"Bright" on NetFlix (Spoilers)

[Ryujin]

So over the last few days NetFlix released "Bright." As stated in a previous thread this is sort of a modern day D&D/Shadowrun cross of a cop movie, set in Los Angeles, playing on the sort of issues you would expect it to given the history of LA cops and the cultural makeup of that city. Elves, humans, and orcs pretty much replace the normal social strata.

Overall it very much reminded me of the old "Alien Nation" movie and TV series.

 

[MarkB]

I enjoyed the movie. A decent entry in the buddy cop genre, with the fantasy elements being more an interesting twist rather than the main focus.

I also liked it as a setting. Being present-day makes it more relateable than Shadowrun, and doing away with the Muggle masquerade of settings like The Dresden Files means you can do more with the fantasy elements. I'd happily run an urban fantasy game in this setting. Maybe tweak it to allow a little more minor magic.

 

[Scott DeWar]

So over the last few days NetFlix released "Bright." .. .. .. EDIT .. .. .. .. Overall it very much reminded me of the old "Alien Nation" movie and TV series.

Ah, yes. Alien Nation. That is the feel I detected. I remember that the name of Sykes translated to an insult.

 

[Tonguez]

Ah, yes. Alien Nation. That is the feel I detected. I remember that the name of Sykes translated to an insult.

I got that feel too and was even waiting for them to reveal an Orc-specific drug. At least they suggested some interspecies fetishism.

I would have liked a bit more of a back story on the fantasy elements, like who was Jirek? What do the blooded Orc chauffers do for their Elf clients? Who are the Circle of Light , why dont Fairies have rights? and where are all the Dwarfs?
Also what is the racial hierarchy? WIll Smith had human gangsta neighbours who dress exactly like the Orc ghetto hoodlums, what was the point of that scene?

 

[Scott DeWar]

lots of questions .. .. .. .. .. to be answered in the series.

 

[Ryujin]

I enjoyed the movie. A decent entry in the buddy cop genre, with the fantasy elements being more an interesting twist rather than the main focus.

I also liked it as a setting. Being present-day makes it more relateable than Shadowrun, and doing away with the Muggle masquerade of settings like The Dresden Files means you can do more with the fantasy elements. I'd happily run an urban fantasy game in this setting. Maybe tweak it to allow a little more minor magic.

D20 Modern worked very well for that sort of setting. I also added a couple of third party sourcebooks to include, among other things, Gun-Fu characters which worked very well, thematically, with elves.

Ah, yes. Alien Nation. That is the feel I detected. I remember that the name of Sykes translated to an insult.

It's been a long time but I believe that his name sounded like two words in their language, "see iykes", meaning excrement and cranium

I got that feel too and was even waiting for them to reveal an Orc-specific drug. At least they suggested some interspecies fetishism.

I would have liked a bit more of a back story on the fantasy elements, like who was Jirek? What do the blooded Orc chauffers do for their Elf clients? Who are the Circle of Light , why dont Fairies have rights? and where are all the Dwarfs?
Also what is the racial hierarchy? WIll Smith had human gangsta neighbours who dress exactly like the Orc ghetto hoodlums, what was the point of that scene?

I think that they did a fairly good job of laying out the hierarchy. One of the ways they did that was by doing exactly what you said; dressing the neighbours similarly to the orcs. It's actually the other way around in that they dressed the orcs like the neighbours, to visibly place them in the bottom rung of society. Humans were spread across all levels while elves, apart from the renegade Tikka, were dressed to the nines and in positions like the Federal magic investigator.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I also liked the movie and thought of it as a Shadowrun film tweaked by the DM to change up the backstory and world's history. It has bad reviews, but it's definitely one of the only two RPG cinematic experiences I've enjoyed, the second being the World-of-Darkness related Underworld. The only issue I had was how the badass villains suddenly became a bit depowered towards the end. I think fans of Shadowrun will really enjoy this and I feel the movie shouldn't be receiving the negativity it is receiving, but then again I'm the target audience for something like this.

 

[Ryujin]

I also liked the movie and thought of it as a Shadowrun film tweaked by the DM to change up the backstory and world's history. It has bad reviews, but it's definitely one of the only two RPG cinematic experiences I've enjoyed, the second being the World-of-Darkness related Underworld. The only issue I had was how the badass villains suddenly became a bit depowered towards the end. I think fans of Shadowrun will really enjoy this and I feel the movie shouldn't be receiving the negativity it is receiving, but then again I'm the target audience for something like this.

Critics hate it but, apparently, regular folks like it. At least if the 30%/89% score on Rotten Tomatoes is to be believed.

I don't know if you're aware of this, because it didn't last very long, but there was a TV show that was based on World of Darkness. It was called "Kindred: The Embraced" and it suffered from being produced by that pillar of prime time soap operas, Aaron Spelling.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

[MENTION=27897]Ryujin[/MENTION] , yeah I never watched Kindred, but I heard it was more of a mafia crime drama then horror or sci-fi. The Midnight campaign setting also had a low budget movie made that wasn't highly regarded. The second D&D movie was alright despite being made for cable, and it is better than its much high-budget predecessor, but it isn't good. These add to my original point, that there doesn't seem to be much out there for successful films based upon RPGs. Bright comes out looking good. So does the first Underworld.

 

[Ryujin]

There was certainly a crime element to it but I would refer to it as being more "90210" with fangs, though it aspired to be "Dallas" with fangs.