Review - Supergirl

Rating: 6/10

Director: Craig Gillespie | Screenplay: Ana Nogueira, based on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely | Cast: Milly Alcock, Jason Momoa, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Corenswet | Producers: James Gunn, Peter Safran | Cinematography: Rob Hardy | Runtime: 107 min | Rated: PG-13

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Supergirl wants you to know what it loves. It loves John Wick. It loves Mad Max. It loves Star Wars, and it loves Guardians of the Galaxy most of all. James Gunn has described the film as a cosmic fantasy western road trip, and that is exactly what plays out on screen: a bounty-hunt revenge quest across strange planets, scored to needle drops, powered by banter. There is even a stretch that lands somewhere between Loki and Deadpool in its winking, fourth-wall-adjacent energy.

None of that is a problem in itself. The problem is that the film so completely absorbs its influences that it forgets to bring anything of its own. If someone told me this was the next Guardians instalment with the serial numbers filed off, I would believe them without hesitation.

Beautiful to look at

Credit where it is due: Supergirl is a gorgeous piece of filmmaking. Craig Gillespie and cinematographer Rob Hardy fill the frame with texture and scale, and the interstellar production design gives every planet a distinct, tactile personality. Shot for shot, this is one of the better-looking entries the new DC slate has produced. When the film simply wants to show you something spectacular, it delivers.

The trouble is that spectacle is most of what it has.

Where is DC's identity?

The deeper issue is one of voice. Superman worked, whatever its critics said, because it had a specific point of view, an earnestness that felt like something. Supergirl has borrowed a house style from elsewhere and wears it convincingly, but underneath the polish there is no clear sense of what a DC cosmic film is supposed to be. The story beats are familiar the moment they arrive. You have seen this revenge arc, this reluctant-mentor dynamic, this find-your-family resolution, in a dozen other films, several of them made by the same producer.

And because the plot is so familiar, the emotional weight never lands. The film gestures at grief, survivor's guilt, and the cost of vengeance, but it moves too quickly and too glibly to make any of it hurt. By the time the story reaches for its big feelings, it has not earned them.

Milly Alcock is the reason to show up

What keeps the whole thing airborne is its lead. Milly Alcock is perfect as Kara, a weathered, jaded, sharp-tongued Supergirl who is nothing like her sunny cousin and is far more interesting for it. Alcock threads the needle between cynicism and warmth, and she carries scenes the screenplay does not deserve. She is a genuine star, and she is the single best argument for seeing this film.

Jason Momoa is the other. He was, frankly, born to play Lobo, a cigar-chomping, motorcycle-riding heavy-metal demigod who is having more fun than anyone else on screen, and lets you have it too. He is underused, but every second he is present, the movie comes alive.

The villains, though

And then there are the antagonists. Those were the villains? You have to be kidding me. For a revenge story to work, the thing being avenged has to feel dangerous, and the threat here never does. The film's bad guys are a look in search of a menace, styled to the hilt and dramatically inert. In a film already struggling to make its stakes land, a forgettable villain is close to fatal.

The verdict

Supergirl is beautiful to look at and easy to forget. It is a confidently made, visually rich film with no identity of its own, anchored by two performances that deserve a sharper movie around them. If you go, go for Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa, and go for the visuals on the biggest screen you can find. Just do not expect any of it to stay with you on the way home.

6/10, mostly for the visuals and Milly Alcock.