BRIGHTBURN

Brightburn Movie Review

After something mysterios crashes to Earth, a farming couple (Elizabeth Banks, Slither and David Denman, The Office) find a baby boy. They raise the child, but as he grows older, it is clear this alien in human form has incredible powers. No, I didn't just accidentally summarize Superman--this 2019 film takes that basic storyline and twists it a bit, essentially asking the question "What if Superman turned out evil?" The child, Brandon Beyer (Jackson A, Dunn), snaps after being picked on at school, and unleashes his fury on...everybody, as he follows voices telling him "Take the world". Side note--if you ever wondered what Tobin Bell of Saw fame looked like as a child, Dunn may just be the answer.

He wants to play a game

Dunn is actually not too bad in this movie--he is a believable kid who has just enough natural creepiness to pull this character off. When it comes to creepy kids, I think, as a general statement, girls are much better in the roles, but, keeping in mind the Superman angle, that would't have worked here. Banks, who is much more known for her comedic abilities, is also strong as the Brandon's mom--Denman less so as the father. This film is also much gorier than I expected--the gruesomeness of Noah's (Matt Jones, Badger from Breaking Bad) truck accident is nothing short of jaw-dropping. You kind of wish the mayhem would have happened a bit earlier, but one can assume this movie was used in part to set the groundwork for future films--the ending would support this theory, though no such films have been announced at this time (its lack of success at the box office may contribute to this). I can't say this with complete certainty, but I would imagine being a fan of, or at least familiar with, the Superman story will help your appreciation of this movie, and those who write this off as some sort of rip-off of that story are missing the point. Brightburn isn't a phenomenal film, but it is a bit scary, and somewhat better than I expected it to be. 

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Brightburn Movie Trailer