Netflix's Bright slammed as 'embarrassing,' a 'disaster' by critics

Movie critics are taking a dim view of Bright.

Netflix’s first foray into original blockbusters has gotten a rude welcome, with reviews branding director David Ayer’s fantasy film as “embarrassing,” a “disaster,” and “the worst movie of 2017.”

“Astoundingly bad in virtually every way,” writes The Wrap‘s Todd Gilchrist, “Bright shares in common several of the shortcomings of Ayer’s previous film [Suicide Squad], including conspicuous evidence of desperate efforts to cobble its under-explained and yet somehow overcomplicated mythology into something coherent.”

Read more reviews below.

Todd Gilchrist (The Wrap)

“Even Will Smith’s irrepressible charisma can’t compete with the unrelentingly muddy production design, the poorly conceived characters and a profoundly stupid racial metaphor that somehow amplifies stereotypes of actual ethnic groups. The result is another genre disaster that’s only impressive in how arrogantly the filmmakers presume audiences will want it to be expanded into a franchise.”

John DeFore (The Hollywood Reporter)

“Alas, the finished product, though plenty embarrassing, isn’t quite involving enough to merit the kind of pile-on mockery that greeted Ayer’s DC Comics abomination Suicide Squad. Stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton play it mostly straight here, doing their part to sell the dopey premise, but the screenplay offers viewers little reward for our own suspension of disbelief. Rumored to be the most expensive Netflix original film to date, the pic may well attract eyeballs on the streaming outlet. But its potential as a franchise-starter is laughably small.”

Peter Debruge (Variety)

“Bright is the best Netflix original movie to date, and it absolutely deserves to be seen on the big screen, though don’t let that stop you from watching it home, as End of Watch director David Ayer’s welcome return to the cop-movie genre — following a disastrous wrong turn into Suicide Squad territory, of which we will say no more — fills an intense, grown-up movie niche that Hollywood once did so well, but has since replaced with formula-driven product.”

David Ehrlich (IndieWire)

“There’s boring, there’s bad, and then there’s Bright, a movie so profoundly awful that Republicans will probably try to pass it into law over Christmas break. From the director of Suicide Squad and the writer of Victor Frankenstein comes a fresh slice of hell that somehow represents new lows for them both — a dull and painfully derivative ordeal that that often feels like it was made just to put those earlier misfires into perspective. The only thing more predictable than this high-concept police story is the idea that a year as punishing as 2017 would save the worst for last. ”

Emily Yoshida (Vulture)

“Bright turns out to be more interested in its mythrilpunk world-building than any kind of social commentary, which is a good thing, because while it is so-so at the former (the plot holes in this thing), it is clearly out of its depth with the latter.”

Noel Murray (The Los Angeles Times)

“It’s hard to imagine Bright inspiring anyone to want to see or make a full-blown series of films. Aside from a few nifty ideas and the occasional amusing or exciting scene, this film is a chore.”

Vinnie Mancuso (Collider)

“Bright is a movie that spends far too much time explaining itself — and, often, re-explaining itself — that the actual story, when we finally get to it, is not much more than empty gunshots and blood splatter with a faerie tale twist. Which is a shame, because the plot is actually a simple bit of fun buried beneath a heavy dose of explanation.”

Bright begins streaming Friday on Netflix.