MovieChat Forums > Brightburn (2019) Discussion > Boring and Predictable

Boring and Predictable


I had high hopes for this. I thought the premise was interesting and I enjoy horror films so I thought this was going to be good. But, what a bland and disappointing film. Every time BB comes on screen we get this pounding evil theme, he has no emotion we get it, parents are in complete denial of their alien child (even after he crushes a girl's hand), he becomes evil like flipping on a switch we get it. I thought some of the death scenes were good, but other than that what a boring and predictable film. I'm sure there will be a BB2 since this was a hit considering it's budget, but count me out.

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Yes, it was overall predictable and unsatisfying. Your point about how he becomes evil "like flipping on a switch" is accurate. Once he started puberty, something from inside him drew him to the ship, which starts the evil deeds. That turned into any mindless villain from any standard horror flick. It would have been better if he turned evil for something else, like humanity's wickedness or neglectful parents or something.

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Completely agree. Even showing him to be at least somewhat conflicted about his villainous actions would have improved the film. Maybe have him be torn between good and evil and at the climax of the film have him turn completely evil rather than have him be that way right out the gate.

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I think it did show him conflicted, very much so. There were several points where he is clearly thinking deeply about his feeling towards his mother, for example. And when his father shoots him in the head, he turns around and the expression on his face is one of surprised hurt. Obviously even at that stage he felt he was his "son", and believed his father loved him.

I actually liked the film quite a bit. I suspect many who didn't, were probably accustomed to "super-heroes" who put on ridiculous CGI metal "suits" that do all their super-power stuff for them. They may have had a hard time believing a character who has those powers within himself. That's strange, because they believe "Superman". I wonder what audiences expected - silly unrealistic CGI battles? His "super powers" were treated with restraint, I thought. No soaring flying shots, no x-ray vision, no freeze breath.

Some people complain that the film didn't explore the concept deeply enough. I disagree. I saw plenty of elements that illustrated the dilemma that would be faced by an alien who discovered that the inhabitants of his "new home" were simultaneously benevolent and accommodating, but vulnerable and susceptible. His conflict was made very clear.

His first sudden displays of bad behaviour were simply the kind of thing any sensitive pre-teen kid experiences, when they realise that they're not understood by others, or recognised for themselves. This was suggested in the film. Later on, his extreme homicidal behaviour was the kind of thing a psychotic kid might do when he thinks he's been betrayed. There were several characters who "betrayed" him. His uncle, his aunt, and the girl at school. He did agonise over it, but alone. Like any kid, he quickly hid his private thoughts from others, even his parents. This is entirely characteristic of kids in this state of mind. It's probably the way mass shooters behave just before they suddenly go ballistic.

A good, thoughtful film.

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I didn't view him as conflicted at all when he was killing his family and others; in fact it all seemed quite the opposite as he threatened and then proceeded to torture his victims before killing them. My point was that if they added some inner conflict, which I didn't see, the film wouldn't have been so predictable and thus boring. It seemed like once the shipped turned on, he lost any sense of morality. They just played their evil theme music and he does exactly as you expect and kills the person,but in an interesting way since he has superpowers. The parents are also predictably in complete denial of their child until it is too late. Maybe if the viewers didn't see all of BB's evil actions or what he was doing we could go along with the parent's attitude as there would be some mystery, but we see everything.

Sure he was surprised when his father shot him, we weren't as the audience, but he then proceeded to fly around and torment his father before killing him. He did the same thing prior to killing his mother.

I liked the idea behind the film and didn't want nor expect CGI battles or anything of that matter. I would have liked a scary and interesting story with some character development. I'm glad you liked it, but it didn't work for me.

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