SNAPSHOT
Set in an alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds. Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything. (synopsis via Coming Soon)
What’s a Bright world look like?
It’s L.A. as you know it but with orcs and elves standing in for the normal racial mix, lending a whole different look and feel to the tale but still with many of the same tensions that afflict our less fantastical world.
Throw into this familiar yet otherworldy alternate vision of society the search for a wand that could change the world as we don’t know it (but kinda do at the same time), two men from different races discovering they may have more in common than they realise and you have a heady, engrossing narrative that looks equal parts action thriller and incisive societal commentary if this recently-realised featurette and trailer are any guide.
It’s a clever way of exploring our world in all its fractured hellish glory and maybe the perfect accompaniment to a festive season that is taking place in a world where the message of peace and joy to everyone is needed now more than ever.
As naturally are elves’ wands.
Bright premieres on Netflix on 22 December.
(source: io9)