BRIGHTBURN (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

brightburn (2019) movie

Genre              |   Sci-Fi Horror

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   91 minutes

Released         |   23 May 2019

cast

Elizabeth Banks
Jackson A. Dunn ... Brandon Breyer / Brightburn
​David Denman

director

​David Yarovesky

writer

​Brian Gunn
Mark Gunn

cinematographer

​Michael Dallatorre

music

film editor

Andrew S. Eisen

---

box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

---

movie minutiae

​Michael Rooker plays a YouTube conspiracy theorist in a short sequence during the end credits. He compares the footage of "Brightburn" to other mysterious figures that he believes the government is trying to cover up. The figures resemble a twisted version of DC Comics Justice League. Rooker's character mentions a sea creature over turning a boat, an allusion to Aquaman and a witch strangling people with ropes, a probable analog to Wonder Woman. Also shown in the graphic behind Rooker's character is an alien being, possibly a reference to the Martian Manhunter and an image of the Crimson Bolt, which was Rainn Wilson's character from James Gunn's earlier film 'Super' who had some similarities to Batman.

Steve Agee, Michael Rooker, Stephen Blakehart and Terence Rosemore appeared as Ravagers in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2.

---

BRIGHTBURN (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

Images

Posters

Images

Posters

BRIGHTBURN (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.

BRIGHTBURN (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 23 May 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

BRIGHTBURN is much more effective than trailers for the film would suggest… On face value, the film appears to be an exercise in the ability of James Gunn to get as many of his family and friends working together on the same movie! However, the film’s Science Fiction and Horror tropes disguise a narrative that examine adolescent alienation and the growing sense of entitlement among contemporary youth that is a result of their parent’s failure to redress the entitlement before it become all pervasive, leading to more significant problems later in life.

The premise simply allows the Gunns and Yarovesky to explore these topics within a genre framework …

“Imagine Superman was evil and turned out to be less-than-impressed about being adopted by humans?”

It’s not the first time the “evil Superman” question has been posed…

The SUPERMAN comics have, on many occasions, posed this very question and explored what might have happened if Kal-El had come to Earth with a different purpose. Despite being a terrible film, SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987) featured “Nuclear Man”, an erratic, destructive version of Superman  controlled by Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor...

David Yarovesky, directing his first feature length film with BRIGHTBURN, delivers a film with good production value, impressive visuals and a story that, while quite pessimistic, manages to frame the antagonist’s character arc in a such a way that viewers don’t feel too bad about the carnage he creates around himself as he discovers his true nature and embarks upon his mission.

The film’s story is anchored by the participation of Elizabeth Banks, as Tori Breyer, the adoptive mother of Jackson Dunn’s Brandon, a visitor from another world whose real mission isn’t revealed until he is “called” by the spacecraft that Tori and her husband Kyle, played by David Denman, have been able to keep secret for more than a decade.

Without Banks, BRIGHTBURN wouldn’t be anywhere near as convincing as it ends up being. Her presence allows Yarovesky to inject some genuine drama into proceedings, exploring a diverse range of topics related to the challenges associated with children entering into puberty. Given Brandon’s alien heritage, the implications of him entering into puberty have catastrophic consequences as he comes to learn what he is truly capable of…

The Horror in BRIGHTBURN is not the kind of sustained suspense that might be associated with a CONJURING movie, but there are some effective jump-scares built around Brandon’s developing abilities. His skill at being able to move at supersonic speed is used on more than one occasion to demonstrate that anyone he deems to be a threat doesn’t stand much chance of surviving an encounter with him.

Two set-pieces stand out.

The first is set in a local Diner, after it has closed for the evening. Brandon decides that the mother of the girl he’s become infatuated with is a problem and he decides to rectify the situation by paying a visit to her after she’s closed for the night. Things get grisly pretty quickly as Brandon uses his power to explode a fluorescent light tube above the woman’s head, showering her face in shards of glass at the exact moment she looks up to see what’s happening. The ensuing “self-surgery” scene is not for the squeamish…

The second set-piece is a sustained segment that involves Brandon and his Uncle Noah, played by Matt Jones.

Brandon becomes agitated when his Aunty Merilee, played by Meredith Hagner, who is the School Counsellor, informs her nephew that she’s going to have to report his behaviour to the local authorities. That night, Brandon pays Merilee a visit at home and attempt to demonstrate to her why reporting him is a bad idea. Merilee fails to grasp the danger she’s in, telling Brandon to go home.

Using his super speed, Brandon get back into the house with the intention of causing his Aunty some major harm. Brandon’s plan is interrupted by the arrival home of his Uncle Noah, who has been at the local bar drinking. Noah catches Brandon in the house and throws him out, telling him to go home. Deciding it’s probably not the best idea to let a young kid walk home on their own at night, Noah goes out after Brandon, but this decision proves to be a bad idea, as the young boy decides it’s time for his Uncle to face the full force of his powers.

While plot holes exist and viewers may question the decision logic of some characters, BRIGHTBURN’s story, written by James Gunn’s brother Brian and cousin Mark, is above-average in terms of its set-pieces, which are enough to carry the film throughout it’s tight 91 minute running time.

Young Jackson A. Dunn does a pretty handy job acting up against Banks and his characterisation of Brandon is delivered in the manner of a young man who is becoming increasingly alienated from his family because of a failure by his parents to understand his behaviour. (Given he’s an alien, it should have been pretty clear that at some stage his origins might become a little bit of an issue…)

The weak link in the primary cast is experienced character actor David Denman as Kyle.

Denman has built up a pretty good resume of Film and TV credits, but his performance in BRIGHTBURN is very one-note, thanks to some indifferent writing and his inability to reign in his delivery (that is compensating for the indifferent writing). One minute he’s bursting with anger at the manner in which Brandon disrespects him, the next he’s become some kind of super-sleuth trying to find clues that will help to corroborate his theory that his son’s up to no good!

Depending on the Box Office success or otherwise, the second half of BRIGHTBURN shows that the premise has potential to go much further. Brandon has the potential to become a genuinely evil character who needs a complimentary “hero” to emerge and help balance the alien agenda that emerges throughout the current film’s plot.

The challenge will be for BRIGHTBURN to find a large enough audience in spite of its MA 15+ rating...

BRIGHTBURN MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Brightburn - Wikipedia
​Brightburn (2019) - IMDb
​Brightburn (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes​

digital updates delivered

facebook

instagram