As mentioned last time, forty years ago saw the genesis of
the modern superhero film with 1979’s seminal Superman from Richard Donner. By
coincidence, Donner also directed The Omen a few years beforehand, which stands
alongside the Exorcist as one of the defining creepy child horror movies. And
so, decades later, James Gunn decided to put these together for a different
take on the superhero flick: Brightburn.
Most people recognize Gunn as the director of Marvel’s
Guardians of the Galaxy (and temporarily canned from the third followup by his
corporate overloards on debatable at best Twitter charges), but those in the
know can tell you he started doing scripts for the factory of glorious trash
that is Troma. Hell, his first directorial debut was the nicely fun and frantic
eighties B-movie throwback Slither, in 2006. And though he didn’t actually
direct this movie, relegating most creative decisions to his brother, you can
sense that sort of feel across it. So, how did Gunn’s little venture during his
questionably justified exile from Disney turn out?
Pretty decent. Elizabeth Banks and David Denman play Tori
and Kyle Breyer, rural Kansas natives who witness a strange craft crash by
their farm one night bearing a baby boy. Sound familiar, right? A decade later,
their adopted son Brandon soon starts to twig to his true nature—and it just so
happens he has no real desire to save crashing planes nor wayward trains. In
fact, altruism seems at the very bottom of his priority list…
The cast do a solid job all around—Banks and Denman sell
their characters well as well-meaning country folk that end up in over their
heads, conveying both love for their boy, the rising tension of his changes
(puberty metaphors all too obvious) and then finally the sinking horror. The
side characters are also generally appealing and convincing, be it their friendly
relatives and the local sheriff. And then there’s Brightburn himself, played by
Jackson A. Dunn—who does a commendable job with what he has. Young Brandon
starts out normal and relatable enough, but soon transitions into a sociopathic
little bastard that does radiate alien contempt for those around him.
And that leads into some enjoyable gory and creepy sequences—there’s
gore effects aplenty, all very well done with props to the makeup department.
There’s both grisly horror done to a person’s jaw, and then there’s the
genuinely wincing stuff like a piece of glass twisting into a person’s eye with
all too realistic effects. It’s always the more realistic but less extravagant injuries
like that that inspire the most effect, isn’t it?
And at the finale, we see what really happens when a
superhuman like Brandon lets loose—Man of Steel touched on this with it’s bad
guys, but here, no detail is spared in what happens when something faster than
a speeding locomotive hits you.
So far, so good—but there’s one main flaw. Outside of
movies, stories that boil down to ‘what if Superman was evil’ aren’t uncommon (unless you count Batman v Superman, heh),
and a lot of them really delve into the psyche of what makes such a character.
Here…what really drives Brandon is much more wishy-washy—is he like that by
nature? Is it something else driving him? Don’t expect the film to explore his
motives or psychology in any real detail. It’s a shame, as it could’ve made it
all the more interesting. As it stands, what it is, is reasonably done—but it’s
also not going to stick much outside of horror fans.
Still, what horror there is, I enjoyed—and there’s all sorts
of hints and easter eggs, from visual shoutouts once again to the Omen, to, let’s
just say, some very interesting end credits. There’s things hinted at that are
best left to the imagination—like Brandon’s mask, is it simply his twisted
imagination, or a reflection of what may be his true form?
All in all, Brightburn’s a decent watch, and if the trailer
intrigued you, it’s worth a try. Gunn seems to be returning back to Marvel—some
have theorized that he may get his revenge by making Guardians of the Galaxy Volume
3: Rocket Takes a Shit For Two Hours Straight. Though people would get hyped
out anyway for that I suppose. Still, either way, it’s nice to see cinematic twists
on a very common formula like this, and I hope people like him continue to
tinker with it in the future.
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