BrightBurn Is An Effective Yet Severely Restrained Horror Flick That Makes Audiences Wonder What If Superman Was Evil.

       If Superman was reimagined as a horror movie, it would look similar to BrightBurn mixed with a teaspoon of The Omen in terms of parents getting an adopted child mysteriously, that turns out to possess a dark and unnatural force to them. BrightBurn was a horror film that was greenlighted with the intention of showing that concept with James Gunn as producer. The script was written by his cousin and brother Mark and James Gunn, with the film originally being announced as an Untitled James Gunn Horror Project. As a setup, the concept is brilliant on paper as it provides an unusual twist to the superhero genre as well as a detour from the current trend of feel good comic book movies that has become a recurring trend in today's Hollywood. What makes this one unique is not just that the film has horror elements to it, but it also begs the question of what would Clark Kent's story arc look like if he was evil, sinister, cold-hearted, and power-hungry with a motive that essentially was about taking over the world through the use of his powers. If Man Of Steel was made as a comic book with a horror movie twist, this would be it. BrightBurn is an interesting concept that's dark, creepy, effective, and ultimately entertaining though it doesn't fully reach its potential, but the end result is also not a total failure.

      The story for BrightBurn centers around a young farm couple discovering a small child in a crashed alien vessel near their barn. They end up taking him in and raising him as their own child. When the young kid Brandon reaches the age of 12, they begin to question their decision once they notice abnormal patterns about his behavior with unexpectedly violent acts occurring which inflicts harm upon others mysteriously. What keeps this one afloat is its unique concept which manages to blend the superhero and horror genre together even if the end result doesn't reach its full potential. James Gunn positioned this movie as being the answer to the question of what would Superman or Clark Kent look like if they turned evil or if the story itself was dark. This movie essentially delivers that answer to the audience though it clearly could've and should've been deeper. The idea itself is genius and allows for a lot of opportunity involving free reign with the story to emerge. A Superman style character turning evil would be legitimately frightening and creepy with Gunn and the writers making sure that concept is explored in depth here. The film is smaller in scale than the comic book movies it draws parallel to with the horror elements being the movies strong aspect, particularly the jump scares and creepy moments where Brandon uses his powers in a sinister style. The films narrative is straight-forward while carrying with it healthy doses of blood and gore with a climax that reminds viewers of the 2012 film Chronicle. Being darker than the superhero films surrounding it is the best decision the filmmakers took in their approach to this story as the movie succeeds in its horror aspect, but also feels like it could've done more with its plot had the budget been larger and the running time over two hours instead of just an hour and a half to give both the plot and its characters maximum development. While it can be a negative thing that the movie doesn't allow for the plot to fully explain where Brandon came from and where he got his powers, it also benefits the character as the audience doesn't know much about his backstory making the whole situation intriguing, mysterious, and creepy.

      The acting from the main cast is strong with Jackson A. Dunn turning in a strong and effective performance as Brandon. He conveys all the right emotions with the part being emotionless, creepy, and aware of everything going on around him. In terms of his performance, Dunn is near perfect in the role and hits all the right notes making him a Clark Kent/Superman one does not want to mess with nor see in real life. He also feels like a young Damien from The Omen series giving off a dark and possessed presence with the parents realizing their perfect child is really a force of evil. Elizabeth Banks does a fine job playing Brandon's adoptive mother Tori Breyer, she too hits all the right notes being the caring, worrisome, and protective mother of Brandon refusing to see the red flags and warnings her husband tries to inform her about Brandon until things truly get out of hand. David Denman does a fine job playing Brandon adoptive father Kyle Breyer. At first he tries to be an honorable father figure to Brandon, but soon discovers that something is not right with their kid and tries to warn Tori about it once he slowly puts the pieces together. The actors as a trio do an excellent of selling this twisted Clark Kent style horror story to the audience with the older actors making for convincing adoptive parents who just wanted the opportunity to raise their child, though they didn't fully realize what they were getting themselves into when they discovered Brandon's spaceship. Despite the strong performances from Banks and Denman, it is Dunn who makes the film ultimately work despite its flaws as he delivers an enigmatic performance.

      As far as directing and writing goes, David Yarovesky does a solid job creating a dark and mysterious tale, that has the right atmosphere and tone in regards to showing a twisted version of the Clark Kent story. One can feel the enthusiasm that Yarovesky has in regards to putting this story on the big screen with the strong yet flawed screenplay by Brian and Mark Gunn. The films best card that it uses is the "What if Superman was bad?" scenario and plays it out effectively though not as far as it could've gone. Instead of showing Brandon taking over a small town ultimately with his powers, why not go full on with the Clark Kent story and show him taking over the world Superman ll style like with General Zod and his Krypton accomplices. Outside of Brandon and his parents, the rest of the characters in the story are flat and cardboard cutout characters from a typical horror movie leaving little to not impact on the audience when they become terrorized by Brandon. The film only works because of its concept of a kid desiring to be evil and one day rule the world with him beginning to do so by killing people. While the concept provides a brilliant marketing strategy to get the project made as well as bring audiences to the theater, it doesn't go as far as it could've went with the story. The character development also isn't done to its fullest potential with Brandon's parents shown never trying to correct Brandon when he does something that's cruel or vile. For someone who is trying hard to not reveal his evil deeds to his parents in hopes they don't figure out what he's done, he shows little or no emotion towards them (That's not a criticizing of the main actor, that's an issue with the films writing relying too much on its concept to do the work). The sheriff in the film is poorly developed and useless essentially along with Brandon's uncle and wife, the audience just doesn't care about them on the level they should when bad things happen. If one removes the Superman aspect from the story, it ends up looking like another generic low-budget horror movie that's entertaining but ultimately forgettable.

      On a technical note, the films pacing moves the film too fast for the type of story it carries. This is one instance where the story could've benefitted from having 30 extra minutes of story and character development. The end result feels rushed and less effective with its 90 minute running time making the editing the films biggest issue, as it feels like large portions of the film were left on the cutting room floor making the transition of the film feel uneven and messy at times rather than flowing naturally. The moments where the film introduces subplots that are interesting aren't given enough time to fully develop as the film moves to the next scene. In terms of the films level of blood and gore, the horror elements are where the movie shines with Dunn's performance accompanying it. The film has some truly brutal scenes that horror fans will take delight in once Dunn goes on his killing spree. Despite its promising and powerful concept, one can't help but feel the story is ultimately held back by its small budget as opportunities were missed here to explore why Brandon chose such a dark path and preferred to harm others.

      BrightBurn is not a bad movie by any means but its also not a great one, it falls into the category of a film that feels rather unfinished. This movie needed more of everything essentially from more character and plot development to a bigger budget to allow its true potential to shine. The "evil Superman" concept here is what carries the movie but without the proper development it just feels like a cheap wallpaper tactic to sell tickets. As a horror flick, its mildly entertaining and overall passable as it works on that level. However, given that the film was meant to present audiences the what if scenario of could Superman actually be evil and show the consequences of such a  revelation, the film needed more for it to really leave an impact with audiences. Instead they'll just have to settle for an entertaining yet forgettable horror flick, with a dose of a comic book origin story to it. It has been stated by James Gunn that the hope is to make a sequel to this story and expand on the concept introduced here. Hopefully that film has a bigger budget as well as a longer running time to really get the story off the ground. BrightBurn has moments where it actually works and can be truly intense enough to make it worth watching overall, but one can't help but feel let down by it given the massive potential it had. Turning the concept into a horror/thriller was a noble approach but it didn't have the right impact needed for it to truly make a splash with audiences.

Final Verdict: Worth a Redbox rental but that's all.