Supergirl Review

[00:00] After crashing through the fortress of

[00:01] solitude to pick up her dog, Kara Zor-El

[00:04] is back in Supergirl. It's a

[00:06] hard-drinking, isolated version of the

[00:08] character in a movie that brings a lot

[00:09] to like, from western tropes to needle

[00:11] drops. But, for every dog that needs

[00:14] saving and young child that needs

[00:15] role-modeling, can this rough-and-tumble

[00:17] Supergirl be a new enough take on these

[00:19] tropes to really soar? Or is it more red

[00:22] sun than yellow? I'm Clint Gage, and

[00:24] this is my review of Supergirl.

[00:26] >> Two tickets from that dive bar.

[00:28] >> Funny.

[00:30] That's what I've been calling you.

[00:32] >> Touché.

[00:36] >> Going into this movie, I was excited. I

[00:38] had real expectations. Before we even

[00:41] get to the DCU of it all, I'm officially

[00:43] a fan of Craig Gillespie. He's a guy who

[00:46] makes movies that are all better than

[00:48] you'd think they'd be. In Cruella and I,

[00:50] Tonya, and Lars and the Real Girl, and

[00:52] even Finest Hours, that boat broken half

[00:55] rescue movie was surprisingly really

[00:57] good. And these are movies that could

[00:58] have easily become forgettable entries

[01:01] in their particular genres, like just

[01:03] another biopic, or another live-action

[01:05] remake, or another movie about who's in

[01:08] love with the sex doll. So, the prospect

[01:10] of tackling a superhero movie with that

[01:12] particular ability to elevate a film in

[01:14] an otherwise tired category was

[01:17] intriguing. And where the DCU is

[01:18] concerned, I'm here for James Gunn's

[01:20] universe. I've liked what's gone into it

[01:22] so far, and I loved Milly Alcock's first

[01:24] appearance as Kara in her cameo in

[01:26] Superman. I think this version of

[01:27] Supergirl is a blast, and her solo

[01:29] outing didn't do anything to change my

[01:31] mind on that front. But, this is also

[01:33] where Supergirl starts to become a tale

[01:35] of two movies. And for everything that

[01:37] the movie does right, that thing's got

[01:39] an alter ego that's doing it a little

[01:41] wrong. As a result, the movie is this

[01:43] shuffling few steps forward, few steps

[01:45] back kind of slog that never really

[01:47] finds a rhythm. For example, the

[01:49] reluctant hero thing is actually very

[01:51] difficult to pull off. It's hard to play

[01:53] I don't care in in engaging way, because

[01:56] if the character on screen doesn't care,

[01:58] then I certainly don't care either.

[02:00] Alcock manages it here about as well as

[02:02] you could hope for.

[02:04] >> Let's be honest, babe. [music] It's not

[02:06] a very

[02:07] high bar to clear.

[02:10] >> Kara is a mess and there's [music] no

[02:12] real concern with her ever not being a

[02:15] mess as part of her journey. It's very

[02:17] fun. And the other side of that coin,

[02:18] however, is that she doesn't have much

[02:21] of a journey. She's not a markedly

[02:23] different person [music] at the end of

[02:24] the movie than she is at the beginning.

[02:26] And not because of anything she did or

[02:27] didn't do as a character or an actor,

[02:30] but because the story she's been put in

[02:32] doesn't give her much to do at all. And

[02:34] the result is a movie that sort of

[02:36] flattens out and drags. And when she

[02:38] first meets Eve Ridley's Ruthie, the

[02:40] young girl out for revenge against the

[02:41] man who murdered [music] her entire

[02:43] family, Kara is protective, sticking her

[02:45] neck out to do the right thing for a kid

[02:47] who's in over her head. And by the end

[02:49] of the film, Kara does exactly the same

[02:52] thing. And part of the point there is

[02:54] that it highlights the impact she has on

[02:56] Ruthie. Ridley ultimately gets the

[02:58] lion's share of the character work in

[02:59] the film and her character's journey

[03:01] winds up feeling far more complete than

[03:03] Kara's.

[03:06] >> He has 3 days. You cannot give up on me.

[03:11] >> So, while Milly Alcock's performance is

[03:13] a real strength of the movie and she

[03:15] does pull off the reluctant hero trope,

[03:18] it is a very familiar trope and the

[03:20] shorthand that's used in portraying it

[03:22] is a real [music] weakness. Familiarity

[03:24] in general is another villainous plot

[03:27] Supergirl tries to thwart. [music]

[03:28] On one hand, the movie wears its

[03:30] influences proudly. The comparisons to

[03:32] James Gunn's work on Guardians of the

[03:34] Galaxy have been obvious since the

[03:35] trailers first dropped and we knew the

[03:38] True Grit archetypal Western structure

[03:40] would be a big part of the film because

[03:42] of the source material, Tom King's Woman

[03:44] of Tomorrow run.

[03:45] >> [music]

[03:45] >> A Mad Max influence is just as obvious

[03:47] in the grimy, lifeless terrains and

[03:50] dying worlds on which most of the movie

[03:52] takes place. Planets where people

[03:54] scratch for survival, but the old

[03:56] reliable Mos Eisley Cantina should get a

[03:58] shout-out as well. The alien design and

[04:01] practical makeup effects and costuming

[04:03] throughout the movie are genuinely

[04:04] top-shelf. And clearly the customers in

[04:07] Star Wars' most wretched hive were on

[04:09] the filmmakers' minds. [music] And yet,

[04:12] while I'll happily take True Grit meets

[04:14] Mad Max by way of Guardians and Star

[04:16] Wars, there still manages to be a dulled

[04:18] edge to the whole movie. Instead of

[04:20] taking the post-apocalyptic vibes of Mad

[04:23] Max, [music] they lift a whole plot

[04:24] point straight from Fury Road and handle

[04:26] it, frankly, a little clumsily. And

[04:28] instead of the emotionally relevant

[04:30] needle drops of Guardians of the Galaxy,

[04:32] Kara gets slow-paced montages set to a

[04:34] Jimmy Eat World cover that I found

[04:36] baffling.

[04:37] >> Your eyes are beautiful, you proud

[04:40] >> [music]

[04:40] >> Luthor

[04:43] >> The film's two other headliners fall

[04:45] into these buckets as well. Matthias

[04:46] Schoenaerts as the film's villain, Crim

[04:48] of the Yellow Hills, looks incredible.

[04:51] His whole appearance would make the

[04:52] creature design team from A New Hope

[04:53] proud. The beads studded into his face,

[04:56] the machinery grafted into his body, the

[04:59] weird little red button he needs to

[05:00] activate to speak, all of it adds up to

[05:02] a striking and genuinely pretty cool

[05:05] image that would have felt at home in

[05:06] the Thunderdome. But, they don't ever do

[05:09] anything with it. Crim, for all the

[05:11] post-apocalyptic biker gang aura he

[05:13] generates, gets nothing else to go on.

[05:15] He has some affectations that

[05:17] Schoenaerts is clearly having a good

[05:18] time with, like how he's eating

[05:20] something in almost every scene, but

[05:22] that's really all they are,

[05:23] affectations. There's nothing that makes

[05:25] him scary or formidable other than a few

[05:27] throwaway lines about his relative

[05:29] strength and the way other people on

[05:31] screen are afraid of him. Meanwhile,

[05:32] Jason Momoa's Lobo finds his way into

[05:34] the movie as well. And the mostly

[05:36] impervious anti-hero bounty hunter is

[05:38] just as much fun as fans have been

[05:40] anticipating. Now, cigar chomping gets

[05:43] thrown around a little excessively

[05:45] anytime a J. Jonah Jameson or a Hellboy

[05:48] or a Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum from

[05:50] Independence Day show up on screen, but

[05:52] Momoa more than earns that descriptor in

[05:54] all the best possible ways in Supergirl.

[05:57] He looks the part as well with face

[05:58] paint and prosthetics [music] that cut

[06:00] the kind of imposing figure the fan

[06:01] favorite deserves. But, Lobo doesn't

[06:04] need to be there. [music] Characters

[06:06] come and go in movies. Sometimes with

[06:07] very little fanfare, sometimes playing

[06:09] crucial roles in the story, and they

[06:11] don't always have to be the latter. The

[06:13] issue with Lobo is that he feels like

[06:16] extra tacked on. [music] The one major

[06:18] scene he has with Kara has real reshoot

[06:21] energy. It's added on to a scene that

[06:23] didn't need any extra motivation to get

[06:25] to the next scene. Nor is he a

[06:27] particularly unique foil for Kara that

[06:29] propels her character in any meaningful

[06:31] way. He just happens to be looking for

[06:33] the same group of guys that Kara and

[06:34] Ruthie are after. [music] The only real

[06:36] added value he gives the movie is a few

[06:38] admittedly fun one-liners, and [music]

[06:41] maybe that's all Lobo needs to be.

[06:43] Ultimately, he only shows up to put his

[06:45] immortal stamp of approval on Kara's

[06:47] actions, but that feels both unnecessary

[06:49] and frankly more than a little

[06:51] pandering, and it leaves me not entirely

[06:53] sure what to do with it.

[06:55] >> Stop.

[06:57] You're hurting my head.

[07:01] >> So, the story of this movie continues to

[07:03] be they did it right on one hand, but on

[07:06] the other hand, not so much. And as just

[07:08] the second entry into Gunn's DCU, that

[07:10] issue spills over into all the stuff

[07:13] that comes with being part of a

[07:15] currently expanding expanded universe.

[07:17] On one hand, Supergirl needs to continue

[07:19] building outwards to some extent,

[07:21] [music] and this is another of the

[07:22] film's strengths. Her scenes with David

[07:24] Corenswet's Superman are wonderful.

[07:26] That's not to say that Superman saved

[07:28] the day here, or that Supergirl needs

[07:30] Superman to be interesting. It's the

[07:31] dynamic between the two of them that is

[07:33] great. One positively [music] looking

[07:36] towards the future, while the other

[07:37] still nurses old wounds. I'm definitely

[07:40] looking forward to more of this duo on

[07:42] screen. But, on the other [music] hand,

[07:44] where her solo film is concerned,

[07:45] Supergirl needs to flesh out Kara's

[07:47] backstory. And the structure of how and

[07:50] when flashbacks are deployed in

[07:51] Supergirl aside, because my personal

[07:53] preference would have been a [music]

[07:54] straight chronological telling of this

[07:56] story as opposed to stopping in the

[07:58] middle to tell [music] us her backstory,

[08:00] I did find myself way more interested in

[08:02] her time growing up on a floating

[08:04] lifeboat of a city after the destruction

[08:06] of Krypton. Now, there's work being done

[08:08] there on both fronts as the film [music]

[08:10] continues to build on the changes made

[08:12] to Kal-El's origin story from Superman,

[08:14] while also introducing another side to

[08:16] that story via Kara. The present day of

[08:19] the film, with all the cribbing from

[08:21] True Grit and Mad Max and Guardians,

[08:23] feels far [music] less fresh and

[08:24] interesting than Kara's shielded

[08:26] childhood on Argo. Again though, this is

[08:29] Supergirl's biggest challenge. There are

[08:31] a lot of things [music] that work

[08:32] throughout this movie,

[08:33] but there are just as many reasons why

[08:34] they don't quite add up.

[08:37] >> He sees the good in everyone.

[08:39] And I see the truth.

[08:42] >> And so, I'm giving Supergirl a six. Kara

[08:45] Zor-El's standout moment in Superman

[08:47] gets a feature-length follow-up that

[08:48] almost gets everything right.

[08:50] Unfortunately, that means it gets

[08:52] everything almost wrong as well. Milly

[08:54] Alcock is great as Supergirl, carrying

[08:57] the weight of real trauma and cementing

[08:59] a very cool dynamic with her on-screen

[09:00] cousin. While the alien design and

[09:02] practical makeup effects make the film a

[09:04] joy to look at. Jason Momoa's Lobo and

[09:07] Matthias Shonarts Krim [music] are just

[09:09] as cool visually, but unfortunately,

[09:11] they also don't have a lot to offer in

[09:13] this entry in the burgeoning DCU that

[09:15] treads more water than I would have

[09:17] liked.

[09:18] >> Now, let's party.

[09:19] >> Oh, that might be a problem.

[09:22] >> That is what I think of Supergirl. Let

[09:24] me know what you think in the comments

[09:25] below. And for more movie reviews,

[09:27] you're already in the right place. Be

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