BRIGHTBURN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAVID YAROVESKY / SCREENPLAY: BRIAN GUNN, MARK GUNN / STARRING: JACKSON A. DUNN, ELIZABETH BANKS, DAVID DENMAN, MATT JONES, MEREDITH HAGNER / OCTOBER 21ST
Special Features: Filmmaker commentary / Three featurettes
It kind of feels lazy to just describe Brightburn as a skewed, darker take on the classic tale of Superman’s origin, but that’s precisely what the movie has been marketed as. Is it any good, mind, or is this just lazily taking an established blueprint and slightly changing a few key details? Let’s find out.
Back in 2006, Tori (Banks) and Kyle Breyer (Denman) happened across a crash-landed spaceship that contained a baby boy inside. Skip forward to the present day, and that boy, Brandon (Dunn), has hit puberty and is full of teenage angst and confusion. The only thing is, unlike most teenage boys who simply grow a dodgy bumfluff beard and start to talk like Zed from the Police Academy movies, Brandon also starts to notice that he’s got superpowers. Unlike a certain Man of Steel, however, this all-powerful youngster isn’t exactly the heroic type.
While the plot may be a tad predictable once the proverbial cat is out of the bag, the tale manages to constantly keep you on the edge of your seat – largely down to how great a job young Jackson A. Dunn does in bringing a ridiculous level of chilling creepiness to Brandon. This troubled teen may have a huge amount of otherworldly powers at his fingertips, but it’s the sheer twisted imagination of Brandon that makes him stand out as a terrifying presence. Adding a level of intrigue to this character, though, is the relationship Brandon has with various people; his mother and her undying love for her boy; his father, who’s more often tasked with being the ‘bad cop’ parent; his high school crush; his childlike fear of his school counsellor telling him off.
From the get-go, Brightburn is a remarkable-looking film, with director David Yarovesky managing to capture the vibrancy of youth, before flipping the switch to grim and gritty terror at a moment’s notice. And speaking of which, the brutality and gore depicted in Brightburn actually makes it a little surprising that the movie was only given a 15 rating. Seriously, some of the acts committed by Brandon are enough to make even the biggest gorehounds get a little hot around the collar.
As the teenager at the centre of the action, Jackson A. Dunn deserves so much praise for a performance that shows so many sides to Brandon. For so much of the movie, this isn’t just a full-on, all-out villain, and Dunn’s versatility and innocence fleshes out Brandon in a fascinating way. Likewise, Elizabeth Banks and David Denman are phenomenal as the parents struggling to deal with how their teenage son is developing.
All in all, Brightburn stands up as one of the most unique genre offerings to come around in many a year, and is one of the most impressive genre films of 2019 so far. At a brisk 90-minute runtime, the script and storytelling makes the most of each and every minute, as fans get a movie that is a straight-up horror ride that turns the superhero genre on its head.
Rounding out this release, the filmmaker commentary from director David Yarovesky, DP Michael Dallatorre and costume designer Autumn Steed is engaging and entertaining, while the three featurettes included largely look at how the film went about balancing superpowers and balls-to-the-wall terror.
