They took two things that for the most part I tend to enjoy
- Will Smith in an action role
- Elements of fantasy that almost seems like a Warcraft spinoff of sorts
They mixed it all together into what is appears to be an alternative present in Los Angeles and the movie just isn't good.
This film came out in 2017 and like most things related to Hollywood, I didn't hear jack squat about it until i randomly encountered it on Netflix last night. I saw Will Smith in the action category and thought "well, that almost has to be good!" No, no it does not.
This thing is just a mess and would be surprised if there wasn't some sort of Razzie award waiting for them in there. The writing is terrible, the story is dumb, the comic relief comes too frequently and isn't funny. This is basically just a tired story of 2 cops that don't get along but they have to stay together because they are partners. Will Smith is excessively mean to his partner, who is the only Orc on the police squad is a lot more meek than we all would expect an orc to be.
There are glaring inconsistencies in the film also. There are these group of elite dark-elf warriors that easily dispatch 40 gang bangers and a SWAT team, most of which were armed. Later, the same dark-elves really struggle to overpower Will Smith and his Orc pal who are presumably less trained than SWAT team or they would be on SWAT team.
While i was writing this I was chatting with a friend and he said he "loved this movie" and I have a hard time understanding that notion but I suppose there are people out there that do. I just don't understand them. Critics all but universally panned this movie, and this time I agree with them. The general public rated it slightly higher but still not very high.
I suppose this movie is visually appealing and has its moments, but with a very poor script and weak storyline I have to say that this is the most disappointing movie i have seen so far this year... don't worry, we got plenty of time left.