Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, on a galaxy-wide birthday bender, is pulled into a young girl’s quest for revenge in Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl. The second DCU film is a fun, quick-paced, albeit saddled with a generic plot and villain, space adventure.
This time last year, James Gunn rebooted the DCU cinematically in his Silver Age-loving image with his spectacular Superman, a film I called the movie of the summer and ended up in my top ten (Creature Commandos, animated series, was the official restart, premiering on TV six months before). That film ended with the tease of Milly Alcock’s Kara, aka Supergirl, showing up inebriated to pick up her wild dog, Krypto, from her cousin, Clark/Superman. Now, she has her solo adventure, written by Ana Nogueria from the uncredited 2021 Woman of Tomorrow series by Tom King (READ IT!) and directed by Craig Gillespie of the excellent Fright Night remake and I, Tonya. Overall, while lacking Superman’s weight and exuberance, Supergirl is a fun space-adventure, a self-contained side story focused more on character and personal stakes than world-changing threats. The plot is a tad annoying and generic as a fetch quest, and the villain is a plot device with a name more than a character, but that doesn’t distract too much from the rollicking fun, thanks to the energy of the actors and overall sense of the telling.
Milly Alcock, best known until now as younger Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, is the latest to put on the cape as Supergirl, after the cinematic 1984’s Helen Slater and The Flash’s Sasha Calle; along with TV versions via Laura Vandervoot and Melissa Benoist. And no, this film has nothing to do with the 1984 schlockfest, thankfully avoiding any winks, sly or direct, to that film. It’s so weird ot hear people out in the world call it a remake. Friends, even with any issues with the film (though overall a fun, highly enjoyable adventure), Alcock’s got it. Her Kara is a troubled woman, trying to find her place in the universe. Clark might not remember Krypton and the society, but she does, having spent most of her days on the isolated bubble of Argo City, the last vestige of the once great civilization. Her life of uncertainty and having it swept out and setting up a new life on a new world, she sees herself as more honest than Clark’s optimism, spiraling her into a wild, untethered bender of survival. That’s how we meet her: celebrating her 23rd birthday by attending a red sun (for Kryptonians, yellow gives powers, red neutralises) fueled personal pub crawl to try to escape those demons bouncing around her skull.
It’s meeting Ruthye that gives her a purpose and the film a plot. Played by a wide-eyed and full-of-heart Eve Ridley, she’s on a quest. Villain Krem, Matthias Schoenaerts, trying to make the best of the unwritten part, is a bandit, traveling the worlds gathering women and weapons. In Ruthye’s case, Krem lands on their isolated planet and kills her family, putting her on a path to revenge. At a bar, looking for someone to help her, she gets stomped on, putting Kara in the way to help her. Things come to things, and Kyrpto is made sick by the villain, leading both women to the same purpose: find Krem. So yeah, it’s very much a space western, akin to True Grit, another Lone Wolf and Cub narrative. Kara and Ruthye learn and grow from one another. The innocent ready to lose her innocence for revenge, and the experienced, who has also known loss but is processing it in a different way. Both are well drawn, developed, and performed, and Alcock and Ridley have fantastic chemistry.
Mixed within this is Jason Momoa’s Lobo. I’m always glad to see Momoa having fun. His natural charisma and likability elevated Aquaman as a highly entertaining character, rising above the dourness of the Snyderverse. With the reboot, Gunn has found a way to keep him, but now as Lobo, the demi-god bounty hunter first introduced in 1983, created by Roger Slifer and Keith Griffin, and used as a parody of grim and gritty characters, but became well known for just that in the 90s by those who couldn’t see the satire. Lobo is pure 90s edgy extreme with his devil-may-care attitude, murderous tendencies, and flying motorcycle. He’s kinda awkwardly shoved into the plot, in a weird backdoor pilot sort of way, but Mamoa makes him a blast to watch. He has a sort of wild Michael Keaton energy, and I’m all for it. You wanna get nuts? Let’s get NUTS!
Gillespie and Noguiera, as guided by Gunn (one can feel Gunn’s influence over the film), keep things moving, never slowing down from moment to moment; even if not on the run from the latest threat, everything moves it forward, especially in the wonderfully timed flashbacks to fill in Kara’s backstory, avoiding an early exposition dump or on-the-nose/as-you-know-Bob dialogue. They let her character be shown in her actions and writing as she is before digging in, but also in the speed, nothing hits strongly and sticks around. The plot is point-to-point with little return to the characters and places left behind. Go here, now go here, fetch! Come to a place, get in trouble, get into a fight, get more info, and move on. Within, there’s some chat about female empowerment, underestimating the main pair and other women, and levels of abuse within the often cruel and uncaring universe, but it’s sadly a little lip service. Nothing cringe or forced grrlpowr, but also not well explored, in the “if we don’t do this, culture is going to call out.” Ultimately, the focus is on finding kindness (which is punk, remember) in the worst of situations, and what’s worse than trafficking? 
On a technical standpoint, Supergirl is a mix. The action set pieces are well put together, even if a CG sheen is evident (sometimes too evident), and often use the set-ups for clever effects. With most planets and sets pretty much looking the same, overly CG in that way, along with a nothing villain, the film, around the fanatic character use, comes a bit generic. However, I appreciate the sheer amount of production design on more awesome aliens that you can shake a Mos Eisley Cantina at; with a solid mix of practical, CG-touched practical, and fully CG. There is a sense of detail mixed within;
Even with noted issues, Supergirl is a solid continuation of the universe James Gunn is setting up. While nothing of the plot looks to have little to do with the overal arch of the DCU, thisis total fine. Nothing wrong with a one-shot, even early into the cycle. Kara Zor-El is given a fantastic character and a great performance by Milly Alcock, and I can’t wait to see how she factors into next year’s Man of Tomorrow.