Will Smith Returns to Sci-Fi with ‘Brilliance’

September 6, 2019 Brandon Marcus

Will Smith and science fiction go together like America and apple pie. They just have always fit well. But Smith hasn’t been in a good science fiction movie in quite some time, instead opting for trash like Bright. But now it sounds like he’s aiming to star in something a bit more heady and smart.

Deadline is saying that Smith will star in Briliance, a new movie that will have him re-teaming with writer/producer Akiva Goldsman. The movie will be based on the series of novels by Marcus Sakey and, honestly, sound pretty boiler-plate science fiction to me. Give it a read and tell me if this sounds generic to you too.

The premise: If 1% of the world’s children were born with powerful gifts, how would society adapt to them? The Brilliance novel trilogy is set in a future where non-neurotypical people — demonized by society as “twists” or “abnorms” — are threatening the status quo of the “normal” population with their unique gifts. They are officially labeled as “Brilliants” and are carefully tracked by the government. Smith will play the book series hero Nick Cooper, a federal agent who works for the Department of Analysis and Response. His job is to track down and terminate criminal abnorms who use their gifts for ill. The agent is himself an abnorm, with a gift for predictive analysis that allows him to see what will happen before it happens and react preemptively. He is also the father of a Brilliant daughter. As he infiltrates a radical group of Brilliants who plan to incite a civil war, he uses his own gifts against his Brilliant enemies, like an assassin who perceives time faster than his opponents. When Cooper is ordered to hunt down John Smith — the country’s most elusive and most dangerous abnorm — everything Cooper believes in will be called into question.

Maybe it’s just me but the premise and Smith’s character just feels very been-there-done-that. Smith’s role specifically reminds me of his work in I, Robot or Bright. He’s a no-nonsense working man whose life is thrown upside down when he comes into contact with a sci-fi character who changes the way he sees things. It’s not a BAD character, it just feels very tired to me. The plot does as well, to be honest. How many times will we see movies about children who harbor secret, special powers? And how many times will the people tasked with bringing them in begin to care for them and end up bucking the system in favor of saving them? Damn, I could write these things myself.

I think my biggest problem with Brilliance is that it sounds like another film that will make Will Smith seem super-serious and dour, at least in the beginning. I think Smith is a talented actor and definitely shouldn’t be relegated to ONLY making comedies. At the same time, he has been repeatedly cast in pictures that make him seem like no fun. We want some Will Smith charisma and some of the charm and personality. We don’t need him constantly cracking jokes and spouting one-liners but I don’t know how many more movies I can take where Will Smith pouts and gradually has a change of heart because of a supporting character.

Regardless, Briliance sounds like it could be the beginning of a new Hollywood franchise. Indeed, the source material is now a series of books so Goldsman and Smith could create a few follow-ups if audiences show up. Fifteen years ago, I would guarantee that this would spawn a few sequels based on Smith’s star power alone. Now I’m not so sure…