Brightburn

This is an interesting idea that I wish they had done more with.

Despite its simplicity, Brightburn's premise is filled with potential, but it struggles to find anything meaningful to say.

The conceit works brilliantly until, in the closing 20 minutes, it clatters disappointingly into a fatal uncertainty.

As an antihero with an oedipal complex, neither Brandon nor Dunn is sufficiently creepy or conflicted to launch a new franchise.

This is primarily a character study, about that thin line between heroism and horror.

Because the film that this broadside of brass describes is ultimately, seriously, "Duuuumb!"

Episode 38: Brightburn / The Perfection / Rocketman

Ultimately a good idea that goes nowhere, and by the end of it, you won't care either way.

This is not like any film I've seen before which I really liked. It had a great mix of... this weird new superhero sci-fi thing we're going through and then just brutal horror.

While the story creates an interesting question of connection and adoption, it fails to be anything more than a set up for a sequel.