Supergirl is now in theaters, marking the next DCU outing following James Gunn’s Superman. The cast is decent. The visuals are good. The action works. There are pieces here that could have made for a much bigger, more epic movie.
But once again, the DCU has a problem.
Supergirl is not as bad as some of the reviews have made it out to be. It is not Madame Web. It is not The Marvels. I would not call it a complete disaster.
But it is another Hollywood misfire, and the biggest reason is the script and James Gunn.
Rating: 6/10
Note: Spoilers follow.
Milly Alcock Is Good As Supergirl
Milly Alcock is good as Kara. She has the right edge for this version of Supergirl, and she carries the movie well enough. Eve Ridley is also fine as Ruthye, and the two work together better than the script does.
Jason Momoa’s Lobo is also great. He steals every scene he is in, even if his actual entrance is oddly underwhelming. He just sort of appears in a bar sequence after Supergirl beats up a bunch of dudes, and apparently he was there the whole time. For a character like Lobo, that should have hit a lot harder.
David Corenswet’s Superman is barely in the movie, but I liked his small role. Corenswet continues to come off as a good actor and a solid Superman. The movie also sets things up so Supergirl can be involved in Man of Tomorrow, and that part does have me interested.
The acting really is not the main issue here.
The main character problem is Matthias Schoenaerts’ Krem, and that is not really Schoenaerts’ fault. It is what he was given to work with. Krem is bland, forgettable and meaningless. He feels like a generic space pirate, basically the Ravagers straight out of Guardians of the Galaxy, only without the personality.
Villains make these movies. James Gunn knows that. He has even talked about Marvel making that mistake with his first Guardians of the Galaxy. So there is no excuse for Supergirl having a villain this flat.
The Script Keeps Repeating Itself
The biggest problem with Supergirl is the script.
The movie does not feel like it has a real three-act structure. It does not build in a satisfying way. It feels like the same story repeating every 20 to 30 minutes.
Supergirl gets depowered. She chases the enemy. She fights the enemy. She gets powered up. Then she gets depowered again.
Rinse, repeat.
Sometimes it is a red sun. Sometimes it is a green sun. Sometimes it is a poison drink (wait, isn’t she Kryptonian and under a yellow sun???). Then, somehow, it is even Kryptonite.
There are supposed to be only two Kryptonians left in the universe, yet Krem just happens to have Kryptonite arrows sitting around. Why? Has he been saving them? Did he know Supergirl was coming? Did he know Kryptonians were out there?
The movie never makes that feel convincing. Nobody really reacts like Kara being Kryptonian is some shocking thing, either. No one seems stunned by Supergirl being Supergirl. The story just wants the Kryptonite arrows to exist, so they exist.
The same goes for Krypto getting poisoned. Supergirl has three days to get the antidote from Krem, but the obvious question is: why not take Krypto to a yellow sun? The movie explains that away by saying moving him will make the poison spread faster.
Fine. But it feels like the script plugging a hole, not the story naturally making sense.
Supergirl Should Have Been More Epic
The frustrating part is the first 20 to 30 minutes are actually pretty good. The setup works. There is a real story there. Supergirl could have been an epic vengeance movie with a bigger emotional punch and a stronger fantasy/sci-fi feel.
Once they decide to go to the planet where Krem is hiding, the whole movie starts to fall apart.
The locations start feeling the same. The scenes start feeling the same. The beats start feeling the same. Instead of getting bigger, the movie starts spinning in circles.
The visuals are good. The visual effects are good. The fight scenes are good. There are no big complaints there.
The music, though, is just okay. I would have liked it to sound more epic. The score feels too generic, which is also the biggest complaint about the movie itself. It needed more weight. More scale. More seriousness.
Instead, it gets undercut by the same James Gunn-style goofiness that Hollywood has beaten into the ground.
The goofy aliens. The goofy costumes. The goofy space suits. Milly Alcock’s tinfoil-looking spacesuit just looks dumb. Ruthye’s blow-up suit is just as stupid as Nathan Fillion’s suit in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
It all takes what could have been something bigger and makes it feel smaller.
The Revenge Story Does Not Add Up
The moral of the movie is also a mess.
Ruthye comes from a warrior family. Her father makes legendary swords and weapons. Her mother tries to fight. Her brother is part of that world, too. This is a family built around warriors, weapons and combat.
But the movie’s big message is that revenge is bad, killing Krem will destroy Ruthye’s soul spirit, and she needs to rise above it.
Meanwhile, people are dying all over the place.
Supergirl tells Ruthye not to kill Krem, but by the end of the movie, she tells Ruthye to keep making swords and weapons like her father. Weapons that are obviously going to be used to kill people.
How does that add up?
The movie wants the emotional weight of a vengeance story, but it also wants to wag its finger at revenge. It wants Ruthye’s family legacy to matter, but it also wants the audience to treat the act of killing Krem as some line that cannot be crossed. It does not work.
The Divisive Stuff Is Back
Then there is the usual divisive material.
What should have been an epic vengeance movie turns into an eye-rolling anti-male campaign where the men are to blame and the women carry the trauma.
The rumors about Krem and his pirates trafficking girls turn out to be right. Supergirl and Ruthye have a conversation about why she is called “Supergirl” and not “Superwoman.” Krem is a white dude. He kills an Asian family. He kills a Black family.
The message is not subtle.
It feels like the same kind of divisive material that has shown up in Creature Commandos, Peacemaker and even Superman. It also sure feels like Gunn took a pass on the script and injected more of it.
Superman is James Gunn biggest mistake — and intentional
And yes, the movie also doubles down on the Jor-El problem from Superman.
Supergirl’s dad makes a remark about Jor-El sending Superman to conquer Earth. Then he basically tells Supergirl what Jor-El is traditionally supposed to tell Superman, about being a hero and doing good. So now Supergirl gets the better Superman message than Superman does. She’s the real Superman.
Eye roll.
It comes off like another FU to fans from Gunn, who did not like the Jor-El change the first time. Instead of walking it back, Gunn doubles down (we dive more into it here).
The movie starting with Krypto pissing all over Superman, says it all: what it says is that James Gunn should have never been allowed anywhere near Superman.
Krypto Is More Of The Same
Krypto is also starting to feel played out.
Yes, the dog is cute. Yes, audiences like cute animal sidekicks. But Hollywood has been leaning on this trick for years. Baby Groot. Baby Grogu. Cute dogs. Cute mascot characters. It is all starting to feel the same.
Supergirl needed to feel like something new. Instead, Krypto becomes another example of the movie leaning into familiar, market-tested cuteness when it should have been pushing toward something more epic.
Final Thoughts
Supergirl is not terrible. Milly Alcock is good. Eve Ridley is fine. Jason Momoa’s Lobo is great. David Corenswet continues to work as Superman. The visuals are strong, the action scenes are good, and there is enough here to keep the movie from completely falling apart.
But the story and the script are not there.
The villain is bland. The movie repeats the same beats over and over. The plot holes pile up. The moral of the revenge story does not make sense. The goofy costumes and aliens undercut the bigger fantasy/sci-fi feel. The divisive material is back. The whole thing feels too generic when it should have felt epic.
Supergirl could have been something special. Instead, it gets weighed down by a script and direction that do not add up.
It is not as bad as I thought it would be, and it is not as bad as some critics have made it sound. But that is not exactly a glowing endorsement.
Rating: 6/10
