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Orc Training Day: A Review of Netflix’s Bright

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Bright is Netflix’s newest and most ambitious title to date, it melds a gritty buddy cop genre with high fantasy similar to the worlds of Lord of the Rings and Warcraft. This in itself is enough reason to take interest in Bright, such an ambitiously different idea could never go wrong. Well, it goes very wrong because the film is just plain bad. David Ayer (Suicide Squad) is at the Helm of the film and he teams up once again with superstar Will Smith. Smith plays a LAPD cop named Daryl Ward and he is partnered with Nick Jakoby, an Orc portrayed by the fantastic Joel Edgerton (Warrior). The film’s screenplay was written by Max Landis (Chronicle).

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These two mega talents go to waste as the film is a messy take on a buddy cop action-adventure flick. One immediate problem with the film is there is virtually no world-building, as we get dropped into this cool, alternate fantasy version of Los Angeles with no real back story on events prior. All we know going into the film is there was a war between Orcs and humans two thousand years ago, and humans are belligerently racist towards them because of this old conflict.

Of course the film has elves as well, and they are considered the top of the race ladder, the rich Caucasian demographic of Bright’s version of America. Orcs, including Jakoby are treated like scum by the humans and especially Elves. The movie tries to force the topic of racism in many ways and I like that it has this theme throughout but it just doesn’t work when the writing is this poor and that it can’t be taken seriously.

Bright has an identity issue, it wants to be a gritty drama at times, but slips into bad buddy cop comedy territory with its cringe-worthy dialogue between Smith and Edgerton.  None of the films elements mix together which causes an absolute mess. The villains are another issue I have with the movie, they keep throwing them into the film with no real indication of who they are or their motive. They just plant a random bad guy in places and let the bad writing and over-use on slo-mo shots try to carry the scenes.

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The main antagonist in the film is a cool looking, yet shallow elven woman named Leilah (Noomi Papace) who is after a special magic wand so she can bring back the “Dark Lord”, in which we never get much information on who this evil lord is. The film is about keeping a magic wand away from the hands of evil which is a been there, done that situation. For a film that has such a unique premise, there is actually nothing special or different about the actual plot. It is mundane and boring to its core, which is a shame because the world they created for the film is interesting in many ways.

One positive from this film are its visuals, which is has become a staple in Ayer’s films. The makeup/costume design is top notch and the visual effects during some of these action scenes are done well. It has the same visual grit that Ayer movies are known for while mixing it with fun magical effects that truly pop out.

To put it simply, Bright is an ambitious $90 million disappointment. David Ayer and Will Smith teamed up again  and made a movie that is sometimes worse than the Disaster that was Suicide Squad but here it is.  Despite the well-made visuals, there is still much wrong with the film as it lets talent go to waste with its bad writing and poor use of character.

My name is Jeremy and I am 22 years old and currently a college student majoring in Journalism. I mainly write about games but I also am knowledgeable on Film and anime.

Gaming

Larian Reveals Baldur’s Gate 3’s Mildest Multiclass Builds

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Since the excellent Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out in the wild for a while, interesting data can be gleaned, such as how players choose to play an innovative new RPG from home. Stats from developer Larian Studios and posted on the PlayStation Blog show that most people want to play as a stealthy archer like in Skyrim when given nearly limitless options.

According to a fascinating graph, Rogue/Ranger is the most popular multiclass build, with over 175,000 players using it to snipe unsuspecting enemies from range. The next two builds reveal similarly. 150,000 played Barbarian/Fighter because they loved pummeling things, and 109,00 played Barbarian/Paladin, which lets players talk to their victims before beatings.

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More sense emerges as you descend. If the Paladin/Warlock/Sorcerer/Bard has high Charisma, any combination can be interesting. Charisma helps these classes cast spells and abilities and interact with NPCs outside of combat.

Playing a single class through Baldur’s Gate 3 feels great, which is what most players do. A pure Fighter or Wizard becomes so powerful by game’s end that we don’t blame you for not mixing things up!

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Play as a Tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin, Dark Urge Origin (which you must resist), or Bard for real moral dilemmas. You could also play pseudo-Aragorn again.

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Techland Shows Durable Dying Light 2 Content Roadmap

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Techland is continuing to release Dying Light 2 content as part of its long-term support. This is surprising since the meaty Good Night, Good Luck update was released a few months ago. It’s nice to know what’s coming, but no timeline was given.

IGN-exclusive roadmap trailers reveal more co-op missions, board quests, a tower raid, and replayable GRE anomalies. Executions and finishers may be added to the April Gut Feeling update, which overhauled melee mechanics. Graphical options, weapon repair, gear, and mod dismantling are always welcome.

Knives, polearms, and more enemy variants are coming, including a Nightmare difficulty. Changes to NG+ include firearms. Players can finally dress to their hearts’ content with new cosmetic options.

Has Techland’s Dying Light 2 support lured you back? Would you rather focus on something new?

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Epic to Globalize V-Buck Price Hike

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Epic Games expanded the Fortnite V-Buck “pricing alignment” after laying off almost 900 employees, citing “inflation and currency fluctuations”. Fortnite’s premium currency will rise in international markets, including the largest.

Epic Games will raise the price of V-Bucks and real money content packs in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eurozone countries, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the US (including all US Dollar storefronts) on October 27.

Raising the price of this fictitious currency was successful when the company trialed it in the UK, Canada, and Mexico, so it was decided to announce it worldwide now. These USD increases range from $1 (1000 V-Bucks, previous $7.99) to $10 (13,500 V-Bucks, previous $79.99).

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How do you view Epic’s timing and pricing increase?

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