Almost a great film, but the ending lets it down just a bit.

The concept is brilliant: buddy cop + _Lord of the Rings_ sequel. What you'd expect is a somewhat humorous popcorn action flick. Instead, Bright turns out to be quite dark and deep. It's about racial prejudice, for a start. It's about police corruption. It's about hard choices and trusting people you don't like. And, of course, it's about good versus evil.

The Orcs are a stand-in for just about any oppressed minority. It's a clever bit of allegory, if a bit obvious. Less obvious is the portrayal of the Elves, who turn out to be the arrogant, uber-entitled 0.1-percenters. If you always thought the elves in LOTR were a bit snooty, you'll love this switcheroo.

Will Smith is as good as ever, playing an older and more world-weary version of his character from films like _I Robot_. Joel Edgerton is fine as the Orc, and Noomi Rapace seems to have been born to play an evil Elf.

Unfortunately, after a lot of gritty action superbly directed by Ayer, the ending arrives as a bit of an action-movie cliche. There was so much more meat here, in the characters, in the politics, in the weird magical backdrop. I was hoping for a more character-driven ending, instead of the usual mindless brute-force head-bashing (as superbly exemplified by every DC comix movie of recent years).

Nonetheless, Bright is well worth a watch. It fails in some of its higher aspirations, but reverts to being a very entertaining buddy-cop romp. Which isn't so bad.