Supergirl review – Milly Alcock plays Supergirl with conviction, but “Supergirl” around her can’t quite escape a bland, familiar adventure. The film’s opening swagger, its flashbacks, and a few sharp moments with Ruthye offer sparks—yet the overall story feels pedestrian, leavin
Milly Alcock’s Supergirl looks ready for lift-off long before the movie finds its footing. The trouble is that “Supergirl” keeps turning its bright lead into background noise, saddling her with a plot that feels assembled from well-worn parts instead of something that crackles with momentum.
The movie begins with Kara’s dog, Krypto, urinating on a newspaper while Kara is passed out nearby. Kara is celebrating her 23rd birthday on a faraway planet where the sun—unlike Earth’s yellow one—lets her actually feel what a weeklong bender is doing to her mind. She blows off a video call from a concerned Superman. heads back to the bar. and throws herself into a self-indulgent karaoke session. Then Ruthye (Eve Ridley) interrupts.
Ruthye is strident and determined, on a mission for vengeance after leather-clad Brigands kill her whole family. Kara isn’t inclined to help at first. but the stakes land hard anyway—because the same Brigands steal her ship and poison her dog. What follows is the kind of escalation you can feel coming long before it arrives.
Director Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya”) and screenwriter Ana Nogueira mine comedy from the friction between Ruthye and Kara. Kara sees Ruthye as a burden. and the movie leans into that idea as the pair ride an intergalactic bus. seek information at a bar. and end up in hand-to-hand combat. Ruthye is an impatient 13-year-old whose revenge focus is usually a weakness. Some of those beats work—especially when Ruthye’s certainty collides with Kara’s hungover refusal to be responsible.
There’s even a bus ride that stands out for its alien passengers and character design. the kind of imagination that calls to mind the Mos Eisley cantina in “Star Wars.” Seth Rogen appears as a tiny ticket-taker. and for a moment the film seems to remember what it could be: energetic. weird. and lightly unhinged.
But too much of the rest of “Supergirl” feels like it has been done before. The planets the duo visits lean on gray and brown sludge tones that suggest hastily assembled CGI. The Brigands—baddies in leather—look like rejected character ideas from “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Even head villain Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) doesn’t land with much impact beyond his punk rock aesthetics. When a cigar-chomping Lobo (Jason Momoa) shows up to introduce what the film clearly wants to be the next DC spinoff. the effect isn’t excitement. It’s a shrug.
Where the movie finally sharpens is when it introduces a series of flashbacks showing Kara’s upbringing. Meeting her parents and the rest of her Kryptonian counterparts gives the audience a clearer understanding of why Kara actively avoids taking on the responsibilities of Supergirl. The emotional groundwork is there.
The story just arrives too late to make that groundwork hit. Gillespie and Nogueira don’t place these flashbacks early enough for them to change the way the audience experiences Kara’s choices. The reviewer makes the point by way of comparison: when Massachusetts native Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story 5”) wrote an initial script for “Finding Nemo. ” the film didn’t begin with Marlin’s (Albert Brooks) wife dying and all of their eggs getting eaten except one; instead. the tragedy was introduced slowly through flashbacks. and early test screenings kept complaining that Marlin was too insufferable. Once Stanton ripped the band-aid off and put the personal tragedy at the very beginning. complaints disappeared because audiences immediately understood why the clownfish was so neurotic.
In “Supergirl. ” Alcock does a perfectly good job playing a hero whose weakness—beyond green suns and Kryptonite—is her unaddressed trauma. The performance works. What doesn’t is the film’s largely inert story. which leaves Kara without a stronger reason for viewers to root for her beyond the suit’s red and yellow S.
Rating: ** (out of 4)
“Supergirl” is in theaters now.
Supergirl Milly Alcock review Craig Gillespie Ana Nogueira Eve Ridley Matthias Schoenaerts Jason Momoa DC