Brightburn and all the images you see in this review are owned by Sony Pictures Releasing
Directed by David Yarovesky
I’ve only had this movie vaguely on my radar for some time now (which frankly is a lot more than MOST movies but that’s another discussion) and I was certainly interested to see what it was, but more importantly I wasn’t quite sure what it was ultimately ABOUT which piqued my interest more than anything else. Was it truly just a kid with super powers killing people? Would there be some sort of They Live or even Frailty kind of twist at the end to explain his actions? It’s a fascinating premise to basically take the Superman origin story and turn it into that of a villain, but evil kid movies aren’t the easiest thing to pull off well and we’ve had at least ONE example this year of Hollywood screwing that up spectacularly. Is this the dark and twisted superhero horror movie we’ve all been waiting for, or is this just more horror tripe with a trendy coat of paint on it? Let’s find out!!
Brandon Breyer (Jackson Dunn) is your typical Midwest tween. He works on his parents’ farm, he goes to school every day, and oh yeah he’s an alien who crash landed when he was a baby and has been raised by his parents Tori and Kyle (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) since then. He’s not aware of that though, but it’s also something that’s not TOO easy to hide; especially since Space Puberty is turning out to be quite a bit more INTENSE than the Earthling variety! Brandon begins to pick up on the fact that he’s a little bit different from others, what with his invulnerability and eye lasers, and eventually things come to a head as Tori and Kyle have to figure out the best way to handle the fact that their adopted son has UNSPEAKABLE COSMIC POWERS. You know, sending him to his room without dinner isn’t gonna work all that well when he can rip your heart out with his bare hands and then fly to the arcade. Brandon seems to understand this little power differential as well, not to mention that his alien side might not be from the most humble and good natured parts of the universe which can only spell trouble as he gets more and more proficient with his powers. Can Tori and Kyle instill enough self-control and empathy into this brat before he starts burning Pepe memes into the corn fields? Just how powerful can Brandon get, and is there any way to stop him if he goes too far? See, this is why everyone needs an Uncle Ben. Neither Tori nor Kyle have a brother named Ben, and that’s why this is all happening in the first place!!
The Reviewers Unite 