Supergirl – Review

Truth, Justice and Whatever. This non-chalant attitude and tagline established the foundations of a new Supergirl – the fifth live-action incarnation of the Maid of Might since 1984’s Supergirl – and what a refreshing take. Created in 1959 as a derivative of popular hero Superman, Kara Zor-El has served to be a female doppelganger of her younger cousin most of her life, and Craig Gillespie’s (I, Tonya, Cruella) takes the blue-eyed blonde and makes her soar.

That’s not to say that Milly Alcock’s (House of the Dragon) version surpasses those that have come before her, but what makes this second film stand out in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe (DCU) is that this Supergirl is not anywhere like her cousin, Kal-El aka Superman. She’s brash, stubborn, cocky, reactive, and doesn’t want to be the hero Kal is on Earth, so she has taken to the stars, and found refuge on planets circling a red sun – whose radiation makes her normal – as opposed to Earth’s yellow sun that grants all Kryptonians super powers.

And it’s easy to say that deviating from Gunn’s own Superman (2025) is a simple task – David Corenswet’s take on the Man of Steel lacks the honest sincerity of Christopher Reeve, nor does he possess the gravitas and majesty imbued by Henry Cavill, but that aside, Gillespie tackles a lot more in 108 minutes here, establishing a new take on Krypton with a lore that fills in some of gaps of a 67-year-old icon.

Like in the comics, Kara’s father, Zor-El (David Krumholtz, Oppenheimer) knows of Krypton’s impending doom, and develops a shield to protect the city of Argo, which breaks off from the planet when it explodes, and drifts in space. Unlike the comics that sees Zor-El send his young daughter to look after her cousin on Earth, this Kara was born eight years after Krypton’s demise, never lived on her home planet but was sent to Earth in Kal’s footsteps after Argo City turned into kryptonite and potentially killed everyone else on the floating rock. Unless Gunn’s upcoming Man of Tomorrow changes things…

This also serves to tie-up a plot hole, as to why Kara never told Kal that his parents want him to be a conqueror of Earth – she never knew his parents, and her parents are not like his. Oh, and yes, Zor-El and Alura, Kara’s mother, does reference Jor-El and Lara’s more nefarious intent for their son, so this seems to be a narrative trajectory Gunn and the current DCU wants to pursue.

Which makes Kara different from her cousin, somewhat but regardless, Kara has yet to find her purpose on her adopted planet and her cameo in Superman shows her as a hot mess and it is during one of her drunken escapades that she changes upon a young Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley, 3 Body Problem), who is seeking the head of Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts, The Old Guard), the villain responsible for the death of her family. Oh, and he’s also responsible for stealing Kara’s ship, and more importantly, poisoning her pet dog, Krypto, and there we have it – two young girls in space, one with powers, depending on the position and colour of a sun, and both with too much spunk.

Despite her desire to get drunk and party, there is good in Kara, and Alcock plays her quite nicely, with a dash of teen angst that occasionally delivers a sliver of heroism, though it also due to sheer luck that she manages to escape near death. 

Filmed with slick edits and an overabundance of music ala Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy over at Marvel Studios, there are too many similarities to Guardians, both visually and acoustically, as well as being identical in tone with George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and while the overall presentation is superior to Superman, the story is somewhat lacking.

Krem is a decent comic book villain, but he poses little to no threat to the Girl of Tomorrow, and the story from DCU writer Ana Nogueira doesn’t give Kara a proper nemesis – just a trafficker of little girls to contend with. She has to, naturally, prevent Rutheye from killing him, because it will “stay with her forever”, and preaches a morality code that was also already outdated in 2013’s Man of Steel, while making frequent incorrect judgement calls that gets her robbed, beaten, poisoned and almost killed one too many times.

The writing here suffers the same issue as the two previous cinematic attempts, in that they can’t quite capture the super in the character. Helen Slater’s original was a product of its time, and while it also provided a rich backstory to the character, her Supergirl failed to shine. Sasha Calle’s battle-hardened version from The Flash (2023) was a mere side character created to give that film some link to the wider universe and didn’t do much justice to the character. This means that both TV versions of the character – the hot-headed and no-nonsense one by Laura Vandervoort in Smallville, and cheerful, emphatic version played by Melissa Benoist from the Arrowverse continue to serve as the more definitive, though somewhat pedestrian live-action takes.

And as much as Jason Mamoa was appreciated as Aquaman in the previous DC film series, his Lobo here… is a mess. Mamoa presents the same angry, friendly banter that he does across his other films and ultimately, his presence in the film is nothing more than fan service. Even if Lobo isn’t in the movie, Supergirl would still have saved the day somehow, and no – Supergirl establishes that there’s absolutely no reason for a standalone film about the bastich.

Despite what naysayers have claimed of Alcock, in terms of personality and looks, she does present a more interesting take. Here’s hoping that she gets a further chance to soar higher than her predecessors and her cousin, and not end up as a well, whatever.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?