Gillespie, Craig (Director). (2026). Supergirl [Film]. Warner Brothers Entertainment.
First of all, I should say that my expectations for most DC movies, aside from Batman, are pretty low. I think they have been struggling to energize the franchise the way that Marvel has. Therefore, I did not go into watching this movie with super high expectations, and being that my introduction to Kara Zor-El was Helen Slater in 1984, I didn’t know what to expect.
Overall, I did enjoy the movie. There was one minor adrenaline moment in the movie, which is better than none. I did learn to appreciate and like Milly Alcock’s version of Supergirl. And frankly, any movie which centers around a dog (Krypto) is hard not to like at some point, but there are some things I don’t like. But first, let’s discuss the premise.
Supergirl is out in the Universe, in her own spaceship, with her dog Krypto, drinking and fighting her way around the galaxy on planets with red suns, so that she can feel the effects of the alcohol, to numb her difficult memories. Then, when she hurts or gets a hangover, she holds up on a planet with a yellow sun for a while to regenerate. While in this middle of this self-defeating spiral, she meets Ruthye, a 13-year-old whose family has been killed by Krem and is looking for vengeance. At first, she tells Ruthye she won’t help her, even after Krem shoots Krypto with a poison that will kill him in three days and steals her ship. Kara is determined to focus on saving Krypto only. However, Ruthye keeps popping up, and eventually Kara sees in her something of herself, and declares she will help her, In this effort, she finds that the Brigands, the band that Krem runs with, has been abducting girls and women to become unwilling “brides” so that the Brigands can further their all-male race. That leads to some complications when the Brigands lure Kara and Ruthye to a planet with a yellow and a green sun, the green sun which will kill Kara. Then they abduct Ruthye. The rest of the movie is them attempting to defeat the Brigands, in particular Krem, save Krypto, and incidentally, save “the brides.” Then Supergirl will decide what she wants to do with her life.
Now on to the parts I had a hard time with.
While I do love Krypto, I do not like all of the CGI. I know you can’t get an animal actor to do everything Krypto does, but some of his actions and expressions are not terribly realistic, though yes, I do know that CGI is incredibly difficult to generate. But, when it looks less than realistic, for a dog, it breaks the flow of the movie and the story, especially because when the CGI is spot on Krypto is ADORABLE and a menace, and I love him. In fact, he is what got me to watch the last Superman movie.
Then there is the villain, Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts. I love Matthias Schoenaerts performance in “The Old Guard,” and he is a disturbing villain in this movie. Sometimes he is too much to take, and other times it feels like he is holding back. So, I can’t tell if that is the actor or the editing, but it makes the character difficult to believe in (as a villain) and hard to track.
I also had difficulty, in the beginning, watching Supergirl binge drinking, fighting, and partying, but given the context (she was older when she left her parents and planet than Clark, so has more trauma tied up with loss and starting over on a new planet) and that the first Supergirl movie had her character played as VERY naive, it makes sense that I would have a little dissonance there.
That being said, in general the effects were good. Characters and space creature development was fun and varied and I have seen worse super-hero movies do better at the box office. So, what gives?
Part of me thinks, it’s the female superhero subgenre. Superhero movies and comics have been strongly regulated, or in some cases, dysregulated, by some very opinionated men who have a very specific ideas of what a female character should do and/or look like in a comic book or comic book movie. The controversy, and less than stellar box office performance of “Captain Marvel” or “The Marvels” comes to mind immediately. (I love Captain Marvel…even though it is not perfect).
Then you have your purists who object to changes made to character arcs, appearance, and storylines from the books. I get that, I do. But SO many were able to look the other way, eventually, with Marvel movies that had a lot of machismo. So, you can’t tell me that a female led superhero movie with the same level of sarcasm, intellect, and action, theoretically, couldn’t also get around that objection.
Then there is the subject of human trafficking and subjection of women. That topic, while it is very much happening today, might be too “icky” and on the nose for some people to feel comfortable with, but those are exactly the sort of issues that people DEALT with in comics to begin with! They would tackle what felt uncomfortable, in a less threatening, more accessible manner, than say, the news and would bring attention to local and world issues that needed to be addressed. But there are those who will say, they just want to watch a movie and forget about the world for a while. I get it. But, some of these issues are woven into the story lines of those other movies we watch. Is it just that they were done more subtly, and thus, they became more palatable? Is it because it came with a whole host of larger, more well known actors/star power? Who knows, but these are things that we need to be thinking about. The fact that female superhero movies are being made is a step forward, but if nobody shows up for them like they did for these big budget male led comic movies, they will start to step into the background again. I think that would be a shame.
Regardless, for the most part, I think the movie was decently made, and while it is not immediately re-watchable as many times as I have rewatched other comic book movies (and I don’t think that had anything to do with the acting…I think the acting was pretty phenomenal), I might rewatch it again and I think more people should give it a chance.
Recommended Ages: 10 and up