to put these gritty, cop drama elements into a fantasy story. In addition, the movie also features themes relating to race, most of which come out through the Jakoby storyline. Unfortunately, none of these disparate elements totally mesh in the end product, and some interesting action scenes aren’t enough to hold everything together.

Critics, however, don’t tell the whole story for Bright. The audience score for the film is currently a respectable 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating that general Netflix-watchers found it far more enjoyable. Some of this could be due to Smith who was, especially at the time, a big draw as a movie star. Bright was also a major viewership hit, with 11 million people watching the movie during its first three days of availability on Netflix (per IndieWire).

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Despite strong viewership figures and a seemingly positive audience reception, a previously planned Bright 2 hasn’t moved forward. It was reported in 2022 that the sequel had been scrapped, a decision apparently unrelated to Smith’s infamous Oscars slap that year. It doesn’t look like another Bright will be happening, but it seems that Edgerton believes the first film is worthy of a critical re-evaluation.

Source: Inverse

Bright

In an alternate Los Angeles, mystical creatures live side by side with humans. When police officer Daryl Ward is partnered with the division’s first Orc officer, the two must overcome the racism and police corruption in their way, in order to stop a magical artifact and mythical figure from wreaking havoc in the city.

Director

David Ayer

Release Date

December 22, 2017

Studio(s)

Netflix

Distributor(s)

Netflix

Writers

David Ayer , Max Landis

Runtime

118 minutes

Budget

$90–106.2 million

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