Bright was a movie that I didn’t know I wanted until I read the premise- mix Lord of the Rings with S.W.AT. (another movie from David Ayer). However, once I got it, I didn’t want it and that is all thanks to David Ayer and his lousy writing and even worse directing.
Director, writer, producer, and killer of good ideas, David Ayer, is pretty much known for making films that are all following the same tropes as one another with many of them being themed around beat cops and corrupt officers of the law. Just look at his list of films:
- The Fast and the Furious (2001)
- Dark Blue (2002)
- S.W.A.T. (2003)
- Harsh Times (2005)
- Street Kings (2008)
- End of Watch (2012)
- Sabotage (2014)
- Suicide Squad (2016)
- Bright (2017)
- Birds of Prey (2020)
Netflix had apparently announced a sequel for Bright before the first one debuted exclusively on the streaming service as one of its first big-budget originals. However, despite the $90m budget and lackluster reviews from critics, Ayer addressed the sequel being still “in-the-works” during a panel for the new show ‘Deputy’ on Fox, which he produces, during an event for the Television Critics Association. Here is the exact quote:
Still in development. We’re working on it so hopefully we’ll be able to mount that up soon.
There were a lot of interesting takeaways from this panel such as his proposed ‘Gotham City Sirens’ being put on hold, another film that would have also seen Harley Quinn in the lead among a possibly different group of supervillains. Additionally, Ayer said that he could have done ‘The Suicide Gunn’, but he decided to go in a different direction before the film went to James Gunn.
I make it no secret that I am no fan of David Ayer, as the guy simply can’t handle big franchises. Suicide Squad was a disgusting mess of cinema, and there is only so much blame you can put on studio involvement.