Supergirl

by Mike McGranaghan

Superheroes are most interesting when they’re on Earth. Watching characters with special powers save regular people from potentially catastrophic situations is exciting. Putting those same characters into extraordinary circumstances where everyone has powers and everything is remarkable proves far less so. This is especially true with heroes like Superman and Supergirl. The whole point of them is to be exceptional in an ordinary world. DC’s latest release, Supergirl, makes the mistake of keeping the titular figure on other planets for the entire time. With no contrast between her and anybody else, the film becomes rather boring by the third act.

We meet Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) as she wakes up from another hangover. Her days are spent drinking and ignoring pleas from cousin Clark Kent (David Corenswet) to come to Earth. Kara’s I-don’t-care attitude is put to the test after she teams up with a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley) to defeat a common enemy, the space pirate Krum (Matthias Schoenaerts). Krum slayed Ruthye’s family and shot Kara’s dog Krypto with a poison dart. Their mission takes them to several other planets. They encounter fearsome bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) along the way.

This is an aside, but based on his look here, Momoa would kill in a Rob Zombie biopic.

Early scenes in Supergirl are kind of fun. Alcock is great as the hard-partying, tough-talking Kara. She goes against the grain of what we expect from superheroes, imbuing the character with a chronic sense of apathy. The actress earns laughs from her portrayal, suggesting that Kara is going to be the complete opposite of her goody-goody cousin. For whatever problems the movie has as a whole, Alcock was a fantastic choice to tackle the role, even if the screenplay doesn’t let her put on the actual Supergirl costume until the last fifteen minutes.

Once the plot gets rolling, the promise of those early moments starts fading at a consistent pace. Kara fights other aliens, all of whom have their own powers and weapons, yet no personalities. Krum’s only notable feature is having a couple hundred piercings on his face. No action takes place on Earth, leading to an overall lack of the playfulness that made James Gunn’s Superman such a delight last summer. There’s also a weird shift in tone once we find out Krum is a trafficker who kidnaps women to be child-bearing “wives.” Suddenly, the picture becomes darker – thematically and visually.

If that last bit reminds you of Mad Max: Fury Road, prepare to experience the sensation throughout Supergirl. The script by Ana Nogueira draws multiple influences from the Mad Max series. Most of what’s onscreen has been recycled not just from George Miller’s classics, but from a dozen or so other science-fiction tales. That includes Kara’s predictable arc about going from a dumpster fire to a heroine. Dull action scenes further dampen the entertainment value. Director Craig Gillespie (Cruella) shows zero flair for staging superhero combat.

Much has been written about “superhero fatigue.” Supergirl’s issues go beyond that, although the film does fall victim to the curse of seeming more like a product than a passion project. You can feel the “made by committee” vibe, as DC works to expand its cinematic universe. The infamous 1984 Supergirl, awful as it is, at least had the smarts to keep Kara Jor-El earthbound. Gillespie’s version, with Milly Alcock at the center, might have avoided its biggest problems had it followed that lead.

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