Orcs, Elves and the LAPD Square Off in New Bright Trailer

A few days ago, Netflix stock hit an all-time high, showing just how massive and powerful the company is. Movies like Bright are one of the reasons why Netflix just can’t be stopped. They’ve got the money (they’re expected to spend $6 billion this year alone on original content) and the freedom to green-light whatever they think is interesting.

And damn, Bright sure is interesting.

The basic premise is that Will Smith plays an LAPD officer named Scott Ward. But this isn’t our world’s L.A. For you see, Smith’s police partner, played by an utterly unrecognizable Joel Edgerton, is an orc. Not like he’s really ugly or has strange eating habits—the dude is literally an orc, like you’d find in Warcraft or out of a Tolkien novel. In fact, the entire world is similar to modern-day America, but with the crucial addition of all sorts of mythical creatures like elves, fairies and the aforementioned orcs. It’s a strange, twisted idea that sounds stupid on paper but—at least from this trailer—looks absolutely thrilling.

Bright’s director David Ayer has had a somewhat up and down career over the years, scaling the glorious heights of End of Watch and Fury and plumbing the bitter, sewage-filled depths of Suicide Squad and everything in between. Thankfully, this film looks like more of the former.

The trailer depicts a gritty but fantastical world, and a film that appears to be heading for a hard-R rating (or at least a TV-MA). Throats are slit, machine guns are fired in slow motion and fairies are beaten to death with a broom. Throughout it all, there’s clearly a humorous, buddy cop relationship that will likely be the beating heart of the film, a la End of Watch. Again, if Bright is anything like Ayer’s former foray into the world of police, this movie could be a real delight, albeit a delight filled with extreme gore and visceral shootouts.

If Netflix can pull this off, there’ll be no stopping them. Look for the film to hit the small screen on Dec. 22, check out the trailer above, and then read about why Bright and Netflix in general piss Christopher Nolan off so much here.