Brightburn

Unfortunately, my fears that Yarovesky isn’t a good director have been confirmed. He was incapable of turning an attractive premise into something more than an average film. The plot arc is exactly what you can imagine when you say “the horror version of Superman”, and that’s all there is to it, Brightburn never deviates from the line you expect. Fortunately, the creators where able to deconstruct the classic structure of the super-hero origin story, but not able to surprise the horror fans. The director couldn’t create any bond with the positive characters that would really interest the viewer, and, as a result, the film never gave me the impression that the creators “want to tell the story of this family”. Throughout, the film just felt like “we want to play with the idea of an evil Superman, and we must have a human mum and a human dad”. But Brandon’s rampage starts relatively late, and only a couple of moments are truly memorable, and what can you do when you are uninvested in the human heroes? When you don’t believe they are viable characters? Brightburn is watchable thanks to its premise, which is cool, really. But what prevails in the end is the feeling of a wasted opportunity. It could’ve been great in many ways: taken more seriously or tragically or, on the contrary, totally bonkers. But this final form is pointless, and shouldn’t have been like that! (05/23/2019)

The anticipated horror superman produced by James Gunn is a nice surprise for me and will not be missing from this year's top list. While most of my colleagues are rather disappointed, it worked perfectly for me as an evil superman origin story, and I didn't mind that it follows a familiar template. It has great pacing, decent actors, decent technical aspects, and once little superman goes on a rampage it offers this year’s two best gore scenes. The finale is nicely paced and I was really surprised at how brutal the film is in the end. I don’t think this year there’l be a more brutal and entertaining horror film, so thumbs up for me and I want to immediately see a sequel with a grown up evil superman! 80% (06/23/2019)

I feel like this movie didn't offer anything interesting at all. The only twist, a 180-degree reversal of the Superman story in the style of The Omen, is known to anyone who has seen the trailer, and I didn't see any others. I would write that a promising idea went unused, but it's questionable whether it could have been used at all with this approach. It's neither proper horror, nor psychological thriller, nor even entertaining in any way... It's simply not good. (03/01/2020)

This movie stands and falls on the idea of "inverse Superman" – that’s literally all that Brightburn has to offer. Its plot develops in a completely predictable way without any major twists or surprises. With a dull to out of place cast (Elizabeth Banks) and sterile directing, even ninety minutes is extremely long. Michael Rooker and his cliffhanger already quite seriously gave the impression that the would-be sequel would be pointless. (02/16/2020)

A unique compilation of screenwriting and directing flaws that carefully whitewash the fact that everything we see is just a narrow slice of the grand concept of "superhero horror". As such, nothing in the film exists offscreen and nothing there has any character. The filmmakers at least acknowledge this by saying that in order to be able to awaken any resonance in the audience at all, they crank up the sound at the right moments and the characters die in pretty decent Aja-esque gore circuses. (08/21/2019)

This could have been worth five stars... The theme was perfect. Finally a superpower-endowed creature whose anti-heroic acts I'd enjoy watching. Unfortunately, the authors kept the guy on too short a leash, limiting him to the territory of one small town or rather a cluster of houses and farms. The plot was too restrained, I hoped for more powerful action, but it turned out to be just a run-of-the-mill slasher horror film. Too bad, there was definitely more potential. (10/29/2019)

How many times while watching Superman and his origin story did my mind wonder... What if, upon his arrival, he actually didn't side with good? What if he became a treacherous bastard with the intention of destroying the world as we know it? Finally... finally, I've seen such a take, as I saw almost inexhaustible potential in it. Although the character is introduced as a child, I actually found that approach even more fitting. And with James Gunn's involvement—whose name is attached to films like Dawn of the Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy—I just had to see the film. Firstly, I must say that those expecting a full-on blockbuster will be disappointed. The film boasts a modest budget, slow pacing, and less action. However... the style of building a tense atmosphere was incredibly appealing to me (the build-up is one of the most successful aspects of Brightburn), and the young actor in the lead role impressed with his performance. Also, the horror element is complemented by significant bloody brutality (from the scene with the jaw after the high fall of the car, or the shard of glass in the eye and subsequent extraction). Not for the faint-hearted; now I understand the R rating. The ominous tones accompanying the cold-blooded actions of the main character (a small, malevolent scoundrel) dug deep under my skin. Feel free to make a sequel... if it maintains the same tone, why not? This film delighted me immensely. I give it 84%. (08/19/2019)

The American movie Brightburn initially looks very original, although the combination of superhero and horror is perhaps not so new. By the way, the poster evoked Joe Hill's The Cape comic. The best thing about Brightburn is that It is very gritty, which is good because the gory scenes are of a great standard. You have to give the movie's makers credit for that and trying to make a good movie. (09/05/2019)