The title is my biggest feeling after watching "Bright"-I was frightened by the turbulent reviews before, and after watching it I somewhat understood why the film was so harsh: to be fair, it’s not bad, it’s just not good enough.
Throughout the career of director David Aye, from screenwriter to director, there has been no outstanding work for many years. The two most famous films in recent years are "Furious" and "Suicide Squad"... Before watching a movie, you must first have a basic expectation of the film's general quality -or is it that Netflix's signature plus the names of celebrities such as Shi Huang will definitely make a good movie?
[Friendly reminder: There will be a lot of spoilers below. 】
Closer to home, in fact , there are many advantages of "Light and Spirit". The most attractive is the background setting of its "contemporary fantasy" theme: humans, orcs, elves, etc. (and many wild goblins--) race to live together. Together, they don't get along well.
Just relying on the graffiti in the streets and alleys of Los Angeles in the opening film makes people feel the racial problems in this world that are hard to come back to.
But this world was not like this at the beginning. It also had a splendid and legendary "Era of Heroes" . 2000 years ago, in the era when everyone wielded bows, arrows, knives and guns, the Nine Nations Allied Forces fought side by side and defeated the demon king and created today's "Peace". era".
To put it simply, you can regard "Light and Spirit" as the future real life theme of "The Lord of the Rings"...
On this basis, the plot inserts the "Purgatory Party" vain attempt to use the magic wand to revive the devil's main line, so that this seemingly ordinary police and gangster story has another layer of "fantasy" color .
Many people may think this "non-descript" setting is weird. Anyway, I personally think it's quite interesting to combine fantasy, action, police, crime, gunfight, epic and other elements in an overhead world.
For example, the scene after Tikka used a magic wand to severely inflict a chaser on the killer. In the eyes of a secular society who is completely "low demons" and even "no demons", it really has a different kind of strange beauty.
In addition, there was a scene in the film that impressed me deeply: half of the brightly lit and half dark Los Angeles streets, police cars roared, and a dragon flew under the full moon...
This is probably one of the most interesting pictures I have seen this year.
In addition to setting novelty, the method of presenting and discussing problems in the film is also quite sophisticated . For example, the male protagonist Ward’s wife sent him to deal with the harassing goblins in front of the house, which is very refreshing in the daily life of insects and dogs...
Of course, the project that can best add points to the connotation and depth of "Light and Spirit" is the old-fashioned social problem-although all ethnic groups coexist peacefully on the surface, the differences in social class caused by racial characteristics still cause contradictions and frictions between all parties. Continuously.
This "contradiction" is also reflected in Ward's attitude towards orcs. On the one hand, he follows the "correct value" to educate his daughters on racial equality, but there is only a slight difference; on the other hand, he is really unwilling to accept the partner assigned to him by his superiors. , Orc Jacobi.
Ward's duplicity reflects the desperate social status of the orcs.
Jacoby has not received the "blood gift" unique to the orcs, and has grind off his fangs. He has the ambition to yearn for humans and desire to be different. He is also specially arranged by the city government to do the image project of "racial goodwill". The person in focus... Jacoby's actual situation is not difficult to imagine.
In this world, human beings are still the human beings who are not high and low, the orcs have become inferior races that are despised, despised, and marginalized, while the elves control the highest power of society, even those who have the ability to control the magic wand. "Light and Spirit" are almost all elves.
Regarding the stalks of nobility and inferiority, don't talk about it...
Jacoby's cognitive positioning is the core theme of the film, and the conflicts with the drama related to it are obvious and run through.
Because of his unchangeable origin and appearance, Jacoby’s determination and efforts are always ignored. Orcs regard him as a traitor, and humans as a monster. Even Ward, who should trust him the most, once treated him. Strong rejection and hatred.
However, it is precisely because of Ward's clear love and hatred attitude and the shared experience of life and death that the two who were originally separated become true friends.
In fact, in the police station, Ward himself is also an unwelcome person, but he has the true ability of being in danger and being invincible...
Such a "familiar" temperament is the key to attracting Jacobi to admire him.
Before the end of the film, Jacobi, who had come back from the dead and washed out his life, already possessed the courage and nobility that any race should admire. The elves and humans looked upon him with admiration, and even the orcs gave him a high-level "blood ritual". .
From the beginning to the end, it seems to be in order, and it seems that there is everything that should be there. What is the problem with "Light and Spirit"? It can only be said that no matter how familiar the routine is, the story will be unremarkable and even anticlimactic, and the settings will be top-heavy and lacking, and the most deadly shortcomings will appear.
However, the film’s ambition is not small, and the posture is also very big. The result is just a mediocre story. From "Suicide Squad" to "Light and Spirit", David Ayer has committed something like "Thunder and Rain." The problem of "small", the expectation is too big, and the audience is not blamed for being scored low by "retaliation". This pot David really has to recite...
The frustrated patrol partner, by accident, found the elves who defected, and got involved in the fundamental conspiracy of the world. Agents of the Magic Federation followed closely behind, and all the forces sang and I came on stage...
There is nothing wrong with the progression of the story, but it can't be said to be clever or fresh . Jacobi's proficiency in various languages is one of the rare jokes.
In a modern Los Angeles city full of crime, using "the magic wand that can realize all wishes" as the core clue is actually quite a handy design, because except for a few elves, the possibility of "light and spirit" appearing in humans is very slim. Ordinary people will only be wiped out when they touch the magic wand.
This buried an unknown suspense, which paved the way for Ward's accidental use at the end -and there were related clues not long after the film began , and it was obvious that a lot of thought was spent.
Especially when Jacobi was resurrected by Tikka, "Light and Spirit" even put a big smoke bomb, deliberately pointing the "chosen man" to this orc.
Then when Ward and Jacoby argued over "how to save Tikka", this direction became even more obvious-Jacoby who was born again in Nirvana began to believe in fate, and Ward was just persuaded, and he squeezed and pushed halfway. .
In theory, everyone should be surprised and excited when Ward showed off his luminous and spiritual aptitude in the end.
It's a pity that the heat is enough, but the main dishes are inferior............ After holding back for so long, and creating such a big momentum, the performance of the show does not need to be prepared so much.
Let's talk about the big villain, these rebellious elves headed by Lila, they have always been invincible when they first appeared, and they are invincible.
As a result, the protagonist trio who could only escape under the gang chased and killed, suddenly was able to compete with Lila and others, and finally was able to fight back... these elves are really good at diving, no Strict, no way to wash.
The scene where Ward took the risk of grabbing the magic wand and killing Lila should be said to be the climax of the film, but this ultimate BOSS battle was under the previous fanfare, and it just made people feel that they didn't breathe out...
After that, it is the happy ending that is agreed upon.
The elves-human investigative agent finds the human-orc patrol partner, and sings one and finalizes the "truth of the incident": there is no magic wand or light, only the hot-handed detective's dedication.
Good policemen and bad policemen were treated as heroes who died in their jobs. Ward and Jacoby's various violations of laws and regulations were all written off, and they also became model models for public recognition by the police.
Everything is so familiar, it's not clever and nothing wrong... In summary, it's so-so.
It feels like singing a pop song, the prelude is nice, the lyrics are correct, and the interpretation is also in place, but in fact the main song has a higher pitch when halfway through, and the singer doesn't make corrections, but he doesn't know it. Bite the scalp and sing, but when it comes to the chorus, the sound breaks directly...
Going back to the title, this year is undoubtedly a harvest year for Netflix (in fact, it has become more and more popular in recent years)-but compared to many excellent original dramas under its command, the quality and reputation of Netflix original movies always seems Not satisfactory.
The same is true of "Light and Spirit". The story setting and the world background are so malleable, and the shooting budget is quite large. It is a pity to just make a movie. If it is made into a drama, there are many places in it before it can start to get more, Better interpretation.
After all, the "Magic Lord" hasn't really woken up yet. The grievances among humans, orcs, elves and other races are nothing more than just a glimpse. The magical talks of modern cities are just a glimpse-the sentence "Magic to TM" is over and it is not addictive. .
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