‘Brightburn’ (2019) Review

This review contains spoilers for Brightburn.

So I really liked Brightburn. It’s a good horror movie that does some interesting stuff with the slasher and superhero genres.

This is one of the few times where the slasher is also the protagonist, and it makes for a more emotional experience than most of its contemporaries. Brandon Breyer (evil Superman) works really well. He starts off as this sweet, introverted, and relatively normal kid. He has a good relationship with his parents, mainly his mom, and he does well at school. Some kids make fun of him occasionally, but he’s not relentlessly bullied. Then, he starts developing his powers, and that’s when things change.

When he discovers his alien origin, we see the change in him. Brandon starts to believe that he’s superior, and violently lashes out at people who stop him from getting what he wants. For example, when the girl he very creepily shows affection for says her mom won’t let her talk to him, he retaliates. Brandon torments and murders her when she’s getting off from work at a diner. Jackson A. Dunn does a fantastic job showing this change in subtle ways. It’s interesting to see a slasher movie make us feel this sympathetic for the killer, and I kind of loved it. It’s like an expansion on Jason Voorhees, maternal connection and all.

This movie also follows the structure of a superhero origin up until the reveal of his origin. It honestly feels like Man of Steel. There’s a lot of shots and musical cues that are reminiscent of Zack Snyder’s interpretation of Superman. Other than that and the obvious stuff (the red cape, the powers, etc.), there aren’t many winks and nods outside of the setup. The film is using the setup of “what if Superman but evil” to tell its own story, which I greatly appreciate. It allows us to really feel for the characters and wallow in the tragedy inherent to the concept. I know that the people involved have said otherwise, but this is very much a supervillain origin movie, and it’s a damn good one.

Up until the credits, where Michael Rooker plays an Alex Jones parody and screams about how this thing is evil and that there’s a fish-monster-man and an evil lady who kills people with ropes and that they’re all gonna kill us blah blah blah. Man, I was so on board with the movie’s serious tone too until this point. I love you Michael Rooker, and I get that James Gunn’s your friend and produced this, but get out of this movie man.

*Sigh*

…

I kind of wanna see an evil Justice League movie though…

Finally, the Crime Syndicate movie we all want and need.

Anyways yeah, if you have any interest in superheroes and/or horror, I highly recommend it. Even if you don’t like it as much as I did, I think it’ll make you think about these genres and how they work, or don’t work, together.