My Review of "Brightburn"

Brightburn is a movie that came out back in 2019 and I'm surprised as to how it isn't as popular as it should be. Seeing as the Superman franchise is so popular it should have been a shoe in for this movie to make it big because it is basically a retelling of the origin story of Superman but with a big twist. Instead of a good Superman we get an evil Superman, plus the movie is changed to a horror movie.

The movie starts out with a married couple, Tori and Kyle. They're adamant about having a child and they are trying profusely to have one. The problem is that they can't have one. Fortunately, or unfortunately for them there was an incident where their whole house starts shaking and things start falling from the sky. In particular there is a meteor, or spaceship that lands on their farm property and inside it is a baby.

The loving couple adopt the child and raise him as their own. They name the boy Brandon. Through a beautiful montage you can see that the couple raised the child as if he was their own and love him very much, especially Tori. The movie then fast forwards about 10-12 years and Brandon becomes a young man.

As a youth Brandon is very awkward at school but he's incredibly bright. We soon start realizing there's more to Brandon than we thought. There's some sort of beacon that beckons Brandon in the night. He's drawn to the beacon as if he's in some sort of trance. It is trying to communicate to Brandon that he's more than what he thinks he is and the movie really starts to open up.

We soon see odd changes in Brandon and his behavior but of course his loving parents chalk it up to puberty changes and you don't blame them. The thing is his outbreaks start to get worse and worse. He starts hurting people and it gets more horrific. The beauty about this storyline is that Brandon's character acts like what you would expect a 12 year old boy would react if he had special powers.

I love that about this movie. They really push the realism of the character's reactions to the situations that are brought up to them. Absolutely everyone in the story acts as if you would expect they would in real life and that somewhat makes this movie even more terrifying. You can predict how things are going to go because they logically make sense and you know each of the character's motivations. No one can really say the same for the actual Superman franchise. This movie feels real if this crazy situation ever occurred.

Okay there are maybe one or two big situations where you're like what are you thinking? That's to be expected in any horror movie but for the most part it is pretty well thought out.

They even place a lot of great foreshadowing clues as an egg to incubate while we watch the movie. One of the opening foreshadowing clues reminded me of the opening for the movie Vivarium. It had to deal with cuckoo birds laying eggs in other bird's nests so that the other birds will raise their young. The mention was appropriate but it's funny how they would include that in the movie.

A word of warning though, this movie has some pretty gross out gore scenes. There are a few scenes in this movie where I had to look away because the scene was kind of grossing me out. I just winced through it and kept on trucking. Since it's a horror movie I'll let them get away with it...

Overall, I would say that comic book fans owe it to themselves to check this movie out. It is a really well thought out movie but it is not for the weak of heart. There are some big jump moments and a few gory scenes. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. If you can stomach the horror you will be in for a fantastic ride.