★
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?
Classification: 15
A mildly interesting concept on paper that the filmmakers can't do anything with beyond visceral gore and thin commentary on toxic masculinity. Brightburn from David Yarovesky is a warped retelling of the classic Superman origin story where young Brandon Breyer becomes a vindictive murderer as he goes through a bizarre rendition of alien puberty. There's an unbalanced level of ambiguity throughout the story, Brandon's origins and motivations are kept vague but his brutal actions are prominent through the run time. Which makes watching the rest of the cast wondering if there's something wrong with Brandon more tedious as you know in gory detail that their doubt is ridiculous. Despite trying to have the emotional arc be between mother and son, the overall film has nothing substantial to attach itself to make Brightburn the tragic horror it wanted to be.
The most enjoyable part of Brightburn is not the brutal horror but the performances from Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as Brandon's parents, Tori and Kyle. Denman in particular whose internal conflict over his son's true nature had the most potential to make the film interesting as Bank's pure devotion to her son despite our knowledge of his activities starts to become tiresome. The script has logical inconsistencies to explain away Brandon's descent and hopes cutting down the main cast one by one will be enough to make the story interesting. By having puberty and male entitlement be the running motifs for Brandon's anger and motivation without any real narrative comeuppance or regret makes the character abhorrent.
In terms of horror, Brightburn does take the Superman power set and uses it to bring the violence. While not exploitative, Yarovesky doesn't let the film hold back with the super strength, laser beams and flight. The special effects can leave something to be desired but the overall experience shows the main concern in executing Brightburn's premise was provocative murder instead of compelling emotional family drama. That's why the film falters especially so in the third act because it remains so surface level as a what-if? scenario that doesn't really want to put any work into being more than that. It is impossible to empathise with Brandon's character which in turn makes if difficult to understand Tori's motivations and the whole emotional arc falls flat.
Superman's going evil has been a tried and true Elseworlds tale by far better writers, Brightburn is definitely not one of them. A more ambiguous story focusing around the parents would have served the central ideas a lot better as very little about the film can intrigue its audience. Although Denman gives a strong performance, most of Brightburn does the bare minimum in making an interesting horror film.
Director: #DavidYarovesky
Release Date: June 19th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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