Brightburn | Film Review

Stop me if you’ve heard this pitch: a warm and loving couple, struggling to conceive, are one day blessed with an alien baby after his ship crashes in the woods near their rural Kansas farm. The couple decides to raise the child as their own, injecting their cultured and kind ways into the child’s DNA, only to realize – once he reaches puberty – that this young boy is special in more ways than where he comes from. He also possesses superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and shoots deadly lasers from his eyes. But what if, as is the case in Brightburn, these lessons in nobility were futile. What if this child was inherently evil?

The Brothers Gunn (writers Brian and Mark, along with producer James) arrive to offer us a glimpse into the upside-down, a novel take of opposites on the Superman mythos and Chosen One archetype. When Tori and Kyle Breyer (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) take the child into their Brightburn, Kansas home, their hearts are in the right place. By all accounts, Brandon (Jackson Dunn) is a delightful and intelligent child with outwardly normal appearances. Then, as his 12th birthday looms on the horizon, circumstances change.

Brandon continues to suffer from nightmares, driving him closer to the secret of his origins, which Tori and Kyle have erroneously chosen to bury a few hundred yards away in their barn. An ominous red glow permeates the area, voices begin ringing in Brandon’s ears, increased sensibilities and strength emerge, and a new calling arrives. Protecting his secret, while simultaneously flaunting it about town under the cover of darkness, Tori’s special boy briskly slips on his homemade mask and embraces mass murder. And as Brandon evolves into the Superman version of an infinitely creepier Jason Voorhees, it becomes readily apparent that he does not intend to do good works. His intentions are far more sinister and nefarious than our misplaced optimism.

Based on the trailers, Brightburn appeared to be more of a Bad Seed-type situation; a disturbed child discovers he has superpowers and threatens mankind. Akin to if Jeffrey Dahmer woke up to realize he was suddenly Green Lantern. Instead, the Gunns elected to keep Brandon relatively sweet and kind until his calling essentially dominates his psyche immediately after discovery. It’s a jarring tonal change in the character, and a firm misstep in the narrative as it becomes increasingly difficult to decipher if Brandon is actually choosing to do these horrific things – and make no mistake, Brandon mutilates in grotesquely despicable ways – or if he is being overtaken by an alien force.

Dunn plays menace with aplomb, and only grows more enraging as Brandon amps up his viciousness, but that sudden switch in character feels needlessly accelerated. Elizabeth Banks’ strong portrayal of a mother willing to forgive the unforgiveable due to her maternal bond nicely complements Dunn’s drastic actions as we barrel towards the destructive conclusion, alleviating the frustration with how quickly Brandon’s downfall transpires. Despite that previous misstep, Brightburn ends up an enthralling piece of rabid fan fiction, gleefully fulfilling those darkest of fantasies us geeks have collectively shared ad nauseam for eons.

Who hasn’t dreamed of what would happen if the Superman story were told less glowingly? The world is full of evil souls with the harshest of intentions, and what if – regardless of how warm and fuzzy Mom and Dad raised him – this child became an agent of chaos instead of a champion for humanity? Not everyone believes in doing the right thing, and world domination seems a common goal in comic book lore, so what if an alien species dropped their secret weapon in through the cat door? All of these “what if’s” are placed front-and-center, and should leave audiences with numerous sequel options floating through their heads as they exit the theater.

Brightburn is an absolutely brilliant concept, and one fairly well-executed in director David Yarovesky’s sleek, topsy-turvy horror take on comic book conventions. While the screenplay does take a few too many shortcuts to arrive at the final destination – jet-packing its way through character motivations and side-stepping a few logistical realities (how does Brandon’s Aunt NOT wake up?) – it is ultimately a journey worth taking.

Brandon Breyer in the antithesis to Clark Kent in every way, a serial killer with the greatest powers on Earth at his disposal. Only this time, he fully intends on using them to rule mankind. If only Brandon’s mother had the wherewithal to change her name to Martha just a few years prior.