Photo via IMDb
By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
Another summer blockbuster – another massive disappointment. “Supergirl” is the latest entry into the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) and it tries so hard to be the next “Guardians of the Galaxy” meets “Mad Max,” but forgets a key component that made those films great: the writing. The characters lack that dynamic quality and the story is rudimentary at best, leaving audiences aggravated once again with DC Studios’ film treatment of the comic book source material.
Unlike her infamous cousin, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), aka Supergirl, is plagued by the memories of her parents, whom she watched die a slow torturous death before being sent to Earth. Attempting to numb her feelings through a bottle, she crosses paths with Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), who shoots her dog Krypto with a paralyzing poison that will eventually kill him. She teams up with an unlikely companion, Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a young girl who seeks revenge against Krem for killing her family. Together, they race across the galaxy in pursuit of the antidote and vengeance, finding another strange ally in Lobo (Jason Momoa) along the way.
Not since 1984 has “Supergirl” been given the solo cinematic treatment, and it is better than its predecessor but that’s a very low bar to clear. Australian director Craig Gillespie helms this latest superhero attempt, and he only succeeds in making it completely indistinguishable from every other superhero movie. It’s as if he simply watched a bunch of comic book films and pulled ideas from those to lazily construct this movie that has no identity of its own. He attempts a visual display of explosive action sequences, but they fail to register much excitement without any emotional connection or much of a threat to the main characters. His lack of experience directing action shows, with battle sequences that are poorly edited and obscured with simplistic cinematography and fight choreography. The generic display is further dampened by CGI and obvious green screen use. Once again, that dog looks completely fake and digitized like he did in “Superman.” Gillespie tries to imitate “Guardians of the Galaxy” with a similar brand of humor to give it that action/comedy vibe, but it ultimately feels forced and falls flat.
As much as Gillespie’s direction may be lacking, the screenplay written by Ana Nogueira is far worse. For starters, the characters are horrendously developed and utilized, especially the antagonists. The Brigands led by Krem all look and act like rejects from the “Mad Max” set without any sense of purpose or direction for their actions. They just run around blindly causing havoc and mischief, making them a pointless group of hooligans and fodder for the protagonists. The story itself focuses so much on how the main character’s body reacts to the different colored suns as a constant method of nerfing the main character’s abilities. The story also includes a secondary protagonist plot centered around revenge that is as emotionless as one of Superman’s silly robot friends. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s even an odd human trafficking subplot haphazardly thrown in that is weakly developed.
The movie really should be titled Kara Zor-El instead of “Supergirl,” because Milly Alcock doesn’t become the titular character until the very end. Despite the poor writing and questionable character direction, Milly makes the most of it, creating a compelling character who is very different from Superman. Her performance saves this film from being a complete disaster, supplying interesting emotional depth to this impulsive character. And even though the dialogue is rough, she sells the line delivery with as much natural conviction as she can muster. Milly will continue her progression with this character in the next Superman sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” releasing in 2027.
The rest of the supporting cast, with the exception of Jason Momoa, compounds the poor writing with even worse acting. Eve Ridley, making her feature film debut, is supposed to bring the emotional weight of the grief/revenge plot, but is only able to muster the emotion of a cardboard box. Her facial reactions are flat, her line delivery is flat, her impact is flat. Matthias Schoenaerts is unconvincing as the space pirate, unable to overcome the lackluster writing to breathe any life into this bland character. He easily becomes one of the more forgettable villains. Jason Momoa, on the other hand, gives his typical scene stealing performance that brings chaotic violence mixed with humor, similar to his performance in “Fast X.” The casting choice to include him in this movie, however, is an odd one considering he was just Aquaman (another prominent DC character) three years ago.
This DC superhero flick feels like the vast emptiness of outer space, dull and uneventful. “Supergirl” trips on her own cape and faceplants before she can ever truly get off the ground. The film is so meaningless it does not even warrant a trip to the couch to view at home let alone a trip to the theater.
This movie earns:
