Well this movie was a lot better than critical reception led me to believe. It does have a couple things that don’t work as well for me as they could have, but this is a well executed movie overall.
Except for seeing occasional headlines and review scores, I mostly went in blind. I actually expected a movie closer to Alien Nation, insofar as I expected this is be a movie about aliens and pretty much be a redo of that movie. But I am glad this wasn’t the case. If there’s any good in the world, they’ll turn this movie into a TV series, much like Alien Nation did. I would love to see more Orc & Human buddy cop shenanigans. i assume they wouldn’t be able to afford Will Smith for any of that, which is fine. Just recast him.
I enjoyed Jakoby quite a bit, and I want more of him. I also thought Noomi Rapaace just looked fucking awesome. She makes a great evil elf. Sure, her character was a total moron because of a couple of the mindblowingly stupid decisions the writers decided she should make, but I enjoyed her performance nonetheless.
Everybody else was forgettable. Well, I don’t mean to imply Will Smith is forgettable, but he’s actually the weakest link among the primary players, if only because it turns out that, hey, you can never go home again. Much like Jim Carrey, I periodically wish Will Smith would go back to his 90’s shtick once in a while… but this movie is proof that doing so won’t actually be such a good thing. Every single time Will Smith had a throwback reaction or one liner, I was pulled out of the movie and dropped into one of his older movies. He’s just too old for that now, his delivery just a beat too slow. At times it felt like his heart just wasn’t in it, which isn’t to say he was phoning this in, just that he isn’t that guy anymore. The attitude and the dialogue just doesn’t feel right spilling out of his mouth. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the movie hadn’t cast him. I don’t have a good suggestion for a replacement, but basically anybody that wasn’t trying to be Will Smith of the 90s.
I like the movie’s take on the Orcs. I don’t really know how I feel about the movie’s take on the Elves, billionaire elites living it up in a walled off section of town. I just hope that setup isn’t used as fuel for some sequel that wants to deal with class based resentment and retaliation or something.
The movie wasn’t perfect, a lot of Smith’s trademark mannerisms being a part of that, but other little things sorta nagged at me but didn’t ruin the experience. I could have done without the fairies and the dragon flying over LA. I didn’t enjoy how so many situations seemed cribbed almost shot for shot from other movies, like Training Day (“He’s the one that saved me”), Men in Black, Bad Boys, Every MacGuffin movie ever, and Guardians of the Galaxy. I say this mostly because I never really enjoy that stuff in any film because it always pulls me out of the film I’m in, and I end up spending the next fifteen minutes comparing dialogue, story and scene structure of that moment to memories of older films in my mind. I guess I’m easily distracted.
Anyway, good film. I want a series or sequel, preferably a series. Some major characters do some horribly idiotic crap, but overall I liked it. It’s the best of the made-for-Netflix films I’ve seen. (Note: I haven’t watch The Irishmen yet)