What if Superman came to Earth and decided to be evil
instead of good? That’s the basis for an origin story named BRIGHTBURN that’s
out now on disc. A combination of superhero and horror film that works well is
rare if completely unheard of but writers Brian and Mark Gunn and director
David Yarovesky have pulled it off.
Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman) Breyer are a
couple living in Brightburn, Kansas, having trouble conceiving who truly want a
child of their own. One night their prayers are answered, just not how you
would think. They are blessed with a boy they name Brandon. Raising him over
the years Brandon (Jackson Dunn) has just reached puberty and while most
children change at that age, Brandon changes far more than the average pre-teen.
At night while sleeping Brandon is drawn to the barn and a
locked cellar there. He doesn’t get in but that doesn’t stop his parents
discussing if he found what was there or not. If you haven’t seen the trailers
then stop reading, spoiler alert. It seems that Brandon is not of this Earth.
His parents found him in a small spacecraft and raised him as their own, thus
the comparisons to Superman. But with the exception of powers they pretty much
stop there.
Without telling his parents Brandon begins to notice the
changes in his body. Not the normal thing that all teens go through but an
increase in strength and invulnerability. This is coupled with those normal
teen urges and it isn’t long before Brandon has found his way into the bedroom
window of the girl he’s attracted to. When she rebuts his advances and then
allows him to fall at school, he breaks her hand.
As if that weren’t enough Brandon has more outburst like
this. The more he has the deadlier they become. It reaches the point where even
his father is unsure of what to do. Through it all Tori continues to profess
her love for her son and turns a blind eye to what’s going on. Eventually
though even she will have to admit that things are not right.
The movie works on so many levels that it would be sad if
people only thought of this as either a superhero movie or a horror film. It
combines elements of both but at the same time is a story about a young boy
turning into an adult. Granted the effects that has on him are far different
than most but what if long ago you could do damage to that girl or boy who
spurned you? Most of us would still not do damage. But what if you were
inherently evil?
It is questions like these that transform this movie into
something completely new and different. And while only 90 minutes long the
film’s pacing is fantastic. It provides a few moments to spur your interest
near the beginning but the truly horrific moments are seen until we have an
idea of what’s taking place. Honestly 90 minutes is a perfect amount of time
for this movie. Too often directors choose to lengthen the stories they tell
with padding that drags a movie down. Not so here as the film provides enough
background without being saddled with those extra scenes.
For superhero fans this is something we haven’t seen before.
Not so much an origin story of the hero but one for the villain. It makes you
wonder if a sequel would find another child like Brandon only with the benefits
as opposed to the negative aspects. For horror fans get ready for some amazing
gore effects. One in particular will bring back memories of the film ZOMBIE
involving and eye. Another is, well, jaw dropping. You’ll get that when you
watch.
There isn’t a bad performance here and that helps things
tremendously. While Banks and Denman are solid here it is the performance of
Dunn that could make or break a film like this. Thankfully he does a wonderful
job bringing the outcast pre-teen to life as well as the villain we feel a sort
of sympathy for later on. Not bad for someone so young.
I didn’t see this in the theater but at home. I wish I’d
gone now to see it there now. I can imagine the scenes and sequences that would
have elicited screams, groans and moments when some would have possibly gotten
ill. But maybe audiences aren’t quite that shocked any longer. In any event
this one surprised me as being better than I expected. What more could one ask
from a movie?
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