Brightburn

Yeah, it's a rehash of an old idea, namely amounting to the equivalent of satanic Superman. That said, it was a fun watch with a darker, unofficial reimagining of a benevolent superhero into a demonic boy with superpowers. Quite entertaining if you like horror films that don't take themselves too seriously.

This movie could have been amazing, but it just falls short. Spoiler ahead, so don't read if you plan on watching. Basically this movie could have been completely saved if they had just redone the 3rd act. Nobody wanted to see that little f***er get away. Nobody wanted his parents to die. Why spend so much time making him so hate-able, to not give any kind of payoff whatsoever? Not only that, why build up the back story of his 'Kryptonite' if nobody gets a chance to use it against him? This is basic story telling, why do so many screenwriters fail to see the obvious when it will work in their favor? On the plus side, it had some pretty suspenseful moments, and all the acting was great by everyone. The death scenes were surprisingly gory, much more than your average film like this.

A great premise that is essentially this. Imagine the Superman origin story; an alien child left on earth. Only instead of little Kal-el being a good guy, he's a psychopath akin to the girl in "The Bad Seed." Add in a reasonably talented production team. Then, screw it up with a dumb script so lazily written that it should be embarrassing that the great James Gunn is associated with it. Stupid characters (with a disappointing performance by Ms. Banks) and an ending that simply shows how little talent or effort went into the script. Add to that a lot of gore and it's both literally and figuratively a mess. Stay away.

Competently written and acted, Brightburn is a horror film that turns the Superman story on its head by assuming that Jor-el was bad like Zod, and then relayed that to his son. The story is told fairly well, but this is a miss for me since: 1) I don't care for horror films, and there is far too much creeping around in the dark, 2) I appreciate the short run time, but I don't think they give the kid enough time to 'turn bad', and 3) I didn't care for the subversion of Superman, who aside from all his strength, stands out for his boy scout optimism. Additionally, the kid actor was decent, but a bit wooden (because he is a psychopath?). I don't know if that was by design or not.

Brightburn's horrific turn on the Superman mythos lacks motivation, suggesting a crudely xenophobic take on an old American fable about immigration.

Other than the obvious fact that the movie was trying to set up for a sequel I'm a fan of the reality that nobody could realistically stop Brandon from terrorizing Brightburn, I walked into the movie expecting Brandon to waltz through everything and everyone in his path, and he didn't disappoint. I just hope he doesn't get toned down in the eventual sequel.

For the most part, the superhero-horror genre combo works. I do think it might have been more effective going with one genre or the other with the same premise of a kid who is different turning bad. The “what if” idea that a supernatural being doesn’t use his abilities for good was very intriguing. We can be thankful Superman learned to counter his anger and frustration with responsibility rather than cruelty. Some wonky dialogue and rushed points hold it back from being great, but overall a solid film with a unique premise

Pointless. If you've seen the Twilight Zone shows where the boy makes anyone he doesn't like disappear then you've seen this movie. At least it had a point as a Twilight Zone episode. Here it's just a waste of time.

This is a unique look at the Superman origin story from the alternative narrative based upon the premise that Superman came to Earth as a baby and developed aggressive tendencies when hit hit puberty. It raises some interesting questions about how a parent would deal with a modest teenager if that teenager had extra powers and was filled with aggression. This is pretty good. It descends into a violent thriller. The acting is good, especially on the boy's part. The premises is unique. The Directing and Cinematography are good. In a strange way you feel like this is the more likely truth if an alien kid came here as a baby and was trying to figure out his coming of age. This becomes pretty gruesome at parts.

Interesting. This Story would, in Theory, be a far more likely trajectory than Superman's trajectory could ever be. An omnipotent being with the mind of a 12 year old. This can only end in disaster. When is part 2 coming? Where's Batman when you need him? *laughs*