Of 2017’s many examples of how indiscriminate media companies have become in their race for streaming content, none was more conspicuous than Netflix’s Will Smith vehicle Bright, a $90 million eyesore with the budget of a blockbuster but the heart of a Syfy network original. Imagining a fantasy Los Angeles where humans coexist, uneasily, with mythological creatures, it’s the setup for some horrifically bungled social commentary, and a movie so unlovable that even Netflix’s own social media team couldn’t resist taking potshots. Yes, it is as bad as the critics say. And no, it isn’t worth a hate watch.
Thanks to Netflix’s closely guarded ratings metrics, there’s no real knowing how many subscribers actually streamed David Ayers’ orc cop epic, but all available evidence suggests the film wasn’t nearly the cultural event imagined by its soundtrack, which is every bit as gaudy and grandiose as the movie that spawned it. Built from the same mishmash of toothless pop rap, bloated EDM, and battle-montage alt-rock as the soundtrack to Ayers’ previous movie, Suicide Squad, it exists in an alternate universe where Bright became the box-office Goliath its creators conceived it as. For its imagined audience of Bright obsessives, a pair of heavy-handed opening tracks dutifully conjures the gritty, blighted world of the movie: Logic and Rag‘n’Bone Man’s brooding “Broken People” and the weepy Bastille anthem “World Gone Mad.” Like the film, the album takes itself very, very seriously.
Imagine Dragons aren’t actually on the soundtrack, but they loom so large over it that they deserve an honorary executive producer credit. The album’s rock tracks are steeped in the band’s tortured bombast, and their dalliances with other genres provide the model for its seemingly arbitrary crossover pairings. EDM producers Steve Aoki and Marshmello partner with Lil Uzi Vert and Migos, respectively, while Imagine Dragons imitators X Ambassadors share a track with Machine Gun Kelly and Bebe Rexha, one of the many industry bench players peppering an album devoted to the latest, glossiest Top 40 sounds.
The soundtrack’s one true standout is one of its most unassuming songs. Meek Mill, YG, and Snoop Dogg’s fiery East Coast/West Coast team-up “That’s My Nigga” may be less high concept than the deeply silly DRAM/Neil Young head-scratcher “Campfire,” but it has the advantage of performers who have not only chemistry but also genuine interest in each other’s worlds. The same can’t be said of the album’s other collaborations, including the turgid A$AP Rocky/Tom Morello coupling “FTW (Fuck the World),” which imagines how much more awkward the Prophets of Rage album could have been if it made any effort to reach out to a younger audience.
One of the few things the movie Bright has going for it, despite its grim execution, is conviction. There’s the seed of a genuine passion project buried beneath the movie’s hideous makeup, crude racial caricatures, and endless shootouts. None of that wild imagination carries over to its soundtrack. Save for one inexplicable Neil Young cameo, it’s test-marketed to a fault, coasting on popular sounds, top-dollar production, and proven star power. In that regard, though, these songs are just like the movie itself. They openly long to be hits, but they just aren’t any good.
