Movie review
May 9, 2019 · 91 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Brightburn.
Woke representation / casting
The casting choices match the story's rural Kansas small-town world with a predominantly white family and logical supporting roles; no audience-visible diversity push or identity signaling.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue stays within family drama, teen rebellion, and horror elements; no activist speeches or modern political messaging.
Identity-driven story themes
The central arc involves a boy's transformation through puberty and alien influence leading to violence; writers referenced real-world concerns about male rage and extremism but kept it as horror subtext rather than front-and-center identity politics.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The story questions blind trust in the American heartland and flips the heroic immigrant savior trope into conquest, yet avoids framing it through lenses of systemic oppression, patriarchy, or current cultural debates.
Review
Brightburn is a 2019 horror film about a Kansas couple who adopt a baby from a crashed spaceship and raise him as their son. When the boy reaches age twelve and develops superpowers, he turns violent and follows a dark command from his alien ship to conquer rather than protect. The story inverts the classic Superman origin into a gory family horror tale centered on power, betrayal, and unchecked rage. Minor references to real-world adolescent anger appear in the writers' process but stay in the background of the slasher-style narrative.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No documented anti-woke or right-leaning complaints accusing the film of pushing DEI, identity politics, or activist agendas; reception centered on its entertainment value as horror.
Creator track record context
James Gunn carries a moderate mainstream profile; his brothers referenced progressive-framed social issues around violence and extremism during writing, while the director and other crew maintain low or neutral public records on such matters.
Production
