David Ayer has enjoyed a remarkable career, but one movie remains a challenging aspect of his legacy. The director began his career as a writer for the submarine movie U-571 (2000), and he quickly found his way to multiple popular productions. He wrote for The Fast and the Furious (2001), Training Day (2001), and S.W.A.T. (2003), earning success for each release. Eventually, he attracted attention and earned a role as the director of Harsh Times (2005). The extremely small-scale production had a $2 million budget and easily earned success with its $6 million box office total.

Having proven himself, Ayer went on to be a Hollywood regular. He directed 2014’s Fury, 2016’s Suicide Squad for the DC Extended Universe, and 2024’s The Beekeeper. While Suicide Squad failed to entertain critics, it was his biggest success, earning $749 million on a budget of $175 million. It proved that he could handle big-budget releases, even if these franchise movies might not wholly satisfy audiences. In 2017, however, Ayer directed a critically panned Netflix movie.

Ayer Is Still Defending Bright

Bright Was A Critical Disaster

Ayer’s Bright could have easily been a success. The project attracted Will Smith (Men in Black) and Joel Edgerton (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) as its leading men. The two would play police officers in a world of magical creatures in a modern urban environment. Smith played a traditional cop, while Edgerton took the role of the first Orc officer. With a budget of over $90 million, the movie was eventually released on Netflix, where it was attacked by critics. Bright‘s poor reviews meant a 26% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes.

To this day, however, Ayer continues to defend the project. Calling it a “big swing“, Ayer took to X/Twitter to explain that the movie still did “work for a lot of people“. His comments came in response to a now-deleted post that criticized his release. Check out his post below:

While Bright is not one of Will Smith’s best movies, Ayer still praised his performance and that of the rest of the cast. Ayer believes that the world-building was the most difficult aspect that led to its critical disappointment, though he personally prefers worlds that are more “grounded” in reality.

Our Take On Bright’s Legacy

The Movie Remains Divisive

While Bright suffered a thrashing from critics, it did earn praise from audiences. It brought in an 83% Popcornmeter score with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5. That is genuinely impressive. While the professional reviewers bashed its lack of imagination or uniqueness, the general audience enjoyed Smith’s dynamic with Edgerton. The action scenes, too, earned notable praise. While none pretend that the movie is an Academy Award nominee, they still enjoyed it. Ayer is completely correct that it worked for many viewers and continues to even today.

Source: David Ayer (X/Twitter)