Bright
Netflix | Release Date: December 22, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
29
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
10
Negative:
14
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 20, 2017
This ambitious, yet astonishingly well-executed Netflix tentpole directly benefits from the way Ayer’s gritty, streetwise sensibility grounds Landis’ gift for creating an elaborate comic-book mythology. Read full review
70
IGNDavid GriffinDec 20, 2017
Bright could have been something truly special if it had slowed down the pace of its narrative to allow for a fuller exploration of its engaging world. Read full review
60
The GuardianSteve RoseDec 20, 2017
For all its flaws, Bright is still a headlong leap into a bracingly different new world. Cinema could do with more of that. Read full review
59
The VergeBryan BishopDec 21, 2017
Bright is a series of disconnected action vignettes that work as standalone sequences, but don’t hang together in any kind of meaningful way. It’s impossible to not think of Suicide Squad’s similar failings as Bright barrels from one dark, noisy scene to the next. Read full review
42
UproxxAmy NicholsonDec 27, 2017
Bright has brief jolts of life. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 22, 2017
Bright gestures vaguely at an allegory about police brutality and race, which may have been more impactful in the original script. It’s hard to tell. For his part, Landis has largely disowned the final product, which buries some glimmers of interesting ideas under a thick layer of adolescent tough-guy posturing. Read full review
40
We Got This Covered Hayden MearsDec 27, 2017
It’s a flawed, frustrating film made even more lackluster by its failure to explore its own weighty themes and its apparent refusal to connect those themes to its story and characters. Read full review
40
EmpireJames DyerDec 21, 2017
There are sparks of solid action amidst the confusion, but Max Landis’ script contains too much stilted dialogue to properly ignite. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyDec 21, 2017
Like most aspects of the film’s mythology, the whole Bright business feels like the non-brainwave of a random plot generator – a will-this-do device Landis barely integrates into his wider story. As a choice for the film’s title, it’s singular, but silly. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaDec 20, 2017
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. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayDec 20, 2017
Ultimately, the biggest problem with Bright is that it squeezes nudity, profanity and blood into the kind of dopey adventure that should be aimed more at adolescents — right down to its simplistic lessons about tolerance. Read full review
40
Total FilmJosh WinningDec 20, 2017
Neither a satisfying treaty on diversity and 'race' wars, nor a fulfilling fantasy, it derails at the end of the first act with a confusing moment of anti-heroism, and never recovers. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 27, 2017
It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s not nearly as self-deprecating and funny as it needed to be. Read full review
33
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerDec 24, 2017
It’s the kind of film that sets up a compelling sandbox in which to play, and then smashes gracelessly through it, cackling all the while. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyDevan CogganDec 21, 2017
Ayer and Landis’s world is so dull and ill-conceived that few will want to spend any additional time there. It’s a world of magic that lacks any of its own. Read full review
30
ScreenCrushMatt SingerDec 27, 2017
It is quite literally the company’s biggest disaster to date; a colossal waste of time, money, and effort. Read full review
30
The New York TimesAndy WebsterDec 21, 2017
You’ll find beatings, shootouts, car crashes, awkward analogies and a measure of buddy badinage in “Bright,” but true enchantment is in short supply. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoDec 22, 2017
A gaudy, overstuffed piece of blockbuster trash. Read full review
25
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 21, 2017
The problem with setting a familiar story in a foreign universe is that you have to establish the parameters of said universe or risk losing your audience. That's world-building 101, folks. Bright does not care about that. Bright's attitude is closer to "fuck you for not somehow keeping up with our cool shit" before doing a lot of push-ups. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineDerek SmithDec 21, 2017
A welter of dissonant intentions, the film fails to seamlessly intertwine its elements of realism and fantasy. Read full review
20
VoxAlissa WilkinsonDec 21, 2017
Bright pulls off the uncommon (and not at all admirable) hat trick of being confusing, boring, and vaguely insulting about the matters it wants to appear smart on. The movie is a case of reading the room very wrongly, then slapping a lot of violence and muddled mythology on top as a means of distraction. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeDec 20, 2017
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. Read full review
20
TheWrapTodd GilchristDec 20, 2017
There may be no more unexpected (or damning) faint praise for David Ayer’s new movie Bright than this: It made me wish I was watching “Suicide Squad” instead. Read full review
10
Vanity FairJordan HoffmanDec 20, 2017
There is a whiff of an interesting idea in there, but it is buried in tedious scenes lacking clear direction, endless generic (and poorly lit) shoot-outs, and cringeworthy sequences of allegedly witty banter. This movie is an absolute wreck. Read full review
0
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 20, 2017
Bright tries to create a unique and dynamic world with the juxtaposition of harsh police life, crime and modern life contrasted with this imaginary magical realm, but it’s contrived, unconvincing and most of all calamitously preposterous. Read full review
0
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 20, 2017
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. Read full review
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