BRIGHT from director David Ayer is Netflix’s first foray into big-budget filmmaking, and the streaming giant is already so confident in the results they’re already planning the sequel. The movie hits the streaming service tomorrow, and as of yesterday reviews have started to flood in. The consensus so far is that the movie is a more dim than bright, but one critic seemed to take the movie as a personal slight, dubbing it the worst movie of 2017. This sort of review may put others on the defensive, but Ayer has responded to it saying he plans to wear it as a badge of honor.
The review came from IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, who gave the movie an “F” rating, and Ayer responded to this review on Twitter, saying the review was “going on my fridge.” He went on to say that any strong reaction is the highest form of praise and that his review, though negative in the most absolute sense, was well-written.
As of this writing, the movie stands at a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 28 on Metacritic, with critics finding the movie either a disaster and a mess, or simply a “meh” fantasy-action-thriller. There aren’t as many reviews as scathing as Ehrlich’s, but the critic responded to Ayer’s comment, saying “You’re a good man, Mr. Ayer. I'll be waiting with fresh eyes for whatever comes next.” The last Ayer movie, SUICIDE SQUAD, also suffered from terrible reviews, and the filmmaker addressed those in a much longer piece saying he “wanted the make something different” before reflecting on the movie itself.
I have not yet seen BRIGHT, so I can’t speak to its quality, but Ayer is certainly a class act for not going off on Ehrlich for hating his movie. Plenty of stars have done that either publicly or privately, which in the end is just silly. Not everyone is going to like your movie, and in some cases, most people may not. At the end of the day you have to accept that and stand by your work and be open to criticism, which Ayer clearly is, and even admires it when it’s thought out and well-versed. I’ll be seeing BRIGHT just to get my own idea of it, as should you all, and should then not feel guilty about voicing your hatred/love on Twitter. It's all good with Ayer.
BRIGHT hits Netflix tomorrow!