Brightburn

2019 anti-superhero movie

Rating: 10/20

Plot: An adopted kid discovers the truth about his origin and powers that make him better than regular people.

As a metaphor for adolescent angst or the revelations that come with adopted kids' comings-of-age, this almost worked, but it's sunk by its creators' interest in jump-scaring and gore-mongering. Did we really need that extended shot of a woman pulling a sliver of florescent light bulb out of her eye ball? No, we did not, Brightburn! Nor did we need to see (and unfortunately hear) a character's jaw hanging by sinewy threads after a violent attack.

If you told me this was a superhero horror-comedy, I might buy that. There were certainly times when my theater let out some uneasy laughs, and I thought there were some scenes that were either unintentionally funny or maybe even intentionally funny. It's really hard to tell because this never establishes a tone it feels comfortable in.

I'm not sure what the budget was for this, but it seems a lot cheaper than it probably was. That's likely because there are only about four settings in the entire movie. There's a diner, the family's farmhouse, the woods, a classmate's house. Oh, and school, I guess. There's an unavoidable redundancy that sets in, and the climactic culmination of this kid being as angry as he can possibly be and realizing the extent of his powers, a climax I assume was supposed to thrill me a little more than it actually did, wasn't enough to save this thing.

Inevitably, there will be a sequel or two. I imagine subtext will be abandoned altogether so that anti-superhero onslaught can ensue. Get the Krypton ready, folks!