Supergirl: Truth, Justice… Whatever

Throughout the press campaign for Supergirl, it was driven home by cast and crew alike that Kara Zor-El was a messy human being. Lost amongst the stars and wallowing in her loneliness, the chance for this film to resonate with modern audiences and continue the cultural impact of the new DCU was high. However, as the credits rolled, an overwhelming sense of dread settled over me. Supergirl was simply okay, its derivative flaws and shoddy pacing weighing down a film that had all the resources to be great.

The film pulls directly from Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, a miniseries created by Tom King and Bilquis Evely that is nothing short of raw and imaginative. It was the storytelling equivalent of a five-star meal at a dive bar. Its feature film adaptation, however, is the creative equivalent of a gas station sandwich, getting the job done with minimal satisfaction. Its script is underbaked, its presentation laughable, and its recipe cut from a list of ingredients you’ve seen implemented in a better fashion nearly everywhere else.

For every idea of note introduced, the film cuts its potential down to a digestible boiling point that lacks any impact. Its thematic throughline, its main antagonist, and the emotional trauma Kara is trying to wrestle with are presented with such surface-level confidence that none of it sticks the landing. Almost every character, aside from Kara herself, is severely underdeveloped to the point that I found myself wanting more not out of enjoyment, but out of malnourishment.

There is little time to simply sit and exist with the themes and plot beats because of a choppy editing style that moves a mile a minute while leaving no room for investment to build. Each action scene is visually muddy, and the overuse of needle drops carries little weight, often clashing tonally with the events of the story and failing to blend with the film’s audio design. The result is an incredibly noisy viewing experience that lacks craft across the board.

Even Jason Momoa’s Lobo is a souring disappointment. His role in the film encapsulates many of its larger problems. He simply shows up, goes undercooked in his relationship to our heroes, and is presented with so little visual creativity that he would feel right at home in a cosplayer’s fan film. Every scene featuring him feels engineered to generate excitement without the legwork, leaving what should have been a memorable debut totally disposable.

That being said, the shining star of this film is Milly Alcock as the titular heroine. Her charisma seeps through all of Kara’s pain and helps form a character worth investing in. While the script may not dig into her personal struggles nearly as well as it should, the personality on display and the future potential of this interpretation at least left me excited to see more. Even if her debut fails to establish strong footing, Alcock herself proves that there is still something worth building upon.