A One Mann’s Movies review of “Supergirl”. (2026, 3*, 12A).
Supergirl has appeared in multiple different forms since Helen Slater first donned the cape in the disappointing Jeannot Szwarc 1984 film, singularly failing to repeat the success of the Christopher Reeve series. When Supergirl appeared, and in style, in the form of Sasha Calle in “The Flash” it looked like she – the first Latina Supergirl – would be the face of the new franchise. But (despite having a multi-film deal with Warners) producer James Gunn went in a different direction and it was the relatively unknown Milly Alcock who burst, like a drunken ball of energy, into last summer’s “Superman“.
It seems that every female-centric superhero movie raises the online bile of incels everywhere – “Wonder Woman“; “Captain Marvel“, “Black Widow” – they all seem to have met with a degree of online abuse. And this film seems to be no exception: the film has a far from normal distribution of ratings on IMDB. But is this one really any good? Hm… well, it impressed in places. But that’s about as far as I’ll go.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Kara Zor-El – aka, Supergirl – (Milly Alcock) is on an interplanetary bender to ‘celebrate’ her 23rd birthday. There she runs into a vengeful Ruthye (Eve Ridley), pursuing the leader of the Brigands, Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), who murdered her parents. But Kara takes things personally when Krem poisons her dog, leaving her just 72 hours to acquire the antidote.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Moderate violence, threat, language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Milly Alcock, David Corenswet, Eve Ridley, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Momoa,
David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, Clara Rosager.
Directed by: Craig Gillespie.
Written by: Ana Nogueira. (Based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.)
Running Time: 1h 48m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film works best when it has Supergirl kicking ass. There are scenes in here reminiscent of the Mr. Terrific fight scene from “Superman“, where Kara cuts through a troupe of men like a knife through butter. The opening encounter with ‘Sklarian Raiders’ (led by a terrific Clara Rosager) was particularly good fun.
- The Krypton back-story (with David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham playing Kara’s parents) is well done.
- The aesthetic reminded me of “Mad Max: Fury Road” or “Furiosa“: there is a lot of grungy machinery and boy-toys on display.
- There are a few money shots of Supergirl that really work well: one where she rockets into orbit to express her silent rage and grief is particularly good: ‘in space, noone can hear you grieve’.
Negatives:
- Attempts to portray ‘peril’ generally fall flat. When Supergirl keeps getting poisoned with Kryptonite, you know she is going to just shake it off… there is not a modicum of tension developed in those scenes.
- What is the motivation behind Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts)? As a villain, he just seems to drift around being ‘bad’. Similarly, Jason Mamoa has a lot of fun with the biker-dude Lobo, but I had no real idea of what he was doing and why.
- I’m afraid Milly Alcock failed to pull off for me her “playing drunk” scenes at the beginning of the film. And I found Eve Ridley’s acting wanting at times as well.
- I know we’d be quick to complain if the film followed an entirely do-gooder line from beginning to end, but I found a murder of a father, mother and daughter mid-film to be particularly brutal for a 12A film. It rather soured the tone of the fun, frothy confection for me.
- Convenient isn’t it that Kara happens to be on a planet with an identical rotation to Earth such that “three rises” equates to 72 hours as well, LOL!
- Scenes with David Corenswet as Superman feel low-key and lacking in chemistry. This is particularly so with the final scene which ends on a complete whimper. Surely some Metropolis emergency could have led to the pair flying off to the rescue or something?
Monkeys
Curiously, for a film of this type, there are no “monkeys” either in the mid-credits or after the credits. Did the producers feel it was going to bomb in advance and deliberately not set up for a follow-on. (The film was also not press-screened in the UK which is often a sign of a lack of confidence.)
Summary Thoughts:
It’s a perfectly decent action blockbuster that kept my attention throughout. But I’m not sure I will remember this film in a month or two’s time. All in all, for such a big-tent summer item, I expected more.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1-pfiVMKAs.
* (No, of course it bloody doesn’t!)
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