Brightburn (2019)

Bad Superman

What if superman was a bad guy? That's the premise Brightburn is built upon.

To my mind its a more mature concept than the traditional good guy Superman. It makes sense on a certain level too. A superior being would inevitably assert its superiority over lesser beings. That's how evolution and predator/prey relationships tend to work.

Whether you agree with my Darwinian assumptions or not, this is a decent horror sci fi film. There's a sense of the comfortable and familiar family dynamic being turned on its head. The innocent, much loved, adopted son, transformed into something so overwhelming powerful and ruthlessly destructive, that even his parents come to fear him.

Its the abrupt contrast between these two realities, that makes this film genuinely unnerving.Helped in no small part by a clever climax, that underlines the fall from grace humanity faces, at the hands of this alien other.

A decent watch I rate 7/10.

Greatful film with good special effects, interesting story and cool cast. Superman vision of horror became best anti-superhero movie I have ever seen.

But the movie has one big problem. There is no Sergey A. at the lead role. I think, that Sergey could be good lead character of this film.

Great concept, very gory, just did not live up to the hype.

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Brightburn is one of those few movies throughout the year that can grab everyone’s attention solely due to its premise. In a world where the superhero genre is oversaturated with almost a comic-book-based film each month, the Gunn family delivers an unique concept that I don’t think it was ever explored this way. “What if Superman was evil?” is an idea that can be developed through so many different ways, depending on the director and screenwriters’ approach. David Yarovesky clearly drew inspiration from Zack Snyder’s version (Man of Steel), and that’s where the movie is best: in exploring the vast and interesting possibilities that a screenplay like this can pursue.

Usually, when someone writes something along the lines of “it felt like two movies”, it’s not a good sign. Brightburn is a dark, mysterious and suspenseful film during the first half, but then it pretty much transforms itself into a horror-slasher flick, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I firmly believe that no audience member (and I would even dare write critics as well) will leave the theater completely satisfied or entirely disappointed. If you expected the Gunn family to delve deep into Superman’s mythology and explore some twisty paths, they do rely on classic scenes to show how it all could have been if “Clark Kent” wasn’t a nice boy.

If you were expecting a movie closer to the horror genre, the last half of the film offers some good sequences. However, that’s when the movie loses what made me go watch it in the first place. It’s a very short film and it ends in a way that leaves me wanting more. The big problem here is that it’s likely not going to get a sequel, and it could have easily added extra 20-30 minutes to deliver a more fulfilled story.

Production-wise, having in mind its low budget, it looks remarkably great. Some good moments of gorgeous cinematography, and beautiful wide shots. The jump scare sequences of the second half aren’t nearly as effective as they could be, but at least the editing throughout the entire runtime is seamless. With a few more creative and entertaining scenes, Brightburn could have been a lot more menacing and scarier. I only remembered it was R-rated once the first bloody and quite violent moment occurs, and these specific moments are definitely eye-opening, gruesome and horrifying, even though it gets too over-the-top a couple of times.

Elizabeth Banks (Tori Breyer) delivers a notable performance, as well as David Denman (Kyle Breyer). Their characters have a compelling backstory, and they actually have a well-developed script. They don’t make dumb or irrational decisions, like the generic horror characters that we all recognize. Jackson A. Dunn (Brandon) is pretty good as the evil Superman, even if his performance ends up being too monotonous for me. Looking at the overall feedback from both critics and audience, this seems to be part of those rare films each year which I enjoy a bit more than most people.

All in all, Brightburn doesn’t take off powerfully like Superman, but it’s still able to fly for a bit. With good performances, remarkable production design, and an adequate use of its R-rating, the Gunn family delivers an incredibly captivating concept which is explored through an interesting yet unfulfilling screenplay. The second half turns the movie into a pure slasher flick, which might positively affect some viewers, but for me it took away what was really entertaining. The ending is just a taste of what the film could have been and it’s disappointing that it doesn’t explore its fantastic idea more in-depth, but the final feeling about the movie isn’t too bad either.

Rating: B

Given that the premise of the movie is pretty much entirely "What if Superman was a dick?" (something that has already been explored pretty thoroughly by DC themselves) I did not expect so much of the focus of the film to be taken up by the family dynamix inherent in the difficulties of parenting.

A pretty mismarketed movie I think. Presented in trailers initially to be a sort of a twist on the superhero genre, and as we got closer to the release of the film, to be a Scary Supes movie, who _Brightburn_ should really be targetting is gorehounds, because it's their avenue in which it most excels.

Neat sting at the credits though.

_Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._