Starring: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Abraham Clinkscales, Christian Finlayson
Director: David Yarovesky
Release date: 19th June 2019
Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and her husband, Kyle (David Denman) live on a farm in Brightburn, Kansas. They are very happy together but desperately long for a child of their own. One night, it’s very late and suddenly they hear a huge crash in the field outside. They rush to investigate… Not long after, they have a baby boy, who they name Brandon (Jackson A. Dunne). We see Brandon grow and his parents are extremely proud of him. Ten years pass and Brandon is now a young man. Then one night, Brandon has a huge seizure while he’s asleep and is drawn outside to the family barn. His mother finds him there, but he has no memory of going there. Strange things start happening… Soon it’s Brandon’s 12th birthday and his aunt and uncle buy him a gun. His parents are horrified that they would give such a lethal weapon to the young boy and confiscate it. Brandon kicks off and more things happen… Tori and Kyle are very worried about Brandon’s behaviour but the worst is yet to come….
The film is being labelled by some as a ‘super hero’ movie, but this is probably very far from the truth. What you think is a straight forward story of a young man learning more about his origins, is in fact something much darker. As Brandon discovers more about his past and experiences some very strange feelings, he begins to change quite rapidly into something very sinister..
The first half of the film is extremely promising and lays out what you think is going to be an amazing ‘hero’ movie, but then its not long before Brandon discovers more about who he is and what he’s capable of. The ending feels a tiny bit rushed and kind of comes out of nowhere. It’s kind of like a domino effect where as soon as one ‘thing’ happens, the rest follow quite quickly after.
This movie should probably be classed as a horror rather than as a superhero one. The bodies start piling up pretty quickly. It just felt like it ended weirdly and you weren’t really any the wiser as to why Brandon turned out as he did. It had a feeling of ‘The Shining’ about it which can only be seen as a plus.
Give it a watch and see what you think. It just felt a bit like it could have ultimately been so much more…
Overall: 7/10
