This year and next year are big years for Netflix. The streaming service already made a successful foray into the world of television with shows like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Daredevil. Since then, it’s gone on to be one of the most respected names in the medium.

However, this year, they really doubled down on their film slate, bringing in around 50 original films. Next year, they will be raising that number up to 80, and even more impressively, they plan on raising the bar with films that encroach a $100 million budget. Their first stab at that comes in the form of the $90 million David Ayer-directed film, Bright, which stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton.

The film hits Netflix tomorrow, and the first reviews for the film have come in. So how does this home blockbuster hold up? According to the first reviews, not too well. As of right now, it’s hovering at 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and despite their only being around 18 reviews, it looks like there is a consensus that this isn’t a strong film.

Check out some excerpts from the film below!

Forbes – Scott Mendelson

“Congratulations, Netflix! You can make a visually grotesque, dreadfully dull and hopelessly convoluted would-be franchise action movie just as well as the stereotypical Hollywood machine! If anything, Bright is a giant Christmas/Hanukah gift from Netflix to the major studios. It shows the streaming giant falling on its face in its attempts to replicate the so-called Hollywood blockbuster. This mishmash of David Ayer’s greatest hits, with a dash of Zootopia thrown in for good measure, makes me wonder if I was too hard over Warner Bros. and DC’s re-cutting of Ayer’s Suicide Squad.”

TheWrap – Todd Gilchrist

“If this new Netflix production exemplifies Ayer’s creativity unfettered by major-studio interference, I’ll take a lousy DC movie over… whatever this is any day of the week. Astoundingly bad in virtually every way, Bright shares in common several of the shortcomings of Ayer’s previous film, including conspicuous evidence of desperate efforts to cobble its under-explained and yet somehow overcomplicated mythology into something coherent. It also snipes at the heels of sci-fi movies and miniseries like V and Alien Nation that explored race relations better literally decades ago.”

Collider – Vinnie Mancuso

“At first glance, it seems admirable to tell a parable of sorts about modern day class structure using orcs as a stand-in for the downtrodden and discriminated against. You see exactly the points Landis is trying to make. But over the course of Bright’s runtime it becomes uncomfortably clear that by using orcs as a surrogate for oppressed minorities you end up erasing actual oppressed minorities from the story. It quickly transitions from “Oh, I see what you’re doing” to “Maybe you should not have done this.”

In the end, it’s probably a blessing for Bright that it ended up on Netflix, where it can sit in a queue for as long as the audience wants. It’s the opposite of must-see. It’s a collection of admittedly impressive action sequences (like, $90 million impressive) trying to be so much more. Barring a certain Centaur Cop spin-off, Bright mostly deserves to be dimmed.”

IGN – David Griffin

“Bright could have been something truly special if it had slowed down the pace of its narrative to allow for a fuller exploration of its engaging world. Will Smith and Joel Edgerton are a compelling duo I’d love to see again in a sequel, or even a new series produced by Netflix, so hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll see of the world of Bright.”

Variety – Peter Debruge

“Bright is the best Netflix original movie to date, and it absolutely deserves to be seen on the big screen, though don’t let that stop you from watching it home, as End of Watch director David Ayer’s welcome return to the cop-movie genre — following a disastrous wrong turn into Suicide Squad territory, of which we will say no more — fills an intense, grown-up movie niche that Hollywood once did so well, but has since replaced with formula-driven product.”

So there you have it. When all said and done, these reviews seem to criticize both the script by Max Landis, and the overall direction from David Ayer. Of course, not everyone hated the film, and some do seem to appreciate the unique points the film brings to the industry. But will it be enough to justify the weaker aspects of the film? That remains to be seen.

Are you excited to see Bright on Netflix? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Various