Supergirl Delivers Killer Performances, But Its Real Kryptonite Is Bad Writing

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 13 seconds ago

Last year, James Gunn’s Superman blew audiences away by introducing an infectiously fun alternative to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU helped mainstream the snarky-but-nonthreatening school of “well, that just happened” humor, Superman offered a cinematic universe that took its cues from the titular hero. It was bright, colorful, and delightfully earnest from beginning to end. Walking into Supergirl, I was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately, the movie is a large step back for the DCU, one that is constantly biting Marvel’s style. It wants to be DC’s Guardians of the Galaxy; instead, it’s dangerously close to being DC’s answer to Thor: The Dark World.

Like that infamous Marvel movie, Supergirl presents great performances from its lead actors. Milly Alcock is effortlessly great as the woman of steel, and in his brief appearances, David Corenswet is all colorful confidence and charisma. Jason Momoa, meanwhile, is so perfect as Lobo that you’ll be clamoring for a solo movie after his very first scene. Unfortunately, great performances aren’t enough to create a great movie, and like Thor: The Dark World Before It,  Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl suffers under the weight of mediocre writing, murky cinematography, and poor chemistry between otherwise strong actors. Overall, it has great moments, but they are stifled by missteps that serve as the film’s fatal Kryptonite.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Bark

Supergirl’s story begins with her traveling the universe with Krypto, her faithful dog. She’s doing a kind of intergalactic pub crawl to celebrate her birthday, but to get properly drunk, she has to hang out on planets with a red sun, which nullifies her powers. Eventually, some Brigands steal her ship, and their leader shoots Krypto with a poison that only he can cure. This forces Supergirl to travel the galaxy with a surprise companion: a teenager whose entire family was slaughtered by the Brigand’s boss, leaving her with nothing but a keen blood and a keener taste for vengeance.

There are several things Supergirl does very well, starting with its featured performers. Milly Alcock is perfect as the titular heroine and gives a surprisingly complex performance. The character is not just a superpowered badass: she’s also a young woman caught between the trauma of her past and the challenges of building a future for herself. She’s also constantly worried about Krypto, as the power pooch has only three days to live. The role arguably asks more of Alcock than Superman asked of David Corenswet, and she handles everything with a vibrance and versatility that will leave you hungry for more Supergirl appearances in the future. 

Fun (But Cheap) Thrills

Speaking of Corenswet, he appears very little in this film, but he remains an inspiringly optimistic hero, one that Alcock’s snarky heroine bounces off of. However, Corenswet may now have competition for the coolest dude in the DCU thanks to Jason Momoa. The former Aquaman actor is the spitting image of Lobo, one of the most over-the-top characters DC ever created. He steals every scene he’s in, and it’s not hard to see why: Lobo’s whole role in the film is to drop hilarious one-liners and then aura farming his way through fight scenes. Momoa has wanted to play this character for years, and his passion for the role shines in every scene.

One of Supergirl’s other great strengths is its humor. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as Superman, the movie has several solid gags throughout its svelte runtime. Plus, it’s almost impossible not to laugh whenever Lobo opens his big mouth. There are some great action scenes, including a climactic final battle that shows just how dangerous Supergirl can be when she finally unleashes her full powers. Throw in some other memorable characters, hilariously irreverent dialogue, and a genuinely unpredictable plot, and you have a superhero film that’s relatively good. Unfortunately, DCU guru James Gunn needed this second DCU film to be really great, and in that, it misses the mark.

It’s All Downhill From Here

A major problem with Supergirl is the pacing. The film can never quite decide whether it wants to be a relatively sedate space road trip or an action extravaganza, and it settles, quite frustratingly, right in the middle. There’s plenty of world-building going on as Supergirl treks through the stars; unfortunately, the world it builds just isn’t that interesting. Many of the alien designs are just aggressively boring, and the villains (extraterrestrial brigands named, well, the Brigands) are painfully one-dimensional. That’s especially true of Krem, a Big Bad with no personality or defining traits other than leering menacingly at the camera from time to time.

When Supergirl decides to deliver the goods (like with the aforementioned climactic battle), it’s truly awesome, offering audiences everything they bought a ticket for and then some. Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many of these scenes, and when we do get an onscreen fight, there’s a 50/50 chance you won’t be able to see much of anything. That’s partially due to the baffling choice of having Supergirl’s coolest moments from the first half of the movie basically happen offscreen while other characters hard. And it’s partially due to the movie looking inexplicably dreary: outside of the title character’s colorful uniform, the film largely alternates between muted grays and piss filter yellows. 

A Movie That Keeps Missing The Mark

The final sin of this film is that there is surprisingly little chemistry. I just never really felt much of a connection between Milly Alcock and Eve Ridley, who plays the most annoying genre trope of all: the kid sidekick. Unfortunately, their relationship is meant to be the beating heart of the movie, which is probably why much of Supergirl feels so lifeless. Our heroine similarly has no chemistry with the Big Bad or even with Lobo; in fact, she is ultimately just one more character for him to bounce funny one-liners off of. Eventually, things just get stale, especially because we all know that Supergirl’s cute dog will ultimately be just fine.

The result is a decidedly mixed bag. Supergirl isn’t a bad movie, and if you’re a DC fan, you’ll find plenty to enjoy. But it’s not a great movie either, especially for a film that has to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Superman. The action is solid…when you can actually see it. The performances are awesome, but nobody has any chemistry. The effects are great, but the designs are awful. It’s a hodge-podge of a film that makes for a modestly entertaining way to kill a summer afternoon. But it’s ultimately a movie that squanders the talents of Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa while killing almost all the forward momentum of this burgeoning cinematic universe.