Words by JANE CROWTHER
After catching a tantalising glimpse of hungover Supergirl in DC’s universe re-boot starter Superman last year – and meeting her pesky canine, Krypto – James Gunn gives us a feature length adventure with the 23 year-old Kara (Milly Alcock) from Krypton as she chases a McGuffin across galaxies and discovers her true potential. A shame then that the film does not realise its own promise of being a true girl (super)power movie and a convincing entry in the case for a revamped DC.
We meet Kara on a birthday bender, bar-hopping from one intergalactic dive to another, chasing the bottom of a bottle on red sun planets where her powers are sapped so the booze hits harder. While her perky cousin Supes (David Corenswet) facetimes from earth to check on her status, she wears kookie sunglasses, doesn’t brush her hair and wears a ratty Blondie t-shirt to denote unresolved trauma – her primary-coloured suit discarded on the floor of her filthy spaceship. Kara needs a mission and she gets one when she crosses paths with a plucky teen girl, Ruthye (Eve Ridley) and the baddie who killed the kid’s family, Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). In the ruckus Kryto is poisoned and Kara has only 72 hours to find the antidote…
Along the way; a sex trafficking plot lifted from Fury Road, creatures that might be at home in The Mandalorian (including a Seth Rogan-voiced teeny cute alien) and Jason Momoa as Lobo, a bounty hunter with Kiss make-up and the role of encouraging the audience what to feel with snarky asides. He’s a literal cheerleader for Supergirl, turning up and commenting on her fighting prowess and spunk as she has similar (CG murky) fights on three different planets. Naturally she learns something about herself along the way, but it takes her 80 minutes to put on the suit.
With its female-led action and the genuinely charming Alcock in the cape, Supergirl could have been an exciting feminist take on the genre, digging into gender-specific emotional baggage and the specific scorn/criticism reserved for women in the public eye. But a clunky line about why Kara is Supergirl not Superwoman and skimming close to the Bechdel Test do not make a refreshing take. Women still exist in this world merely to be butchered, kidnapped and raped to further plot, and Supergirl only really comes alive when in counterpoint to Superman. The chats the duo have where he is all aw-shucks optimism to her world-weary sarcasm work so well that there’s guilt in wishing there was more of the Man of Steel. But based on Alcock’s verve and ability to elicit feels, the potential here isn’t wasted. She is the goodness shining in a dark world, in every way. Perhaps her next adventure will give her more to do.
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Supergirl is in cinemas now
