I really wanted to love Supergirl, I really did.
This is, after all, the sophomore film from the new DC Studios under James Gunn, who delivered my favorite depiction of Superman last year, and it stars Milly Alcock, who is tremendous and can do no wrong. It is based on one of my favorite comic books of all time, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which elevated the iconic hero into mythic status in a fantastic journey across the stars that was part fable, part coming-of-age story.
So why is the big-screen adaptation so small, so inconsequential, and more interested in the men in Supergirl's life? Why, at a time when every film clocks in at two plus hours, is it cut within an inch of its life at just under an hour and forty minutes? Why are the directing duties in the hands of Craig Gillespie, who has but one stylistic trick to his name? Where is the pathos and bittersweet epicness of Tom King and Bilquis Evely's brilliant comic?
I do not have answers to these questions. Taken alone, any one of them is survivable. But packed together like this, they overwhelm even the most graceful material. It is entirely thanks to Milly Alcock that Supergirl works at all. She is as superlative in the leading role as David Corensweat as Superman. She just needs a better film around her.
Supergirl takes the barest framework from the comic it adapts. On a remote planet, young Ruthye (Eve Ridley) lives in peace with her family. One day, they are attacked by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), who murders everyone but Ruthye. In despair, she seeks a hero to accompany her on a quest to kill Krem, but finds Kara, Supergirl (Milly Alcock), who is equally lost and troubled. Together, they set off to find Krem and, hopefully, save Ruthye's soul in the process.
The closest stylistic comparison Woman of Tomorrow has is True Grit, specifically the Coen Brothers adaptation from 2010. It is a sombre tale of hatred, regret, and the high cost of living beautifully staged as an epic road trip with cosmic action.
The film, however, is more in line with Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad in tone. It is a murky, ugly affair, with odd tonal shifts, unfinished plot points, and a pointless, unwelcome cameo from Lobo (Jason Momoa), who doesn't fit into the film at all.
It shifts the weight of the story from Ruthye to Kara, who races against the clock to save Krypto, her dog, whom Krem poisons with a slow-acting but deadly venom. In mere moments, we go from the murder of an entire family to the sole focus of saving a cute CGI animal, and the whiplash is jarring.
Later, we learn that Krem and his band of Brigands lead an all-male society, where they traffic young women into sexual slavery to continue the line of marauders. This storyline is interrupted by a wisecracking Lobo, who arrives to hunt just one of the Brigands, and we spend quite a bit on this. Eventually, this entire part of the story goes away. Perhaps the problem is solved entirely on a galactic scale, but who knows? The film certainly doesn't care.
Then there's the story about Kara overcoming her survivor's guilt from Krypton, her relationship with Superman, her blossoming friendship with Ruthye, and the case of kidnapped wives for the Brigands, who appear only as plot devices for a few minutes. We also learn how parts of Krypton survived for a time after the great destruction, how Kara met Krypto, and, eventually, what it would take for her to find a new home.
That's a lot for two movies, let alone one, and Supergirl moves at such a breakneck speed that almost none of it gets time to breathe. When Ruthye tearfully tells Supergirl that she knows the goodness in her, I couldn't help but wonder how. They've barely spoken beyond expository dialogue, and almost every single bit of character development has been cut.
Yet there's surprisingly little action in the film, despite the constant hurry. Gillespie struggles to frame even a simple fight sequence coherently, and any hope that the grandeur of Supergirl taking on thugs in space is lost when even the IMAX projection looks muddy and unclear. Supergirl's big fight at the end is undermined by Lobo, who steals the show only to disappear into his own film, and there's an odd emphasis on how both he and Superman react to Supergirl's choices throughout.
Even as the film delivers the final blow in its misunderstanding of the source material, it is juxtaposed with a proud Lobo nodding at how Supergirl made him proud. But why should that matter? Why would the approval of an anti-hero whom Supergirl barely knows mean anything to us? Beats me, and the film certainly has no interest in expanding on that.
Similarly, there's a huge emphasis on Superman, who appears multiple times throughout the film. He's there to remind us that all this connects to a renewed cinematic world that still holds great promise. But all it does is take away from Supergirl, who rarely gets a chance to do her own thing.
Singular moments still surprise and delight. Alcock is tremendous as Supergirl, and her only quiet moment with Ruthye, where she tells of the tragedy of Krypton, is an easy highlight. She slips into the iconic role as if she always belonged there, and projects the vulnerability, power, and timelessness with grace. This film would not work without her.
Likewise, Eve Ridley does a lot with very little, especially as the script seeks to cut everything interesting about the character in the adaptation. Even so, Ridley shines, and her chemistry with Alcock works even when everything else doesn't.
Supergirl feels like the result of a rushed edit. It is choppy and oddly paced, both too long and too short at the same time, with a clumsy script that occasionally hits upon a great line or two. Gillespie's directing is flat and lifeless, and the biggest culprit why the irreverent tone fails to connect. This is a film in desperate need of a clearer voice and someone who understands why this material is so special. Gillespie leans on the work of others and brings nothing to the table that is his own. It leaves Supergirl a shapeless mismash of better influences when her first outing should be so much more.
DC has already done the hard work in finding Milly Alcock in the leading role. Now, they need a film worthy of her star power. As of now, this isn't it, and what a shame that is.
