Brightburn review – an entertaining but simplistic supervillain origin story

Brightburn begins with a bookcase. As we linger on a shot of pregnancy manuals and infertility guides, the message is clear: this movie isn’t wasting any time. Coming in at a lean 90 minutes, including credits, there’s no room for nuance or subtlety. In under two minutes, in fact, we’ve learnt that Tori Breyer (Elizabeth Banks) and her husband Kyle (David Denman), unable to get pregnant, found a baby in the woods one night after a meteorite crash, called him Brandon, and opted to raise the child as their own. What follows is twelve years of domestic bliss on their Kansas farm. Then Brandon hits puberty.

If some of this sounds familiar, it’s supposed to. Brightburn is essentially the Superman origin story, except director David Yarovesky, working from a script from Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, has set out to explore what happens when Clark Kent decides that good values and patriotism aren’t really his thing. Less Smallville and more We Need to Talk About Kevin, Brightburn – produced by Guardian of the Galaxy‘s James Gunn – is a superhero/horror fusion that mostly works as an entertaining diversion to Marvel and DC’s output, though it’s a little too reliant on jump scares and formula to make a lasting impression.

There’s still fun to be had. As Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) begins to realise his own strength and clashes with his parents, teachers, and peers, we’re treated to some great set-pieces. One involves the spinning blades of a busted lawnmower; another details a gym class team-building exercise gone very wrong. Later, as Brandon indulges his inner supervillain (he’s all super speed, flight, and laser vision), the violence is rendered in surprising detail. The sort of blood-splattering, bone-crunching gore usually missing from superhero films is very much on display here, affirming Brightburn‘s allegiance to B-movie horror.

And yet with such an interesting premise it’s hard to escape the feeling that the filmmakers could have delved deeper. In a bid to streamline the narrative, the script swerves important questions (like why are Tori and Kyle so chill about having an alien for a son?) and glazes over details to keep things chugging along. If Brightburn feels refreshing in its lack of Marvel-like self-awareness, it also feels starved of both innovation and something to say.

What we’re left with is a straightforward horror yarn made compelling largely due to Banks and Denham’s affable performances and a finale that – after a relatively slow middle act – delivers the fireworks most people will head to the theatre expecting. A smarter, more probing script would have devoted more time to Brandon’s transformation, though, outlining his evolution from perfect son to super-powered mass murderer. Given the loving and selfless nature of his parents, the only explanation the film seems to offer up for his turn to the dark side is: “Because.”

★★★☆☆

By: Tom Barnard

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