Movie Review: Brightburn

Brightburn *** / *****

Directed by: David Yarovesky.

Written by: Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn.   

Starring: Elizabeth Banks (Tori Breyer), David Denman (Kyle Breyer), Jackson A. Dunn (Brandon Breyer), Abraham Clinkscales (Royce), Christian Finlayson (Fauxhawk), Jennifer Holland (Ms. Espenschied), Emmie Hunter (Caitlyn), Matt Jones (Noah McNichol), Meredith Hagner (Merilee McNichol), Becky Wahlstrom (Erica), Gregory Alan Williams (Sheriff Deever), Elizabeth Becka (Principal Susko), Annie Humphrey (Deputy Aryes), Michael Rooker (The Big T).

 

The premise of Brightburn is a good one, and we are at the right time in our superhero obsessed culture for a movie of this nature. The basic premise is what would happen if Superman crashed to earth and didn’t turn out to be a superhero, but instead turned out to a psychopathic little kid – who when he discovers that he has special powers doesn’t take it seriously and question the proper way to use said powers, but instead decides to revel in that power – and make those who try and stand in his way pay for that. You could make a great movie out of this premise. Brightburn is not, unfortunately, not that movie. It doesn’t do as much with its premise as it could. For much of the first half, it feels like a darker version of the Superman origin story done and then it basically becomes a by-the-numbers horror movie. It is all works fairly well, is fast moving and entertaining. It’s just after you leave, and you realize all the things that this movie could have done and didn’t even attempt to that you are retroactively a little disappointed.

 

The adopted parents in Brightburn are Tori and Kyle Dreyer (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) – a Kansas farm couple, who have stacks of books about fertility, and no kids. And then, of course, something crash lands in their field – inside is a baby boy, who they “adopt” him and name him Brandon. They are honest with him that they adopted him – but not honest about where he came from. Most of the movies takes place just after Brandon’s 12^th birthday, when things start to go wrong. He realizes he has, well, the same basic powers Superman has. He doesn’t use them in smart ways – injuring a girl at school – and from then on, he is basically trying to cover his tracks to get what he wants. And things escalate – quickly.

 

I wish there was more of an acknowledgement that the Kansas that Brandon crashed into is not the same Kansas as Clark Kent crashed into in the 1930s. Clark Kent was raised by good hearted people, and “Truth, Justice and the American Way” won out for him – so he became a hero espousing American values. The MCU version of Captain America went through some of this – this ultimate signal of American values now realizing that it doesn’t mean the same thing as it once did, and feeling like a fish out of water. And it is my understanding that even the Superman comics has acknowledged it – with him saying it’s not enough anymore, and becoming more of a global citizen. It would make a fascinating premise for Brightburn to say that the America of 2019 would not produce a superhero like Superman anymore if he followed American values, but would instead produce the selfish, violent psychopath like Brandon becomes. Yet the movie doesn’t really go that way – it kind of views Brandon has coming to his violence on his own – that this was all an interior struggle, and not much of a struggle at all. It doesn’t take him long when he realizes he has powers to become a creep – sneaking into the bedroom of a girl at school who was nice to him once, and jumping from that to hurting her, and then murder – and on and on. It may have been better to make Brandon a few years older – to see him more as the angry, young white guy with a gun who takes out his frustrations with the world on everyone in a mass shooting – except this time, he has super powers. Superman as an angry incel could have worked. And yet, the movie kind of leaves all of that unexplored, and instead is a fairly by the numbers horror film.

 

As that, it works. And I realize that I have spent most of this review doing something I don’t normally like to do – and that is complaining they didn’t make the movie I wanted to see, instead of critiquing the one they did make. As a film unto itself, it works. It is a fairly straightforward evil kid horror film – where one parent (in this case the father) is suspicious of their child, while the other (Elizabeth Banks) is protective of him, even past the point it becomes clear that she shouldn’t be trusting her own child. Banks is quite good here as the desperate mother, who always wanted a kid, couldn’t have one, and now will hold onto what she has at any cost. It’s better than a recent film like The Prodigy, which is essentially the same story, with different explanations as to why the kid is so evil – but not as much better as you would hope.

 

In short, I think Brightburn has a great premise, but is overall a mediocre movie. An end credits sequence hints at a whole new, darker Justice League operating in the shadows on earth – and it would be interesting to explore that world. It doesn’t look likely – Brightburn didn’t exactly make a lot of money on its opening weekend – but if they ever go expand the universe, I hope they do so with more ambition and thought than this one. This was a fun, forgettable horror film. It could have been so much more.