The “Gunn-iverse Era” of DC Studios got off to a strong start last year with Superman, an adventure film filled with heart and memorable characters and even a lesson or two. Supergirl, the follow-up, is cut from the same cloth – lots of heart, a strong script, Krypto – and if it doesn’t land quite as hard, it’s still a very fun movie. Milly Alcock’s star turn as Kara puts her in the running for Best Female Superhero On Film Ever. Not that there is a lot of competition, but I’ll get back to that.
As we saw at the end of Superman, Kara is still dealing with the trauma of losing her entire family and planet. Unlike Kal-El, who never knew his home, Kara grew up in the refugee city of Argo, speaking Kryptonian and knowing her parents. The loss hits her hard and sends her to “red sun” planets where she can drink away the nights and sleep away the days.
Along comes Ruthye Marye Kroll (newcomer Eve Ridley), a young girl whose family has been killed by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). Ruthye comes into a bar where Kara is on a birthday bender and announces, Inigo Montoya-style that she’s looking for someone to help her kill Krem and achieve vengeance for her family. Kara declines, but does retrieve Ruthye’s heirloom sword in a barroom brawl that sets up her reckless nature with a nice set piece.
It turns out Krem is still on the planet, and he shows up at Kara’s spaceship and shoots Krypto with a slow-acting poison dart. Kara needs the antidote and Ruthye needs vengeance: off they go, red suns, yellow suns, green suns, Lobo and flashbacks along the way.
This plot will be familiar to anyone who read Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely – the film is a literal adaptation of the comic and that’s usually a very good thing! There is one major addition, Lobo, played by Jason Momoa, which is, on paper, also a good thing.
The best thing about Supergirl is that it takes its time to set up the plot. It’s a staple of James Gunn films that every character, no matter how small, has a motivation, and this keeps his movies grounded even when they fly off into one wild galaxy after another. Gunn only produced the film – Craig Gillespie directed and Ana Nogueira wrote the fine script – but his fingerprints are all over it.
Kara and Ruthye are doing John Wick and True Grit, respectively, only set in the Guardians of the Galaxy universe(comics accurate). Along the way they also reference Mad Max Fury Road, and every other movie where a hard-ass, cigar chomping mercenary has to help a young girl get revenge. Only in this case, the hard-ass is Supergirl and the cigar-chomper is a supporting character.
All these references and callbacks weren’t a distraction for me, anyway. The Matrix was based on a dozen movies but remixed them in a new and refreshing way. Supergirl isn’t as good as The Matrix, of course, but the plot makes sense, doesn’t escalate into silliness, and gives us a lot of reasons to want to root for Kara. And for once it gives us a superhero movie with a woman at the center who isn’t an idea of perfection, but has all the quirks and flaws that the guys get to have.
Milly Alcock is great. She pulls off Kara’s mix of self-destructive grieving and casual super strength perfectly, all disheveled blond hair and knowing smile. She makes Kara’s retreat away from power to a planet where she can feel things not only plausible but necessary. Supergirl is BRAT. But her gradual attachment to Ruthye and eventual heroic resurrection are earned, too. Nothing in Supergirl is too surprising, but it’s all satisfying when it happens.
Perhaps most satisfying is Kara’s relationship to Superman, seen mostly in flashbacks. A scene where Superman greets the newly arrived on Earth Kara sets up not just her dissociation but Superman’s own heroic motivations – it’s a powerful contrast that makes both characters stronger.
Risley’s Ruthye powerfully reminded me of Lyanna Mormont, but she pulls off the mix of resolve and vulnerability just fine. Krem is plussed up from the comics with a lot of metal facial embellishments, and his entire crew does seem to be an offshoot of the Ravagers from GotG, but, hey it worked once why not again. Schoenaerts avoids scenery chewing to present an antagonist who is scary but all too plausible.
Where Supergirl falls down is that it’s simply not as visually strong as some of its inspirations. Director Gillespie is best known for terrestrial dramas – I,Tonya and Cruella – and everything that happens is shot in a workmanlike style that tends to favor the humor and character, but flattens out some of the wonder.
I am sad to say that I think Lobo also falls flat a bit, even though he gets the Strider intro as a mysterious figure across the bar. The Momoa casting is awesome, but the character here works best as a Jack Sparrow like interloper, roaring in and out of the story on his interstellar motorcycle. It’s partly a logistical problem: Lobo is introduced as a god with amazing powers, but to have him show up and rescue Kara and Ruthye every time would undercut the whole premise. But instead of making a dramatic entrance every time, he just kind of put-puts in and out of the action. Maybe I was too excited about this casting for it to live up to my expectations.
I hate to make comparisons, but Gillespie just doesn’t have the visual flair to make Lobo as electrifying as he could be. In Superman, every time Guy Gardner came on screen I was catapulted into a happy place of total joy and satisfaction; Mr. Terrific stole the whole movie with a few lines. Not everyone is as good at making characters memorable in one shot as James Gunn, and Supergirl reminds you of that all the time.
As long as I’m making comparisons, whether it’s DC Films or DC Studios, they have done right by their female characters in a way the MCU can’t even touch. Wonder Woman solved the “problem” of showing a heroic, powerful woman by making her a heroic, powerful woman who does things. Birds of Prey was a pre-Pandemic theatrical flop but has grown in reputation on cable with Margot Robbie as a Harley Quinn who is also flawed and erratic but with her own agency. I’m on record with my adoration of THE Suicide Squad and Harley and Ratcatcher are the heart of the movie. No sexy lamps there.
By contrast, the MCU has just never known what to do with the ladies, aside from Black Widow and kind of Gamora and Yelena. Whenever Kevin Feige talks about making female-led films you can see his heart isn’t in it. Captain Marvel and The Marvels both suffered from a seeming uneasiness with making a movie about female superheroes that resulted in the kind of over-earnest “hey look every one, strong female characters!” presentation that never feels genuine. In addition, the ever-spreading cosmic threats they faced resulted in universe saving fatigue.
Kara is a messed up kid, and we understand why and get to watch her grow up a bit and rescue her dog. She doesn’t have to save the universe. She just has to save herself. It makes for a much better film.
The James Gunn Era of DC Studios has landed thus far with Superman, Peacemaker and Creature Commandos. Supergirl probably won’t rise to box office heights, but it’s another strong outing that introduces some key elements of the comics. Don’t let haters dissuade you from seeing it.
EASTER EGGS:
- At the screening I attended there was no after credits scene, and apparently there isn’t one? Another way to set the DCEU apart from the MCU.
- Among the planets visited are Bilquis and Holzher, named after the Supergirl artist and editor Brittany Holzher. The third planet is named Barenton, so make of that what you will.
- The “Special Thanks” comics credits at the end include:
With Deepest Gratitude
TOM KING and BILQUIS EVELY
Special Thanks
OTTO BINDER and AL PLASTINO
SIMON BISLEY
KEITH GIFFEN
ALAN GRANT
PAUL LEVITZ
STEVE ORLANDO
JAMES SHERMAN
ROGER SLIFER
CURT SWAN
By special arrangement with the JERRY SIEGEL FAMILY
- It is notable that the “lobby screen” or whatever you called it, included a QR code for free comics! I’ll take a look at Supergirl’s very interesting marketing efforts in a separate post.
- Argo City is portrayed as a domed city floating through space. I was relieved to find that it was not in a bottle, because that is Kandor, another retrieved Kryptonian city. I have to admit the whole “city in a bottle!!!” concept is one of those things that always made me feel a little queasy about the whole idea of DC continuity. We’ve come a long, long way from Mort Weisinger.
