Review

Brightburn is essentially a horror twist on the origin story of Superman. Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman) are unable to conceive children but one day a meteor falls from the sky containing a baby. The couple adopts the baby naming him Brandon and years later Brandon decides to make some horrific choices discovering that he has supernatural abilities.

I really enjoyed the way that the movie started. The main character’s struggle to get pregnant is relatable to several people. I have known people that want children but due to medical reasons, they can’t. This causes the audience to feel sympathy for these parents.

Unfortunately, a big bag of horror cliches is what truly falls from that sky because as soon as we see Brandon, or Brightburn, start making use of his powers this movie becomes awful rather quickly. Brandon causes a series of terrible events without a motive that is satisfying. He’s a teenage kid acting out and that’s really fun to watch for so long. Thus, after the intriguing setup is finished, we are forced to watch an unlikeable main antagonist cause havoc. I think this movie would have been more emotional and complex if there was a better motive or reasoning for Brandon’s actions

There’s two very unique disturbing scenes, one involving a piece of glass and an eye and another scene that graphically shows the outcome of a crazy car incident on one of the character’s mouth. The cosmetic work in this scene was grippingly grotesque and it should satisfy horror fans who are looking for something unique. Unfortunately, outside of those two scenes, the rest of the horror comes from cheap repetitive jump scares.

Several character choices feel fake. There’s a character who gets Brandon, whose 14, a hunting gun without even asking his parents. I can’t fathom who would think that’s okay. There’s a girl in Brandon’s class that acts incredibly awkward and her performance is very forced. Tori, the wife character, doesn’t believe her husband Kyle at one point when he is trying to explain to her something really weird that he experienced. All of these little details causes the story to not be taken too seriously.

Brightburn has an interesting sounding premise but the mostly all cheap jump scares and fake character choices prevent the little substance from being taken seriously.