Supergirl is a far-from-super chapter in the latest iteration of the DC cinematic universe. Even so, it is not a disaster. If anything, this is a passable, unremarkable and serviceable superhero flick; a diverting-enough episode in a much larger franchise machine, rather than a film that manages to fully justify its own flight path.
Arriving after the success of Superman, Supergirl has the task of continuing this new DC era while also stepping out from under the cape of its predecessor. On paper, Kara Zor-El is an interesting counterpoint to Kal-El. She is not the clean-cut, aw-shucks symbol of hope who grew up on Earth with loving human parents and a Boy Scout moral compass. She remembers Krypton. She remembers what was lost. She carries grief, resentment and a far more bruised view of the universe.
That should make for a compellingly messy hero. The issue is that Supergirl keeps things on an all-too-simple register: she has trauma, so she drinks; there is a bad guy, so she helps; lessons are learned, punches are thrown, and the next piece of the universe is moved into place. Voilà. It sprinkles in some well-worn character beats and the occasional entertaining bit of action, but rarely pushes beyond the status quo.
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Australian filmmaker Craig Gillespie, who has proven himself a solid and stylish director with films such as I, Tonya and Cruella, seems to be working in a noticeably small creative sandbox here. This is not James Gunn directing (he’s producing), but the filmmaker’s imprint is all over it, and not in a way that does the film too many favours. There is personality here, certainly. The problem is that, at this point, this particular personality feels somewhat dated: the offbeat alien dive bars, the snarky exchanges, the increasingly self-aware needle drops, the messy-but-loveable antihero energy. It is aiming for a scrappy cosmic adventure, but too often feels like it is ticking off familiar “weird superhero road movie” boxes. You half expect Star-Lord and the Guardians to wander in from the Marvel soundstage next door.
Milly Alcock proves to be a charismatic enough Kara, balancing badass attitude with vulnerability without feeling overly forced. She has the right kind of edge for the role, and there are moments where you can see the stronger version of this movie trying to push through. Alcock makes Kara likeable without sanding away the character’s frustration or self-destructive streak, and she is at her best when the film allows that attitude to sit alongside something more wounded. The writing, however, does not give her much to work with beyond a now very familiar type of character. The grief is there. The drinking is there. The reluctance to do the heroic thing is there. But the film gestures at these ideas more than it properly explores them. It moves, it lightly entertains, but it does not pull you in.
The side characters are particularly indicative of the film’s fear of pushing too hard in any one direction. Ruthye, played by Eve Ridley, is likeable enough as a young girl out for revenge, and her dynamic with Kara gives the film its basic emotional shape. The big-sister/little-sister angle works in fits and starts, even if it rarely surprises. Jason Momoa’s Lobo, meanwhile, is an enjoyable addition — Momoa, doing a Momoa — although he barely passes the shoehorned radar in terms of how he is included and what he ultimately contributes. He brings some energy, but the film never quite makes him feel essential.
Krypto is also a missed opportunity. The loveable pooch is central to the plot, but with a story that puts him out of action for much of the runtime, he ends up feeling severely underused. That is particularly unfortunate considering this is Kara’s pet, not Superman’s, and there was an opportunity here to deepen that bond in a way that could have made the whole rescue mission hit harder.
As for the villain, Matthias Schoenaerts brings a nice level of sinister and intriguing charisma as Krem, but he is left under-utilised. He has presence, yet the film mostly reduces him to a caricature bad guy for the ass-kicking to come. There are hints of something nastier and more textured, but they remain just that.
Visually, Supergirl offers the now-familiar mix of CG artistry and CG haze, with a number of off-world locations that function more as filler-esque backdrops for action than memorable worlds in their own right. The environments are not without detail, but they rarely feel lived-in or distinct. The fights are mostly satisfactory, mixing the occasional longer take with CG-infused mayhem that proves diverting, if unremarkable. There is not much here that I would call disastrous, but very little truly pops.
That, ultimately, is the story of Supergirl: not terrible, not especially exciting, and nowhere near as distinctive as it seems to think it is. As a next step for this new DC universe, it does not derail the momentum so much as gently dampen it. There is enough in Alcock’s performance to suggest this Kara is worth bringing back, ideally in a story willing to push harder into her anger, grief and strange place in the universe. But Supergirl itself is content to glide where it should soar; a watchable superhero outing with sparks of personality, but not enough purpose.
