It Came From The Cineplex: Brightburn

I saw this movie in the theater a couple months ago, but never got around to reviewing it. Might as well remedy that, as it's just now hitting home video.

Brightburn was written by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, and directed by David Yarovesky.

Brian and Mark Gunn are cousins and working partners, who previously wrote Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Brian is the brother of James Gunn.

Yarovesky previously directed The Hive (?), as well as several shorts.

As the poster loudly proclaims, it was produced by James Gunn, of Guardians Of The Galaxy fame. I have to wonder how much input Gunn had on the film, as the script has his violent and subversive fingerprints all over it. 

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so, as Brightburn was originally scheduled for release on in November 2018. After Disney's shameful and cowardly firing of James Gunn though (for the crime of telling some bad jokes), the film was pushed back to May 2019, after the controversy died down some. 

Brightburn poses the cinematic question, "What If Superman Turned Out To Be An Evil Sociopath Instead Of A Champion Of Good?" It's an idea that's been done to death in comic books, but I don't think it's popped up in film before.

Despite the familiarity, it's a concept that could have made for a compelling deconstruction of superhero movies in the hands of the right filmmakers. Unfortunately these lesser Gunns and Yarovesky are not that team.

It's an OK film, but its dark retelling of Superman's origin story feels wayyyyyy too familiar, and there are few if any surprises. It also feels rushed, as character motivations change at breakneck speed, as if the filmmakers couldn't wait to blow through all the "boring" drama and get to the gore.

Brightburn's also a pretty heavy-handed metaphor for puberty. You don't have to be a film scholar to recognize that the manifestations of Brandon's superpowers are just thinly disguised substitutes for his voice changing or growing his first pubic hair.

So far the film's grossed $32 million worldwide against its tiny $6 million budget, making it a modest box office success. Look for Brightburn 2: Even Brightier sometime in the next two years.

SPOILERS, I GUESS.

The Plot:
Tori and Kyle Breyer (played by Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) are a farm couple in rural Brightburn, Kansas (Houston, we have a title!), who're struggling to conceive a child of their own. One night their house begins shaking, as a small spaceship crashlands on their property. They rush to the glowing impact crater, where they discover what appears to be a baby boy in the ship. The Breyers decide to keep the boy, telling their families that they somehow adopted him. They hide the remains of the ship underneath their barn.

Cut to a montage of the boy, who they name Brandon, as he grows up. He's warm, loving, incredibly smart and a big help around the farm. In short, he's everything they could ever want in a son.

Annnnnnd then puberty sets in. One night Brandon tosses and turns in bed, as he hears strange whispering voices in his head. Afterwards his behavior changes for the worse, as he becomes moody and withdrawn. 

He also discovers he has super strength and invulnerability. He stares off into space while eating breakfast, absentmindedly chewing up his metal fork. Later he tries starting the lawnmower, pulling the start cord over and over. Finally he gives the cord a mighty yank, and accidentally hurls the mower across the yard. When he goes to retrieve it, he stares at the whirling blade as if hypnotized. He sticks his hand in the blade, which completely destroys them.

Sometime later Brandon sleepwalks into the barn, where the ship is glowing red under the floor. He grabs at the trapdoor, desperately trying to open it and get to the ship. Tori hears him and runs to the barn. Inside, she hears Brandon repeating the words he hears in his head. He wakes when she touches him, confused as to how he got there.

As his powers increase, Brandon becomes more disobedient. During his birthday party at a local restaurant, his Uncle Noah and Aunt Merilee give him a hunting rifle. Kyle says he's too young and takes it away. Brandon angrily demands it back, and Kyle cuts the party short, taking him home.

Kyle and Tori discuss what's wrong with Brandon. Kyle's worried about his alien nature, but Tori says he'll always be her "little boy" and claims he's just going through a phase. While cleaning Brandon's room, she finds a folder full of swimsuit and lingerie models. She doesn't think anything of it at first, until she sees his "porn stash" also contains detailed anatomy diagrams and photos of human organs.

Tori says they should go on a camping trip in the mountains, to give Kyle a chance to talk with Brandon about what he's going through. While hunting, Kyle has an awkward talk with him about girls, sex and masturbation. Brandon coldly and unemotionally says he's fine.

That night back in Brightburn, Brandon's school crush Caitlyn hears a noise outside her second story bedroom window. She sees Brandon floating outside and screams for her mother.

Later after the family returns home, Kyle hears their chickens squawking and making a fuss. Thinking a wolf's after them, he rushes to the barn, where he discovers Brandon staring calmly at them. The next day Kyle discovers the door's been ripped off the coop, and the chickens torn apart. Tori insists it was an animal, but Kyle's convinced Brandon did it.

At school, Brandon's gym class participates in a trust fall. When Brandon leans toward Caitlyn, she lets him fall, clearly terrified of him. The teacher orders her to help Brandon up, and when she reaches out for him he crushes her hand with his super strength. 

Caitlin's mother Erica hears about the incident and demands the sheriff lock up Brandon for assaulting her daughter. She's enraged when he's given just two days suspension and ordered to meet with a counselor.

The counselor turns out to be his Aunt Merilee. She tries to get Brandon to open up, but is unnerved by his emotionless responses. She says despite the fact that they're related, she'll have to report his lack of remorse to the police. Brandon coldly tells her, "Sometimes when bad things happen to people it's for a reason."

That night Tori wakes and sees the red glow coming from the barn again. Inside she sees the trapdoor's been opened, and Brandon's levitating over the spaceship, chanting in an alien language. Suddenly he stops and falls, cutting open his hand on a jagged edge of the ship. Brandon looks at his hand in wonder, as it's the first time in his life he's ever been cut or seen his own blood. Plot Point!

Tori then tells Brandon the truth— that he arrived in the ship and she and Kyle adopted him. Brandon's enraged that they've lied to him his entire life and leaves. He hears the alien voices in his head again, but this time he understands what they're saying— "Take The World."

Caitlyn wakes to find Brandon in her room, standing over her. Terrified, she tells him to leave, saying her mother's forbidden him from talking to her.

Cut to the diner where Erica works, as she closes up for the night. Brandon cuts the power, then uses his supersede to draw stylized "B-B" symbols on all the windows with his finger. He then appears in the diner, wearing a creepy homemade mask. Erica tries to get away from him, but he speeds across the diner and kills her.

Brandon shows up at Merilee's house, telling her not to report their counseling sessions to the police, as doing so "won't be good for anyone." She angrily tells him to leave and goes to bed. Noah comes home and is surprised to find a masked Brandon hiding in a closet. He calls him a weirdo and says he's driving him back to his parents' house. Brandon says that can't happen, and throws Noah across the room.

Terrified, Noah runs to his truck and peels out. Brandon appears in front of his truck and begins hovering. He then picks up the truck, lifts it into the air and drops it. Noah's seriously injured in the crash, as his jaw's torn off (!). Brandon stares at him through the truck window, then uses Noah's blood to draw the B-B symbol on the road (???).

Meanwhile, Tori & Kyle are panicking, wondering where Brandon is. He returns home shirtless, lying that bullies beat him and tore up his clothes. He runs up to his room before they can question him. Kyle searches Brandon's room while he's in the shower, and finds his blood-stained shirt.

Just then Merilee calls and tells them Noah's dead. They tell Brandon about his uncle, and are disturbed when he doesn't react. Kyle questions Brandon, asking where he really was. Brandon effortlessly throws him across the room. Kyle tells Tori he suspects Brandon had something to do with Noah's death, but she refuses to believe it— even when confronted with the bloody shirt. For plot convenience she suggests Kyle and Brandon go on a hunting trip to reforge their relationship.

Kyle takes Brandon hunting in the mountains. Kyle waits until Brandon's distracted, and then takes aim at his adopted son. He shoots him in the back of the head, but the bullet bounces harmlessly off him. Brandon then grabs Kyle and burns a hole through his head with his heat vision.

Meanwhile Sheriff Deever visits Tori, asking if Brandon's home. When she says he's on a hunting trip, Deever shows her photos of the recent crime scenes, which both contain the B-B symbol. He says the symbol could stand for "Brandon Breyer," and asks if she knows anything about it. Tori says she's never seen the symbol before and tells the sheriff to leave.

She then goes to Brandon's room and finds a notebook under his bed. She's horrified to see it's filled with hundreds of B-B symbols, as well as drawings of the murders he's committed and the phrase "Take The World." Tori tries to call Kyle, but Brandon answers the phone. He tells her Kyle's dead, and that he's already home. She looks up and sees a masked Brandon floating above the house.

A fully unhinged Brandon then begins toying with Tori as he destroys the house. She calls the Sheriff, who arrives a few seconds later. Brandon kills the Sheriff and his deputy with ease. Tori runs to the barn, where she remembers Brandon being injured by the alien metal of the ship (Told you that was a Plot Point!). She pulls off a jagged piece off the ship and hides it behind her back.

Brandon enters the barn and she calms him, telling him he'll always be her little boy and she loves him. They embrace, and Tori raises the makeshift knife, preparing to stab him in the back with it. Suddenly Brandon grabs her hand and forces her to drop the shard. His eyes glow red as he grabs Tori and flies several miles into the sky. He stares coldly at her as he drops her to her death. He then hears a noise and sees a commercial jet flying toward him.

Sometime later, authorities are sifting through the rubble of the crashed plane, which landed on Brandon's former home. He sits in the back of an ambulance, calmly eating a cookie as he surves the destruction.

Smash cut to a TV conspiracy theorist reporting on the incident in Brightburn, saying it's proof that super beings walk among us and are taking over the planet.

Thoughts:
• Kudos to the filmmakers for going hard R here, and ending the movie on a bleak note.

• Oh dear... It's a Sony picture. The gold standard in movie studios, and one of my former employers.

Whenever I see this logo flash on the screen, it's all I can do to stop myself from gathering my belongings and exiting the cineplex. It's like a reflex action at this point.

To be fair, Sony's actually had a couple of decent offerings in the past year: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was very good, and Spider-Man: Far From Home was fine. As for its non Spider-Man offerings, I enjoyed Escape Room quite a bit (for what it was), as well as Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

But they also recently gave us cinematic gems like Alpha, Venom, The Girl In The Spider's Web, Miss Bala, Men In Black: International and Holmes & Watson, so... it all evens out.

• Brightburn is for all intents and purposes a retelling of Supeman's origin. So much so that I'm surprised Warner Bros.' lawyers aren't knocking on Sony's door right now. Here are just a few of the blatant similarities:

— John and Martha Kent live on a farm in Smallville, Kansas.
— Kyle and Tori Breyer live on a farm in Brightburn, Kansas.

— The Kents are a childless couple, and desperately want a baby of their own.
— The Breyers are a childless couple, and desperately want a baby of their own.

— The Kent's prayers are answered when a spaceship crashlands near their farm. Inside is a baby, which they raise as their own child.
— The Breyer's prayers are answered when a spaceship crashlands on their farm. Inside is a baby, which they raise as their own child.

— Clark Kent has an alliterative (in sound, if not in actual letters) comic book name.
— Brandon Breyer has an alliterative comic book name.

— The Kents keep Clark's spaceship hidden under their barn. He eventually finds it, and discovers the secret of his alien heritage.

— The Breyers keep Brandon's spaceship hidden under their barn. He eventually finds it, and discovers the secret of his alien heritage.

— When Clark becomes Superman, he adopts an "S" symbol based on his Kryptonian family crest.

— Brandon obsessively sketches out a symbol that presumably has a meaning on his planet, but also looks like a stylized version of his initials.

— Superman's powers include strength, speed, flight and heat vision.

— Brandon's powers include strength, speed, flight and heat vision.

The only real difference here is that Clark Kent has his superpowers from birth. Brandon Breyer's powers don't kick in until puberty.

• The movie barrels along at warp speed, leaving little or no time for any character development. 

This is particularly true of Brandon. He starts out as a loving child, but when he finds the spaceship in the barn, he instantly turns into a cold, emotionless monster. But why? Because a whispery alien voice told him to "take the world?" Yeah, we're gonna need more motivation than that.

There's also no real reason for the change. He's not seeking vengeance against the world for being wronged in any way. One minute he's normal, the next he's a superpowered, murderous asshole. It's as if the spaceship flipped a switch in his head from "good" to "evil."

To make things even worse, Brandon never experiences any kind of internal battle. At no point does he try to fight his alien urge to dominate and kill, so there's no internal conflict. And therein lies the main problem with the film. Conflict is the basis of all drama. Without it, we get a movie with no meaning or consequence.

It would have been far more interesting if after the switch was flipped, Brandon struggled to contain his evil, but was ultimately overwhelmed by it. As is, with no internal conflict there's no reason to root for him, or care about him at all. And if the audience doesn't care about the main character, the movie's doomed from the start.

• Credit where it's due: The film opens in the bedroom of the Breyer home. The camera slowly pans across a shelf, and we see it's lined with a dozen or so books on fertility.

In one simple shot we learn everything we need to know about Tori & Kyle— they're a childless couple who'd do anything to have a baby, even if that means adopting one who fell from space. Well done, filmmakers!

I have a feeling James Gunn had a hand in this opening, as he excels in these types of brilliant establishing scenes. Check out the opening of Guardians Of The Galaxy for another example.

• Unfortunately the filmmakers squander all that built-up goodwill in the very next scene, as they apparently don't understand what a toddler looks like. 

After the spaceship crashes in the woods, we're treated to a montage of blurry home videos showing Brandon growing up. In the final shot he digs next to a toy tractor, and looks to be about four years old— maybe even five.

We then see a caption that reads, "10 Years Later." Brandon is now twelve years old, which is actually stated in dialogue. If the bulk of the movie really takes place ten years after that video shot, he should be fifteen! Math is hard!

• As I watched the movie, it struck me that Jackson A. Dunn, aka Brandon, looks a LOT like a young Tobin Bell. If the producers of the Saw franchise ever want to make a prequel about a young John Kramer, Jackson A. Dunn's their boy.

• When Brandon sleepwalks to the barn, he gets out of bed and drags a red blanket behind him. This could be seen as a nod to Superman's cape.

• There's a fair amount of setup and payoff in Brightburn, which, amazingly, is something you don't see a lot in films these days.

— When Brandon's in class, his teacher asks him about the difference between bees and wasps. Brandon goes above and beyond, telling her far more than necessary about the two species:

"Well, bees are pollinators and wasps are predators. And wasps are more aggressive, more dangerous, one species the Polistes Sulcifer is what's called a brood parasite, they've lost the ability to make nests, so they use brute force to make other wasp species raise their young and they make them feed their babies things like beetle larvae and maggots."

For anyone paying attention, Brandon just described the basic plot of the movie! He's a an alien brood parasite, who's infiltrating the Earth and turning it into a colony for his race.

— Later in the film, Tori sees Brandon fall into the pit in the barn and accidentally cut his hand on the remains of his spaceship. Because he and the ship came from the same planet, it's the only thing on Earth that can harm him.

In the third act, Tori remembers this and pulls off a chunk of the ship, intending to stab Brandon in the back with it. It's a good idea, but unfortunately he's too quick for her.

• Whenever Brandon does something evil and/or horrific, he wears a creepy maroon mask. I'm puzzled by this mask. I get that it's supposed to dehumanize him and make him look like an insect— after all, wasp nests & colonies are part of the subtext of the movie. 

But where'd it come from? It looks like he made it himself, but from what? It kind of looks like a large ski mask, but it has laces in the front for no apparent reason.

• More not-so-subtle symbolism— as the movie progresses and Brandon becomes increasingly evil, he wears more and more red.

• After Brandon nearly destroys the  lawnmower with his superstrength, he stares tranfixed as the spinning blade. He impulsively sticks his hand in the mower, completely destroying the blade.

The minute I saw this scene, I thought, "Welp, it won't be long before some Jittery Soccer Mom complains about it, saying it'll inspire non-superpowered kids to dismember themselves with their own mowers." Amazingly I haven't heard a single comment about the scene. Color me shocked and stunned!

• Elizabeth Banks and David Denman both appeared in 2017's abysmal Power Rangers reboot.

Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker starred together (as husband and wife!) in James Gunn's Slither. Sadly they share no scenes together in Brightburn.

• Brandon's middle school scenes were filmed at Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia. This is the same location used for the Hawkins Middle & High Schools in Seasons 1 & 2 of Stranger Things.

• In a post credit scene, Michael Rooker appears as an Alex Jones-esque media blowhard, screaming about other super-powered "creatures," including an aquatic monster and a witch who binds men with ropes. If you zoom in on this scene, you'll see a red-clad figure in the lower left square.

That's the Crimson Avenger (played by Rainn Wilson), the main character of Super. The film was written and directed by James Gunn. This blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo means that Brightburn and Super both take place in the same universe!

Brightburn could have been a cool and clever deconstruction of the Superman mythos, but it suffers from subpar execution. The script's in such a hurry to get to the violence and gore that it can't be bothered to spend time on unimportant things like character development and motivation. As such, the characters are all ciphers, and the audience never cares about what happens to them one way or another. This is all the more puzzling, since James Gunn was heavily involved in the production and usually fills his films with tons of surprisingly poignant character development (see his Guardians films for prime examples). I give it a harsh and disappointing C+.

M-I-C, K-E-Y, H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y!

Hey, remember last year when Disney discovered that Guardians Of The Galaxy 1 & 2 director James Gunn tweeted some bad jokes ten years ago? And how they decided that "he was no longer in line with their family values" or some sort of bull hockey, and they summarily fired him?

Welp, this week it was revealed that Gunn may be persona non grata on the Disney lot, but apparently they've decided to film his Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 script!

So in summary:

Disney in 2018: "Oh my god, James Gunn made a couple of tasteless jokes ten years ago! He's a horrible, perverted pedophile of the highest order and we refuse to have someone like that associated with our family-friendly empire! We're firing him immediately!"

Disney in 2019: "Say, that script James Gunn wrote ain't half bad! Put that in production, stat!"

F*ck you, Disney. If his script's worth filming, then why the hell did you fire him in the first place? Hire him back, stat!

Enjoy Infinity War 2, kids, as I have a feeling it's gonna mark the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. Everything after that's gonna be accompanied by the sound of a falling slide whistle as the entire franchise crashes and burns.

It Came From The Cineplex: The Belko Experiment

The Belko Experiment was written by James Gunn and directed by Greg McLean.

Gunn is a prolific writer & director, whose films are some of my favorites. He previously wrote the live action Scooby-Doo, Dawn Of The Dead (2004) and Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed. He wrote and directed Slither, Super and Guardians Of The Galaxy.

McLean wrote and directed Wolf Creek, Rogue, Wolf Creek 2 and The Darkness. Yikes, The Darkness was one of the worst movies I saw last year. Fortunately McLean redeems himself here with The Belko Experiment.

It sounds like a hack "one line pitch," but it's like the poster says— if you take Office Space and cross it with Battle Royale, you'll have a pretty good idea what this film's about. Or for those of you born in this century, substitute The Hunger Games for Battle Royale.

There's even a slight bit of The Cabin In The Woods thrown in at the very end, for good measure!

James Gunn wrote the script for The Belko Experiment in 2007, based on a dream (more like a nightmare!) he had about an office where the employees have to kill to survive. He had every intention of directing his script, but when it came time to commit to the project in 2008, Gunn was going through a divorce from actress Jenna Fisher (Pam Beesly of The Office fame). 

Gunn decided he didn't want to spend several months working on such a violent and brutal film and dropped out of the project. Thanks a lot, Pam! The project then languished in Development Hell until now.

After the success of Guardians Of The Galaxy, producer John Glickman contacted Gunn and asked if he'd be interested in finally directing The Belko Experiment. Unfortunately Gunn was too busy with Guardians 2, but recommended director Greg McLean, helped with preproduction and casting and was even heavily involved in the editing process.

On the surface, The Belko Experiment is a violent, blood-soaked survival/horror film. Look a little deeper though, and you'll find it's also a very apt metaphor for the cutthroat nature of modern corporate America. A culture in which millions of innocent workers are routinely eliminated— not with an axe or a gun, but with the stroke of a pen by boardrooms full of soulless, unseen executives, whose only thought is pleasing their shareholders.

The film actually hit pretty close to home for me. In fact I've been part of several Belko Experiments in the past fifteen years or so. Many's the time I've witnessed management eradicate thirty jobs to save sixty, much like in the film.

I don't know if writer James Gunn consciously intended the film to be such a spot on satire of the ruthlessness of office culture or not, but if he did, then the man's a goddamned genius!

So far the film isn't exactly burning up the box office. After about two weeks, it's grossed around $7.5 million against its $5 million budget. Maybe they should have released this film in January or February when there was little or no competition, instead of putting it out opposite blockbusters like Logan, Beauty And The Beast and Kong: Skull Island.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Mike Milch (played by John Gallagher Jr., of 10 Cloverfield Lane fame) drives through a poor section of Bogotá, Columbia on his way to work at Belko Industries. Belko's a mysterious corporation that ostensibly provides American workers for Colombia-based businesses. It's a located in an ominous-looking seven story building, in the middle of the remote Colombian countryside.

As Mike approaches the front gate, he's surprised to see a group of heavily-armed security guards inspecting each car and asking for everyone's I.D.s. He finds it odd that the guards send all the Colombian national employees home for the day, but doesn't think more about it.

Inside, Mike greets Leandra, who he's secretly dating (apparently fraternizing with fellow employees is frowned upon). They're caught kissing by Barry Norris (played by Tony Goldwyn), the COO of Belko. He pretends he didn't see anything, and reminds them of a meeting later in the day. Leandra goes to her desk, where she's unnerved by Wendell Dukes (played by John C. McGinley), a creepy middle-aged employee who's constantly staring at her, and thinks she's into him.

Meanwhile, Dany Wilkins reports for her first day on the job at Belko. The HR Rep welcomes her, spouting expository dialogue about how Belko provides its American employees with generous pay, free housing and a company car. He asks Dany if she reported to the doctor yet. She says yes, but seems uncomfortable talking about it. The HR Rep explains that it's company policy that all Belko employees have a tracking device implanted in their heads, in case they're kidnapped in the potentially dangerous country.

The eighty employees go about their work for an hour or so. Suddenly a Voice comes over the intercom system, demanding their attention. Immediately a series of thick steel shutters slam down over all the doors and windows in the building. The Voice tells them they're all part of an experiment, and they have one hour to kill two fellow employees. If they don't comply, their mysterious captors will kill four employees at random.

The various Belko workers are puzzled at first, believing it's a prank. Panic sets in though, as they discover their land lines and cell phones are out. The terrified employees head for the main lobby, looking for a way out. Several head to the roof, looking for escape there. Barry makes an announcement, saying their intercom system has obviously been hacked, and urges everyone to stay calm.

Suddenly an employee's head explodes, setting off a mad stampede. The workers assume a sniper's shooting at them, as they try to hide under desks and chairs. Three more employees are killed, including one on the roof. A terrified Dany flees to the basement and hides.

Barry, who has an Army Special Forces background, examines one of the bodies and says it wasn't shot, as its head exploded outward. Mike realizes the trackers in their heads aren't locators at all, but explosives that can be remotely detonated! He grabs a box cutter, rushes to the restroom and tries to cut out his implant.

Apparently Belko has video monitors in its restrooms (not cool!) because the Voice give Mike ten seconds to stop what he's doing, or they'll detonate his implant. He tries to hurry and cut it out, but realizes it's hopeless, and puts the cutter down at the last second.

One of the employees sews up the back of Mike's head, while the others try to figure out how they can escape. Barry asks maintenance man Bud (played by James Gunn regular Michael Rooker) to try and use a cutting torch on the steel panels sealing them inside. Bud and his assistant Lonnie try the torch idea, but amazingly it doesn't even discolor the metal.

Barry asks Evan, the lone security guard, if there are any weapons in the building. He says yes— there's a large armory of guns for the protection of the employees in case of local revolutions or insurgencies. He refuses to give Barry the keys, saying he feels safer keeping them for now.

Suddenly the Voice returns, announcing that they have two hours to kill thirty fellow employees. If they fail to do so, this time SIXTY will be killed at random! Paranoia creeps in, as employees begin accusing one another of looking at them funny and plotting to kill them. There's a huge discussion among the remaining employees, with Mike on one side, saying there should be no more killing, and Barry on the other, who's actually entertaining the idea of killing thirty of them. The employees split into two factions and go to different parts of the building.

In the basement, Lonnie freaks out as he thinks Bud's after him. Bud tries to calm him down, but he crushes his skull with a large monkey wrench. Lonnie's then killed by another employee, as Dany watches in horror from her hiding place.

Mike's group decides to hang banners from the roof to call for help. On the way to the roof, Mike, Leandra and Evan see Barry, Wendell and Terry Winter using the welding torch to try and cut into the armory. Mike takes Evan's gun and shoots the welding tank (YIKES!), rendering it useless.

Mike and the others go up on the roof to try and hang the banners. The security guards on the ground see them and begin firing, forcing them to abandon the idea. On the way back down, Barry and Wendell ambush Mike and his group. Wendell fatally stabs Evan and takes his keys. Mike's knocked out, and Wendell takes Leandra captive. Barry uses Evan's keys to open the armory, and passes out guns to his "lieutenants."

Barry orders everyone to the lobby, and begins sorting through them. He orders all single employees, and those over sixty to line up against the wall and begins brutally and dispassionately shooting them in the back of the head, execution style. He's about to shoot Mike, when Dany, who's still hiding in the basement, cuts the power to the entire building.

In the confusion, Mike jumps up, grabs Leandra and runs out of the lobby. Barry and Wendell begin firing indiscriminately at fleeing employees. Suddenly the Voice returns, telling them their two hours is up, and they've only killed twenty nine people. True to the Voice's word, thirty one more heads explode (!), for a total of sixty. It then announces that whoever has the most kills by the end of the day will be allowed to walk out alive. Barry's in the lead of course, and begins killing as many of the remaining fifteen employees as he can.

Leandra's attacked by Wendell, who sleazily implies that he doesn't have to kill her— right away. She surprises him by hacking him to death with an axe, continuing to kill him long after he's already dead (What? That sentence makes complete sense!). She and Mike then find Marty (played by Sean Gunn), a cafeteria worker and conspiracy theorist, cutting implants out of dead employees' heads. When they ask him what the hell he's doing, he says he's going to somehow use them to blow open one of the steel panels and escape. 

Unfortunately Marty's shot dead by Barry. Mike grabs the implants from him and sticks them in his pocket (Plot Point!) and he and Leandra flee.

There are now only three employees left alive: Mike, Leandra and Barry.

LAST CHANCE TO AVOID ENDING SPOILERS!

Mike and Leandra hide in a storage cabinet. Suddenly Leandra slumps over, and Mike realizes she was shot by Barry. He tries to revive her, but she dies in his arms. Enraged, Mike flies out of the cabinet and attacks Barry. Unfortunately he's no match for Barry's Special Forces training, and gets his ass kicked. Barry starts choking the life out of Mike, as he desperately reaches for a weapon. He grabs a tape dispenser and hits Barry in the head with it, knocking him semi-unconscious. He then beats Barry to death with the heavy dispenser.

Suddenly the steel shutters raise, and the armed guards rush in. They grab Mike, who's now the sole survivor, and escort him to a hangar next to the building. Inside he meets the Voice— a middle aged man whose face is covered in burn scars. He says he's a social scientist, and this has all been an elaborate experiment (Yeah, we know, the title told us that) in human nature. They decided to conduct the experiment in Colombia in order to avoid the "legal entanglements" they'd face in the States.

He and his colleagues then begin asking Mike a series of inane multiple choice questions, to see how he's feeling at the moment. He sees a large switch board labeled with the names of all eighty employees, and realizes it's how they were able to remotely detonate the implants. Mike asks the scientists how they like their explosives. The Voice seems puzzled, and asks what he's talking about. Mike reveals he secretly planted the mini bombs that Marty collected on the guards and the Voice when he was brought in. He leaps up and hits all the switches (except his own!), and the implants explode, killing or incapacitating everyone.

When then see Mike on a video monitor, as he slowly stumbles out of the hangar. The camera slowly pulls back, revealing hundreds of other monitors, all showing single survivors. A different Voice announces it's time for Phase 2 of the experiment to begin...

Thoughts:
• I honestly don't have much to say about this movie, as it was a fairly straightforward story and I didn't spot many flaws in it. That's a good thing!

• The movie begins with a title card that reads, "An Orion Pictures Release." To quote Obi-Wan, "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time."

Orion Pictures Corporation was a prolific film company that produced and released numerous films from 1978 until 1999, when they unfortunately went bankrupt. Among their many releases were action films such as The Terminator and Robocop (the good one), comedies like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and even award-winning films such as Amadeus, Platoon, Dances With Wolves and The Silence Of The Lambs.

Apparently Orion must have ironed out their financial problems, because it looks like they're back! Cool!

• The movie takes place in Bogotá, Columbia, which, oddly enough, is where it was filmed. 

Um... hey guys, did you know you don't actually have to film a movie in the location in which it takes place? They have these places called "studios" now. Inside these "studios," Teamsters build things called "sets," that simulate various environments, such as a character's home or a working office.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably a lot cheaper to film in Colombia than in Hollywood, or Colombia offered the production a hefty tax break to shoot there.

• Despite the fact that James Gunn didn't direct his script, The Belko Experiment has his fingerprints all over it. It even features several stars from his stable of regular actors, including his brother Sean Gunn as Marty, the conspiracy-theorist cafeteria worker.

Sean Gunn also showed up in Guardians Of The Galaxy as one of Yondu's henchmen, as well as Rocket's on-set body double (clad in a bright green unitard!).

Speaking of Yondu, perennial James Gunn favorite Michael Rooker's also in the film, as Bud the maintenance man. This is the fourth time Rooker's starred in a Gunn-related film. He was in Slither, Super and Guardians Of The Galaxy. He'll soon be in a fifth— Guardians Of The Galaxy 2.

By the way, Bud's assistant on the right there is played by actor David Dastmalchian. All through the movie (well, up until the point where he was killed) I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where I'd seen him. Turns out he played Kurt, the computer hacker in Ant-Man! That means Dastmalchian, the Gunn brothers and Rooker are all Marvel alums!

• John C. McGinley plays Wendell Dukes, the sleazy office worker who's convinced that Leandra has the hots for him, despite the fact that he's twice her age. Once the Experiment starts, it doesn't take much to turn Wendall into a violent, rage-filled executioner who'll do anything to survive.

Wendall looks amazingly like Bob Slydell, the character played by McGinley in 1999's Office Space. I'm 99% sure that was intentional, and intended as an in-joke. 

Do you think Bob Slydell changed his name, moved to Colombia and started working for Belko? Does The Belko Experiment take place in the world of Office Space? Is this the start of the Office Space Cinematic Universe?

• As the experiment begins, The Voice proclaims there are eighty employees inside the Belko building. However, an overhead shot of the campus shows there are only about twenty five or thirty cars in the parking lot. Apparently there's a LOT of carpooling going on at Belko!

• If I had one complaint about the film, it's that it's filled with caricatures instead of actual characters. We get a few sketchy details about the three leads, and that's it. Everyone else is a standard office stereotype.

I suppose this was inevitable with such a large cast, as the filmmakers just didn't have time to flesh out every character.

Unfortunately that means the audience doesn't much care when they start dying. How could we, as three fourths of the characters don't even have names. It's shocking when they're brutally murdered, yes, but sadly not all that affecting.

• When Mike tries to cut out his implant, the Voice give him ten seconds to stop, instead of just instantly blowing off his head. 

Plot-wise, I get why they did this— because Mike is the "Final Boy," and needs to survive until the end of the movie. But I can't think of any in-universe reason for the Voice to warn him though. Wouldn't it have been an effective demonstration if they'd killed him, to show everyone else what happens to people who tamper with their implants?

• Kudos to the makeup team who worked on The Belko Experiment, who created some amazingly realistic and extremely bloody gore effects. Some of their work was actually a bit too real! If the sight of fresh brains sticking out the back of a person's head makes you queasy, you may want to skip the popcorn during this film.

• After The Voice orders the Belko employees to kill thirty of their number, Barry rounds up everyone in the lobby. He then separates the various employees, deciding to kill off anyone over the age of sixty, along with singles who don't have families or children.

As cold and soulless as that sounds, it's actually a very logical way to choose who dies. It feels exactly like how someone with a military background, like Barry, would handle such a situation.

• Mike sees Barry and Wendall using the cutting torch to try and get into the company's armory. He grabs Evan's gun and shoots the welding tank to stop them. Yikes! Welding tanks are generally filled with highly flammable gases, such as acetylene, propylene or propane. Somehow Mike, who probably isn't very skilled with a gun, manages to shoot the tank in just the right place to disable it, without causing a massive explosion. Even more amazing, the gas somehow doesn't continue pouring out of the end of the severed hose after he shoots it.

• It would not take much to tip this movie firmly into parody territory. When The Voice orders the employees to kill thirty people or he'll kill sixty, I could easily see Mike or one of the others saying, "Wait. Do you mean if we only killed ten, you'd kill fifty more to equal sixty? Or do you mean you'd kill sixty in addition to our ten? You're gonna have to specify here..."

• While watching the end credits, I noticed this line:

Costume and Wardrobe Department:
Melissa Agudelo Cañas— crowd costumer
Mabel Aguirre— costume assistant

Wow I bet they both had a lot to do. Why did they even need a costume department on this movie in the first place? Everyone's just wearing standard office clothing. They probably went to Colombian Sears and bought the entire cast's wardrobe in an hour.

The Belko Experiment is a brutal, violent and incredibly bloody survival/horror film, but it's also a perfect metaphor for the cutthroat world of the modern American workplace. It's also a very cynical look at human nature, and just how little it takes for us to turn on one another. It's definitely not for everyone though, especially those with an aversion to gore. I give it a B.

Daddy Issues Continued

Last week at the San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios released a ton of new info about their slate of upcoming movies.

Writer/Director James Gunn hosted a panel on Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, and at long last revealed that Kurt Russell will be playing the father of Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill. Awesome!

Russell's an inspired choice, as I could easily see him being father to Chris Pratt's character. Both have the same charismatic screen presence and cocky charm, and they even look a bit alike. In fact Pratt is sort of like the Kurt Russell of the new millennium.

On an odd note, Gunn stated that the character Russell's playing is Ego, The Living Planet. I honestly can't tell if Gunn is serious here or not.

In the comics, Ego is just what he sounds like— a gigantic, sentient planet that's alive. Kind of wondering how a planet can impregnate a woman, but I guess that's something we'll find out in the movie. Maybe Ego can possess random humanoids when he's feeling frisky?

I still think Ben Browder would have been a good choice for Peter Quill's father, especially since Farscape and Guardians Of The Galaxy are basically the exact same story.

Browder's John Crichton was a smart-alecky space pilot who constantly had to talk his way out of trouble. That pretty much exactly describes Pratt's Peter Quill character. In fact Pratt seemed to be channelling Browder's performance in Guardians. 

I knew this would never happen though. As much as I like Browder, he's just not a recognizable movie star, so his chances of being cast were slim to none. I'm happy with the Kurt Russell choice.

In other Guardians news, Michael Rooker, aka Yondu, released this photo of himself with his crew of Ravagers.

Looks like Yondu's finally getting his head fin! Woohoo!

That was one of my few complaints about Guardians Of The Galaxy. In the comics, Yondu is a blue alien with a large red fin on his head. For some reason, the movie version didn't have a fin. Instead he had what appeared to be a pale red soap dish glued to the top of his noggin.

I didn't get it. The movie already had a talking raccoon and a walking tree in it, but a guy with a fin on his head was a deal breaker? 

Glad to see Marvel Studios, stinging from the harsh words on my blog, has finally rectified this grievous error. 

Earth-1 And Earth-2 Collide

This is James Gunn, director of 2014's Guardians Of The Galaxy.

This is actor Tom Cavanagh, who currently plays Dr. Harrison Wells on The Flash.

Look at 'em! I pretty sure they're the same person. Gunn apparently uses a stage name when he auditions for acting gigs in his spare time.

Either that, or Tom Cavanagh is the Earth-2 version of James Gunn!

Daddy Issues

It was almost exactly one year ago that I reviewed Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy. I liked the movie quite a bit, and it's become one of my all-time favorites. I've watched the blu ray at least a dozen times since it came out.

That said, despite my love for the film, even I have to admit that it's pretty much just a big-budget version of Farscape.

Both feature an Earth man who gets transported to the other side of the galaxy and becomes part of a crew of wacky aliens on the run from a space empire (and everyone else). It's the exact same characters and story! There's the smart ass human leading man, the beautiful and deadly female assassin, the stoic, hulking alien strongman, the wisecracking diminutive alien, and the serene plant-like alien.

That got me to thinking... 

At the very end of Guardians, we find out that Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) is actually only half human. His father was apparently an extraterrestrial who visited Earth long enough to knock up his mother before returning back to space.

Obviously the identity of Peter's father is a huge deal, and will be dealt with in the sequels.

So here's my idea. Wouldn't Ben Browder of Farscape fame be the perfect choice to play Peter's father? Think about it. Browder's John Crichton was a smart-alecky space pilot who constantly had to talk his way out of trouble. That pretty much exactly describes Pratt's Peter Quill character. In fact Pratt already seems to be channelling Browder's performance.

Heck, Browder and Pratt even look remarkably alike. 

One small hiccup— Browder's only sixteen years older than Pratt, which makes him a bit young to play his father. A little bit of old age makeup would solve that problem though.

As cool an idea as this is, it'll never happen of course. Marvel no doubt will want to cast some distinguished older actor in the part, ala Michael Douglas in Ant-Man. Still, we can all dream.

C'mon, James Gunn! You're the director of these films. Make this happen! Don't make us stage a riot. You wouldn't like us when we're ang... whoops! Wrong movie!