Brightburn review roundup: James Gunn’s horror film receives mostly positive response

Only, he is a bad guy. Instead of using his powers to do good and help people, he kills them in myriad ways, each of them merciless.

The premise itself is interesting, even though not particularly new. There has been several evil Supermen in DC Comics alone.

The synopsis of the movie states, “What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?”

David Yarovesky has directed the film. It stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, and Meredith Hagner.

So far, Brightburn holds a 67 per cent rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being, “Although Brightburn doesn’t fully deliver on the pitch-black promise of its setup, it’s still enough to offer a diverting subversion of the superhero genre.”

The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee wrote, “Brightburn risks falling into the all-too-familiar creepy kid horror formula but there’s just about enough to distinguish it from that ever-expanding subgenre.”

IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote, “The terror is baked in – what if a super-strong space alien crashed to Earth and wanted to kill everyone? now that’s an idea right there – but “Brightburn” isn’t content to let that wicked concept do its magic.”

Variety’s Dennis Harvey wrote, “The premise isn’t bad, even if the evil-Superman origin story was done better in “Chronicle.” The execution, however, is lacking, particularly in freshness, humor or style.”

From the homepage

Amid hijab row in Kerala, church pushback, minister climbdown and a CPM balancing act

Meet Hina Khan, the Madhya Pradesh cop who used ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan to stun agitating lawyers into silence

‘Yamraj’ and ‘jail’ await you: UP CM Yogi’s warning to miscreants ahead of Diwali