Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I’ve had quite the superhero renaissance over the last few years, and it all started with James Gunn’s Superman. I saw that poster and trailer and immediately felt hope for the genre again. I felt many of the same feelings about Supergirl—my excitement most manifested in me reading the comic that this movie was allegedly based on—but those feelings waned as everyone on the internet started to see this movie and really not jive with it. I was hoping that I would see through all that noise and enjoy Supergirl anyway—and that sort of happened—but even among its successes, its flaws were apparent (and far too common).

I’ll try to keep my comparisons between the comic and the movie brief, but man, were these two stories different! While they had the same premise—Ruthye and Supergirl on a revenge tour—the ways in which they differed had me conflicted. Comic Supergirl was more mature, certain, and consistent—she knew her role as a do-gooder and served as a vehicle for narrator Ruthye to learn kindness and patience—but Movie Supergirl was in a very different stage of her life. Her uncertainty, rudeness at times, and lack of self-control with her powers felt antithetical to the comic, though if that’s where the DCU wants to start her story, I don’t have a problem with that. There were places where this switch worked, but I was definitely thrown off by the sudden change in character.

I enjoyed stretches of this story—especially the backstory flashbacks, which did a great job establishing Supergirl’s disillusionment and lack of home and purpose—but the writing as a whole made this a slog to get through. The dialogue was basic and occasionally cringy, and it usually reached for the most predictable beat or punchline. This script sorely missed James Gunn’s touch. He’s so good at writing sympathetic, imperfect heroes that are funny and emotionally intelligent, and Supergirl was missing both of those qualities (not for a lack of trying, though). I can’t pin any of these shortcomings on Milly Alcock, though; she was delightful as Supergirl, but the script made her ditzy and rude for long stretches. Alcock really excelled in the final emotional beats—the “it won’t take your pain away” line from the trailer was powerful in context—but they didn’t give her nearly enough opportunities to serve as that emotional rock for Ruthye.

The side characters were a mixed bag, too; none of them were outright bad, but their utilization was sometimes baffling. Ruthye changed the most from the comic—she was the narrator, in awe of and learning from Supergirl—but she didn’t seem to learn much here. The final lesson was intact, thankfully, but how they changed the ending was confusing at first. Krem isn’t killed on that beach in the comic, but I eventually came to appreciate the idea presented in the movie by Supergirl killing Krem there that she’s willing to carry heavy burdens like that for those she cares about. Both endings work! Sorry, I got off track—side characters! Jason Momoa as Lobo was super fun, but he was wholly unnecessary to the story. I bet people who didn’t even read the comic could’ve guessed that Lobo is nowhere to be found in those pages. I liked trying to add him in—apparently it’s been a dream of Momoa’s to play Lobo—and while he was great, his role here wasn’t.

I have more to say—like how Krem was lame because he was on-screen so much but written without motivation, or how well Superman was utilized in helping Supergirl find a sense of home on Earth—but this review is getting too long. Supergirl was not the movie I wanted it to be, but I still enjoyed myself. I just wish that the story wasn’t so derivative—it felt like they tried to make a Guardians of the Galaxy movie without considering what made those work so well—and had adhered more to the more unique comic book story. There were changes and additions that worked, but more often than not, Supergirl was throwing things at the wall, only to walk over to the wall and pick most of those things up off the ground.