Brightburn is a movie clearly derived from Superman's well-known origin story: a childless farmer couple discovers an alien spacecraft with a single young occupant, and raise the adopted alien as their own. As the child approaches adolescence, he comes to realize his true purpose on Earth: to use his manifesting super powers to conquer the planet.
Brightburn arrived in theaters a few years before Invincible reached our TV screens, and a few months before The Boys -- though well over a decade after the source comics for either of those series. While that timeline could get fans arguing over which if these (if any of these) was "first" to the idea of ultraviolent superhero stories, Brightburn is doing something distinctly different from the rest: it's a horror movie.
As young Brandon Breyer discovers the scope of his powers, he quickly becomes a Freddy/Jason/Michael Myers-type figure at the center of a story that observes all the conventions of the bloodiest horror movies. Cornered victims flee for their lives -- sometimes making clever choices but often not -- before being snuffed out in the most grisly ways imaginable. It's not for all audiences, and it certainly lacks the social commentary of the episodic TV shows I mentioned. But if you just like a good slasher movie on occasion, well -- here it is. (And what occasion is more fitting that the run-up to Halloween?)
Brightburn has been hard to find on streaming services (included in a subscription, at least), and might not have been remembered at all were it not for the its creative pedigree. James Gunn used his Marvel-soon-turning-to-DC clout and money to produce this script by his brother Brian and cousin Mark. And while he didn't take the director's chair (that job went to David Yarovesky), he did make sure to cast many of the actors from his core "repertory company." Fans of Peacemaker in particular will clock the brief appearances of Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, and omnipresent Gunn collaborator Michael Rooker -- as well as David Denman in the role of Brandon's father.
But the big name in the cast is Elizabeth Banks. She has a tricky, almost double role that calls for her to be both loving, protective mother and conventional horror movie heroine. This movie is certainly more about "the kills" than the performances -- but for what it's worth, I think Banks gives a good one.
I don't feel like Brightburn is "can't miss" entertainment, not even for horror movie enthusiasts. I'd give it a B-. But if it sounds like a bloody good time, you might want to check it out. Either way, I think it's nice that the movie got something of a second life as a side effect of the new Superman discourse.
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