Rent Brightburn (2019)

"What is this? Where did I come from?" - Brightburn review by dtower

The idea behind this is a good one - what if Clark Kent came to earth and became evil? The execution, however, is abysmal.

We are introduced to two people who are having trouble conceiving. Within seconds a spaceship comes down to earth. Then we are shown seconds of home video footage of the boy growing up. Then the spaceship turns on and begins whispering to the boy and he is suddenly evil. He begins hurting people, killing people... This is all in the first 30 minutes. While watching it I had to check to see how much of the film was left because I had no idea where it had left to go, and it doesn’t go anywhere; the whole film is him killing people with no repercussions.

So much vital stuff that would've given the film a beating heart is discarded. We are never shown how the parents had trouble conceiving, how overjoyed or conflicted they were about finding a boy in the woods. We are never shown how the boy is before he turns evil, and after he turns, we never see the boy trying to grasp what is happening to him. We barely spend any time with any of the characters before bad things start happening and, because of this, we hardly care about any of them or what happens to them. The film is devoid of any stakes which is unforgivable.

There are also too many points of view. We see things from the parents’ point of view, then the boy's, then the uncle’s, then the sheriff’s, then an aunt, then an uncle, then a… We see it all so while all the characters wander around confused, we the audience have to patiently wait for them to catch up. But what it also does is kill any tension. It’s like no one has bothered to think that perhaps what happens off screen is more unnerving, that what's out of sight is more terrifying. It would’ve been far more effective if we’d seen it from one point of view – perhaps from the parents – so that the film could’ve served as both a supervillain movie as well as a comment on the frustrations and insecurities of being both parents and adoptive parents. But the film doesn’t care about that. It only cares about the killing and the gore.

But this leads me to the overriding feeling I had while watching this – the film is an absolute mess.

Scenes seem to exist in isolation with no bearing on the next scene, so that put together they rest haphazardly on top of one another. In one scene the boy is looking at some chickens, and seconds later the chickens fry and the father automatically assumes it’s his son; then in a later scene the boy begins messing with a guidance counsellor’s intruder lights, then turns up on her doorstep and threatens her and tells her it will be a bad idea if she goes to the police, and then in the next scene she’s texting her husband goodnight and that she’s going to sleep. Then there is a particularly bizarre scene where the boy’s father accuses him of killing a man while the boy is eating cereal, and moments later he’s in his room apologising for being so hard on him. He’s just accused a boy of murder! What the hell is going on? No scene has any impact on the next. It’s like they’ve been put in a box and shook up.

Characters spout plot points at us without trusting us to keep up. They come to outlandish conclusions to move the plot along. The sheriff, up to this point unsure of what’s going on, sees a symbol at two crime scenes and suddenly knows it’s the boy: “BB,” he tells the boy’s mother. “Brandon Breyer.” The boy’s mother, confused, says she doesn’t see it. She’s not the only one. We realise that he must moonlight as a psychic in his spare time. But it also shows that the filmmakers don’t seem to care about any of the characters in this film. They only exist to be moved around so they can be killed off.

It’s a film that shows its hand too early and from then on seems to be anxiously looking for a place to go and a plot to hold on to, while it careens ever faster into confusion. It's a film that you wish would just slow down for a second and take a look around.

Horror show - Brightburn review by HM

A grown up super hero film? Yes, nasty violence too. Unlike Watchmen it is really a horror film, the super hero part is minimal. Creepy and shocking, the main character is a boy from another planet but has serious social issues! An interesting concept: what happens if Superman is an evil dude? You find out.

Good entertainment but be warned, it is a horror movie...

The Omen with superpowers - Brightburn review by Alphaville

What if an alien with superpowers turned out to be a sociopath? Aided by a chilling score, that’s the premise of this tense, thrilling film. Instead of the standard superfisticuffs and cgi flash bangs of the bland Marvel and Avengers franchises, this explores a 12yo extraterrestrial boy’s growing awareness that he’s special and can ‘take the world’. If the film has any genre it’s ‘scary thriller’, with horror overtones, and it really works.

As the boy’s powers grow, so does the danger in which everyone in the small town of Brightburn finds themselves. We know they shouldn’t mess with him, but they don’t know that, which adds to the growing sense of menace when they confront him over bad behaviour. We especially root for his well-drawn parents, who have no idea what they’re letting himself in for when they try to chastise him.

Brightburn is a ‘superhero’ film so refreshing to see that it deserves 4/5 stars both for aspiration and execution. As for the rousing climax… it cries out for a sequel.

Evil Superman - Brightburn review by PC

This is an interesting concept, what would happen if a Superman like being was evil. That idea gives it a fun factor and some of the death scenes are quite entertaining. Unfortunately, that is about it with very little in the way of character development beyond that.

Nice concept, mediocre film - Brightburn review by LC

The idea of an evil Superman playing out as a horror film is a decent one, and a nice twist on the current glut of superhero movies. Unfortunately, something about it just doesn't work in the execution. As seriously as the actors take this, the whole thing just ends up feeling incredibly silly rather than scary, and the plot and characters are so thin it never really develops beyond the initial premise.

Not Bright, Got Burned a Bit - Brightburn review by Strovey

With Nolan and to a lesser extent Znyder making superheroes gritting, realistic, dark, this path was always going to lead to a film like Brightburn. The premise is interesting but not necessarily as new and exciting as it is made out to be with Will Smith starrer Hancock coming to mind and of course M. Night Shyamalan’s trio of weirdness too, alongside Chronicle and that’s the obvious comparisons.

Like Shyamalan’s superhero reinventing this film has a nasty streak, a meanness to it that has no redeeming feature. It seems to me to be unpleasant for unpleasantness' sake. Unlike Superman who saves random strangers out of the blue, Brightburn is the opposite but graphically and for no reason other than not getting his own way.

Herein lies the problem for me and perhaps other viewers. He’s truly horrible which in itself is no problem but horrible in a nasty pointless way. The anti-superhero here appears to have no motivation for his acts, particularly in the closing credits and is plan horrible. Being apparently indestructible and having many superpowers he, very much like heroes who wear ‘script-armour’ cannot be defeated and can do as he likes. So the whole story is pinned on you worrying about the fate of those around him – a clue for you is in real life you would stand no chance – and knowing that this spoilt brat has powers than cannot be defended against.

Whilst building up to the final acts you start to realise that the whole movie becomes pointless, you know who is going to come out on top even though there appears to be no point or reason for the cruelty on display. So, in the end, it is hard to care what happens.

If deconstruction of the superhero story is what was aimed for here I’m not sure the James Gunn’s brothers achieved what they wanted. The darkness is too dark, the horror is too horrible and really the film has no sense of humour and no reason for the events unfolding. Which, frankly, in this type of film you need

The cinematography is annoyingly dark and murky in places, with scenes taking place at night and seemingly filmed at night without lighting.

Overall Brightburn is competently made film with the kernel of an interesting idea at its centre but the makers fumbled it, filling it with grubby unpleasantness that could have done with a bit of a light touch at some time. Even some of the worst horror-films still recognise the need for a light touch.

Brightburn is an idea that needs exploring but perhaps not in this style.

Silly and Disappointing - Brightburn review by GI

A schlock horror film that is a sort of Superman / Damien (from The Omen) hybrid, a good idea but ultimately all rather silly. The basic story is a subversion of the Superman one where a strange object crash lands in Kansas, inside is a baby boy who is taken in by wannabe parents (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) but who grows up to be something special and, in this case, something nasty. In the final analysis it's a creepy kid narrative with some gruesome murders and a story arc that starts off with promise but soon becomes ridiculous especially in the way the adult characters are written. Their reactions defy belief and, if you're like me, you'll occasionally groan at some of the daft decisions they make. A disappontment and if we're to have a sub genre that deliberately sets out to subvert and challenge the superhero genre then more thought needs putting in.