Superhero Media: Brightburn

Did you know that Brightburn is a backdoor sequel to Super? Because I didn't until I watched it and Michael Rooker turned up as an Alex Jones-esque talking head ranting about the coming of the superheroes. Anyway, if you know anything about Brightburn, it's probably that the film is a "dark" take on the Superman story, with an alien child growing up in the American farm belt and going rogue rather than becoming a hero. And whilst all that is true, what tends to get lost is just how good Brightburn is. As I've discussed before, "evil Superman" is a pretty tired riff, but the team behind this film didn't make the typical mistakes of being obvious or overly fetishistic with the concept, it really is just played straight most of the time, which works really well. Brightburn isn't about how "powerful" Brandon Briars is, or who he can kill in a fight, it's about the horror of ordinary people encountering a force of nature in the shape of an adolescent boy.

Years ago, I wrote an article on this blog entitled "The View From The Trenches", which is still one of my favourite pieces I've done (and barely anyone read, but whatever), and it focused on the idea that a human caught up in a superhero battle must be overwhelmed, if not terrified by the goings-on around them, and lamented how few sources dealt with this concept. Brightburn uses simple film techniques and surprisingly basic special effects to evoke a superhuman on a rampage pretty much better than anything else I've ever seen. In fact, the scenes of Brandon hunting people down are so good, I'd like to see versions of them with the blood and gore cut down to a PG level, because I think that may be even better. Watching the sheriff just vanish in a gust of wind the instant Brandon turns in his direction is phenomenal, and really needs to be repeated in something like the MCU or a Superman film, just without the resulting trail of gore. Not that I'm saying a superhero film can't be violent or bloody, just that it doesn't really need to be to tell the story well.

I'm not saying that I really "need" more of this cinematic universe in my life, but I certainly would be interested in seeing where it all goes if James Gunn and co do decide to do more. Although I feel the "dark heroes" thing is a more than a little overdone, there is room for it if done well, like some of the InJustice narrative, or even Nightstalkers, and the take that they may be newer style horror movie monsters is actually pretty neat. Despite his super powers, Brandon is essentially a "slasher" in the vein of Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees, so throw in a creepy doll, Slenderman and maybe a sexy monstress and you have yourself a decent team right there without too much extra fussing about. Not that I'm looking to build such a team myself, I really have enough already, but if slasher horror is the kick you need to get going on superhero miniatures gaming, who am I to stop you from doing that?