This looks like a very, interesting and cool concept... James Gunn producing.

Releases May 2019

Man of Steel, but Kal-El is a homicidal maniac kid instead

canadiaggie said:

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Man of Steel, but Kal-El is a homicidal maniac kid instead

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Reminds me of this terrifying short story. They made it into a Twilight Zone episode.

http://ciscohouston.com/docs/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html

No reviews for this yet?

I was kind of disappointed. I was hoping for it to be a little more on the "character study" side, maybe giving a look into the psychology of why the kid slowly turns evil.

Instead it's just a pretty standard horror movie with a villain with no motives. He just flips a switch one night because of the spaceship he came in.

I give it a meh.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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No reviews for this yet?

I was kind of disappointed. I was hoping for it to be a little more on the "character study" side, maybe giving a look into the psychology of why the kid slowly turns evil.

Instead it's just a pretty standard horror movie with a villain with no motives. He just flips a switch one night because of the spaceship he came in.

I give it a meh.

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Yeah, we saw it. The most interesting thing about it was looking for all of the similarities with Superman's origin.

I absolutely loved it.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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No reviews for this yet?

I was kind of disappointed. I was hoping for it to be a little more on the "character study" side, maybe giving a look into the psychology of why the kid slowly turns evil.

Instead it's just a pretty standard horror movie with a villain with no motives. He just flips a switch one night because of the spaceship he came in.

I give it a meh.

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I think there were some deep cuts there, maybe another viewing would help, at least for me.

His parents were the nesting wasps raising the kid of the killer wasps. Once he came of age, the host was pointless. He didn't need a reason to become evil, it was his true nature all along. Contrast this with Superman, who had no motive to be good other than it was his nature passed down by his Kryptonian father. He could have easily taken over the world if he wanted to.

Loved the paper the girl was writing on her laptop after she broke her arm. The title was something along the lines of " the death of truth and justice in the American way"

Superman's motive for being good was Ma and Pa Kent, though. He was good even before learning the truth.

Overall I liked the movie but my big issue is the character development of the kid. He seemed somewhat "off" from the very beginning. I would have preferred that he had been portrayed as a kind run of the mill boy next door type who then just went evil as soon as he came of age. Also there was a lot more gore than I expected. The jaw scene was nuts.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Superman's motive for being good was Ma and Pa Kent, though. He was good even before learning the truth.

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That was also passed down to him from Jor-El vial the crystals. His real dad was honorable as well, so it was in his nature to be "good." Imagine if Jor-El was evil and telling Superman to take over the planet. I think there would have been a real struggle there. In this case, the "bad" side won the struggle, even though there wasn't much of one.

I'm not sure they developed it as well as they could have. Early on, once discovering his powers, he seemed to mean well. The scene when showed up in the girl's bedroom was out of ignorance after the conversation with his dad that he clearly misunderstood. Then she embarrassed him on the playground and he lashed out. He was a brat going through alien adolescence that suddenly realized he could do whatever he wanted without real consequences. He didn't try to hurt anyone until they gave him a reason, up until the final scene where he made the plane crash to cover up his handiwork. Every other injury/death was in retaliation for a real/perceived wrong.

Yeah, I was definitely not expecting a horror movie which is essentially what it turned into.

Having thought about the movie a bit more, it's actuallg pretty damn good as a straight up horror.

It's just disappointing if you're expecting a bit more psychological character study or a deeper dive into the superhero mythos.

Probably the strongest gore I've seen in recent memory. Maybe a little too heavy on the jump scares though.

When the slasher is invincible and fast as a bullet. You ain't got a chance.

Horrible movie imo...

This movie was awesome. Loved every second of it. If anyone thinks that the idea of a kid just inherently being evil is a **** movie, then I hope you feel the same about superman because its literally just the opposite.

That makes no sense at all.

Man of Steel is literally all about him trying to understand who he is, who we wants to be, and what he wants to do with the power he has.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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That makes no sense at all.

Man of Steel is literally all about him trying to understand who he is, who we wants to be, and what he wants to do with the power he has.

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Yeah, and people hate Man of Steel because its not your typical Superman movie. That's the point. They dont' want a complicated Superman. They want the American icon who is just simply good.

The Debt said:

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Haha during superman returns they purposefully killed his virtue.

Daily planet boss told his team to "find out if he still stands for truth, justice, and all that stuff."
Hollywood stripped the americanism out of an American icon.

The Superman character cannot exist in an era of moral ambiguity. Or at least he cannot be rightly portrayed by filmmakers who reject objective morality.

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Bingo. Everytime they try to do something with the character that is more nuanced the public rejects it. At his core Superman is supposed to be incredibly altruistic which is objectively ridiculous. I like that Brightburn pointed that out in a very not subtle and entertaining way.

Some people, sure.

Some people love it, including myself.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Some people, sure.

Some people love it, including myself.

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I actually like it myself too. I also like BvSM but I realize I am in the minority on both of these opinions.

rhutton125 said:

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Cap is the new Superman. If you asked kids today which hero stands for truth, justice and the American way, I have to assume they'd say Captain America. And even though he's traditionally been boring, the movies have made him pretty fascinating in a morally grey world. So it can certainly be done, I'd think, for Superman.

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The problem with Superman is that he isn't human. He wasn't portrayed in the comics as being human, he was always this more powerful being than anyone else and without those human flaws it makes it hard to write a compelling story. There is only so much you can do with him, he doesn't have the same problems that normal people have. He is practically invincible. Basically all you can do is point out the fact that he's not of this world and make him lonely.

Contrast that to Steve Rogers. Here's the guy who was tiny, wanted to enlist but was basically bullied out of serving because he didn't fit the profile. He loved this country and volunteered for the experiment to make him what he is. Then he lost his love. He has some superhuman attributes, but he's still human. Unlike Superman, Captain America isn't who he is because he is superhuman, he is who he is because of his character before he came into that power.

I think the movie had potential but overall I was disappointed. It was a good premise but I think they could have done more with it. Brandon's reactions to things went from super childish and petty to diabolical without any reason. Like is he a genius or a child who can't control his emotions? He was basically a sociopath that had superpowers so he just did sociopath things but more efficiently. I'd have liked to see him have a plan of what he wanted to actually do with his powers on a grander scale.

There is a lot of potential in an evil superman story but its only interesting if we understand his motives. Brandon was just one note evil. It would have been more interesting if he had more layers to him and maybe was doing some good but for selfish reasons.

The problem with Superman is how super he is. The only thing that can make him beatable is kryptonite (the anti-McGuffin) or some other-worldly foe who somehow equals his super-ness. Clark Kent is about 100x more interesting than Superman and the best Superman stories are those that put him against humanity as opposed to defending it.