Supergirl

 Over forty years since she made her big-screen debut, Supergirl made her cinematic comeback in the closing minutes of last year’s Superman. She now headlines the second film in the new DC Universe, which also shares her name. Let’s fly to it.

Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock), and her superdog Krypto are out pub-crawling across the universe for her 23rd birthday. They specifically travel to planets with red suns, where her Kryptonian powers—and thus her alcohol tolerance—won’t work. On one planet, she meets young Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), who is looking for someone to help her find Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), the brigand who killed her family. Kara’s not interested until Krem steals her ship and shoots Krypto with a poisoned dart. Krem carries the antidote.

With three days to save Krypto, Kara & Ruthye head off to space. They are eventually joined by the bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa), who has his own score with the brigands. The rest of the movie has them pursue Krem and dismantle his human trafficking operation. Kara also embraces super heroics, a bit like her cousin, Superman (David Corenswet). I think that’s pretty much it.

The Tom King miniseries, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which Ana Nogueira’s screenplay specifically adapts, was pitched as basically True Grit in Space. While the plots are identical, LaBoeuf & Cogburn’s roles are switched between Kara & Lobo. Krem, obviously the Tom Chaney analogue, is a scumbag, and that’s it. He’s too flat to be memorably detestable. Kara pleads generic platitudes with Ruthye about how killing Krem won’t make it better for her. Is there something I missed?

Throughout the film, we see flashbacks to Kara’s life on Argo City, which temporarily survived the destruction of Krypton. They’re scattered around, but they’re compelling enough as they explain Kara’s cynicism. The best ones show us how she met Krypto during her mother Alura’s (Emily Beecham) funeral. Beecham & David Krumholtz, as Kara’s father Zor-El, are pretty good as the story’s big goods. Their screentime is brief, but they share a few great scenes with Kara. It’s easy to feel bad for Zor-El when he realizes how he accidentally doomed Argo to death by Kryptonite.

Although Kara doesn’t immediately jump in to fight evil, you’ll be glad when she does. That much is obvious when she battles the Skalarians, a trio of space pirates, in an extremely long plot detour topped by a cool fight scene. You’ll easily believe in her goodness when she fights a jerk who steals Ruthye’s treasured sword. Her devastation is palpable when she inadvertently gets a civilian family killed. In the finale, she’s incapacitated by Kryptonite twice (the first time in the form of a green sun!), which is just excessive. Her screentime with Krypto and Superman, while brief, is still enjoyable enough. Overall, Alcock is a good Supergirl with an average script.

Ruthye exposits how Krem murdered “her innocent family” so much that it’s practically her catchphrase. It even annoys Kara at one point, so points on that. Ruthye is mostly fine, but she shines when she breaks herself and Lobo out of a brigand cell. Speaking of Lobo, Momoa looks and acts like the comic character made flesh. In his backstory, according to Kara, he massacred his own planet, but he’s not that dangerous in person. He’s still fun enough. The funniest supporting characters are the driver (Paul Hunter) of the Space Bus the Skalarians hijack, and his miniature assistant (Seth Rogen). 

The most memorable thing about Krem is his space punk aesthetic. He's not alone, as the makeup work is spectacular, whether it's for the eclectic aliens, Lobo himself, or even Kara dying from Kryptonite. Production Designer Neil Lamont and costume designers Michael Mooney & Anna B. Shepherd show off their best work on Argo City. The visual effects are pretty nifty, especially when the planet Barenton is bathed in green sunlight! While I prefer some of Jerry Goldsmith's opulent work for the 1984 film, Claudia Sarne's score is not too bad. The main theme, in particular, is appropriately moody. I didn't object too much to a few needle drops; I'm bringing this up because I've read a few reviews that have.

This take on Supergirl is just fine. It's got some good stuff, including a strong lead, that needed better execution. Hopefully, this is just a minor stumble for DC's new world of Gods & Monsters (that's what they're calling this phase of their new cinematic universe). I'm still waiting for this fall's Clayface, and next year's Man of Tomorrow, so there's that. Perhaps time will be kinder to Supergirl; as of now, it's just a decent afternoon matinee. I think I said enough.