The title is the biggest thing I felt after watching Bright – having been horrified by the onslaught of bad reviews, it’s only after watching it that I can somewhat understand why the film has been so harshly criticised: to be fair, it’s not bad, it’s just not good enough. Throughout his career, director David Ayer has gone from writer to director without a particularly impressive body of work over the years, with his two best known films in recent years being Fury and Suicide Squad …… so it’s important to have a basic expectation of what the film will be like before you see it – or is it that Netflix’s -Or is it that the Netflix logo and the name of a star such as the King will necessarily make for a good film?
There’s a lot to like about The Lightning, most of which is its “contemporary fantasy” setting, where humans, orcs, elves and other races (and a lot of wild goblins too -) live together and don’t get along.
The graffiti on the streets of Los Angeles in the opening credits alone gives a sense of the world’s persistent racial problems. But the world didn’t start out that way; it also had a glorious and legendary “Age of Heroes”, when 2000 years ago, when everyone wielded bows and arrows, the Nine Clans fought together to defeat the Demon King and create what is now known as the “Age of Peace”.
To put it simply, you can think of The Light Spirit as a real-life take on the future of The Lord of the Rings… On top of that, the plot is intertwined with the main story of the Purgatory Party’s attempt to resurrect the Demon King using a magic wand, giving this seemingly ordinary police procedural story another layer of “fantasy”.
Some people may find this “unconventional” setting strange, but personally I found the mix of fantasy, action, police, crime, gunplay and epic elements in the overhead world quite interesting. For example, the scene where Tika hits her pursuer with her magic wand has a very demonic look to the thoroughly “low magic” or even “no magic” society.
I was also struck by a scene in the film where a police car arrives on a half-lit, half-dark Los Angeles street and a dragon flies under the full moon …… This is probably one of the most interesting images I’ve seen this year.
In addition to the novelty of the setting, the way the film presents and explores the issues is quite sophisticated, like when the main character Ward’s wife sends him to deal with the goblins that are causing trouble in front of the house, it has a very everyday life vibe of repelling bugs and shooing dogs. Of course, the most important item that adds to the depth of The Spirit of Light is the clichéd social issue – despite the apparent peaceful coexistence of the various races, the social class differences caused by their ethnicity still cause constant conflict and friction between them. This “contradiction” is also reflected in Ward’s attitude towards the orcs, on the one hand he follows the “correct values” of teaching his daughters racial equality with only slight differences, and on the other hand he is genuinely reluctant to accept his partner, the orc Jacobi, assigned to him by his superiors.
Ward’s duplicitous attitude reflects the desperate social status of the Orcs. Jacobi, who has not been given the orcish ‘blood rite’ and has had his fangs sharpened, has human aspirations and a desire to be different, and is the very man the city has put in place to do the ‘racial goodwill’ image project that is the focus of the story. …… Jacobi’s actual situation is not difficult to imagine.
In a world where humans are still the same, where orcs are despised, belittled, marginalized and inferior, and where elves hold the highest power in society, even the “light spirits” who have the ability to control wands are almost exclusively elves. The stems of nobility and inferiority are not mentioned.
Jacobi’s perceived position is the central theme of the film, and the dramatic conflict associated with it is evident throughout. Because of his unchangeable origins and appearance, the determination and effort Jacobi harbours is always ignored; the orcs see him as a traitor, the humans as a monster, and even Ward, who is supposed to trust him the most, has a strong rejection and hatred of him.
But it was Ward’s love-hate attitude and his experience of living and dying together that made the two men, who had been at odds, true friends. In fact, Ward himself was an unpopular man in the police force, but he had a real talent for staying out of trouble and being invincible to a hundred people.
This “familiar” quality is what draws Jacobi to look up to him. By the end of the film, Jacobi has come back from the dead, washed up with the courage and nobility that any race should admire, and the elves and humans are so impressed that even the orcs give him a high-profile “blood rite” ceremony.
From beginning to end, everything seems to be in order, everything seems to be there, so what is the problem with The Lightning? It can only be said that the most fatal shortcomings appear when the story is told in a mediocre or even somewhat tigerish manner, and the setting is used in a top-heavy manner.
From Suicide Squad to The Light of Day, David Ayer is guilty of the same “loud thunder but little rain” problem, and it’s not up to David to blame the audience for the “vengeful” low scores.
The story of a depressed patrol partner who finds a renegade elf by mistake and becomes involved in a conspiracy that is fundamental to the world, with magical federal agents on their heels, and all the forces at play. There’s nothing wrong with the layering of the story, but it’s not brilliant or fresh, and Jacoby’s fluency in various languages is one of the few laughs.
In a modern, crime-ridden Los Angeles, the use of a “wand that grants all wishes” as the central clue is actually quite a clever design, since, with the exception of a few elves, the likelihood of a “light spirit” among humans is slim, and ordinary people Touching the wand would only destroy it. This lays down an unknown suspense that sets up Ward’s accidental use at the end – and there are hints of this soon after the film starts, so it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into it.
In particular, when Jacoby is brought back to life by Tikka, The Lightning Lives puts up a big smoke screen, deliberately pointing to the Chosen One as the orc. This is made even more obvious when Ward and Jacobi argue over “how to save Tika” – the reborn Jacobi begins to believe in fate, while Ward is only persuaded to squirm and half-heartedly accept it. In theory, everyone should have been surprised and excited when instead it was Ward who finally showed his light spirit credentials.
Unfortunately, ah, there was enough fire and the main course put in was a bit subpar. After all that time of holding one’s breath and building that much momentum, the scene that was staged didn’t even need that much preparation. The first time they were unveiled, they were invincible, invincible, and had no trouble killing a gangster’s armed forces. As a result, the trio of protagonists who could only flee under the mob’s pursuit were suddenly able to fight on par with Leela and the others, and in the end they were able to kill …… these elves fighting power dive is really a little too powerful, not strict, can not be washed.
The shot of Ward risking his wand to finish off Leela should be said to be the climax of the whole film, but this ultimate boss battle, under the earlier fanfare, only makes one feel that there is a breath of air not exhaled …… and then after that, it is the agreed happy ending. The elven-human investigative agent meets the human-orc patrol partner, and together they hammer out the “truth of the matter”: no wands, no light spirits, just a hotshot detective doing his job. Good cops and bad cops alike are buried as heroes in the line of duty, Ward and Jacobi are cleared of all violations and are publicly honoured by the police department for their exemplary work.
It’s all so familiar, not brilliant and nothing wrong with it …… In summary, it’s sloppily put together. It felt like singing a pop song, the intro was great, the lyrics were right, and the rendition was spot on, but the main song actually went a tone higher halfway through, and instead of correcting it, the singer sang it hard without realizing it, only to have it break right through to the chorus …… Back to the title, this year has certainly been It’s been a banner year for Netflix (in fact, it’s been gaining traction in recent years) – but the quality and reputation of Netflix’s original movies has always been less than stellar compared to the many great original series under its belt.
This is also the case with The Spirit of Light, where the setting and world are so malleable and the budget is so high that it would be a shame to just make a movie, as many of the things that would not have been developed in time could have been explained more and better in a series. After all, the “Demon King” has not really awakened, the feuds between humans, orcs, elves and other races are just a glimpse of what’s to come, and the modern urban magic talk is just a glimpse of what’s to come – it’s not enjoyable to spit out “fuck magic” and call it a day.
