Brightburn
Screen Gems | Release Date: May 24, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
14
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 23, 2019
The gore and the scares work pretty well. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 22, 2019
It’s a film that’s good enough that you want it to be better, a rare genre example of less not proving to be more. Read full review
58
Original-CinLiam LaceyMay 23, 2019
The movie rattles through ninety minutes of episodic jolts, the visual style is jumbled. Distinctive only in having a better effects budget than your average demons-in-the-attic quickie. While the super-parody elements offer a few snorts of amusement, the movie avoids taking on more complex ideas about Superman as an American ideal, though the filmmakers are obviously aware of the Bizarro context. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMay 22, 2019
The movie is more or less all premise. The rest is just an occasionally suspenseful, occasionally gory sci-fi riff on any number of earthbound creepy-kid thrillers. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandMay 22, 2019
The film’s bent towards revisionist superhero history is certainly compelling, but stuck in the confines of the horror genre, it flames out far more than it flies. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 23, 2019
Most of Brightburn belabors the obvious. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMay 23, 2019
The film is not nearly as strong as its villain. It is, however, just as immature. Read full review
50
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerMay 22, 2019
It’s a nasty piece of work, and one that at the very least stands as an active interruption of the escapist, family-friendly superhero fare currently dominating the industry. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 22, 2019
While not exactly original, the premise is certainly effective enough. But Brightburn lacks the visual stylization or wit to elevate it from the realm of the crudely effective B-movie. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerMay 22, 2019
Throwing in some gnarly gore—and Brightburn indulges a couple of truly gruesome flinches—doesn’t change the plodding inevitability with which Brandon goes super-evil. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJun 23, 2019
In its attempts to provide an antidote to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s catalogue of liberal fantasies, the film swings too far in the other direction. Read full review
40
EmpireJames WhiteJun 17, 2019
Crossbreeding superhero tropes with horror staples was an idea laden with promise. Brightburn is enlivened by trademark James Gunn black comedy, but hamstrung by sketchy writing and a botched sense of dread. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 23, 2019
It’s “The Bad Seed meets The Omen,” and it’s predictable, plodding and dim-witted every step of the way. To be fair, if you like watching someone pull a shard of glass out of her eyeball, you won’t be disappointed. But there’s a difference between gory and scary that this movie doesn’t seem to grasp. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis HarveyMay 22, 2019
A watchable but super-silly mix of superheroics and evil-child horror that mashes together singularly uninspired ideas from both. Read full review
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