Dallas Film Now.

Milly Alcock stars in director Craig Gillespie’s misbegotten adventure. 

If only superpowers were taken out of the equation. 

Written by Ana Nogueira — the first feature film credit as a writer for the actress — and directed by Craig Gillespie, who made a splash with Lars and the Real Girl in 2007, and has since built a respectable career, reaching a peak ten years later with ice-skating crash-and-burn drama I, Tonya, followed by Cruella, which exceeded expectations, there was every reason to believe that Supergirl would also be fresh and new, and also a bit different than James Gunn’s Superman. 

Originally created in 1959, Supergirl eventually inspired a film in 1984 (now streaming on HBO Max) and a television series beginning in 2015 (now streaming on Netflix), along with supporting appearances elsewhere. She re-emerged in Gunn’s Superman (now streaming on HBO Max), portrayed by Milly Alcock, along with her energetic superpowered dog, Krypto.  

What is truly odd about Supergirl is that it feels like it would work better as a straightforward character study of a young woman at a pivotal point in her life. Kara Zor-El is struggling with survivor’s guilt. She has yet to heal from the loss of her beloved parents and everyone else she knew and/or loved in cataclysmic events. 

She and her dog Krypto were spared because her father sent her to Earth to be with her cousin, Kal-El, aka Superman (David Corenswet). He’s a cool dude and all, but she can’t vibe with humans in general, a not-uncommon concern for young people in their early 20s. Instead, she spends time bopping around the universe with Krypto, drinking too much and fighting too much, without ever confronting her survivor’s guilt and her profound grief. 

Besides, it’s really hard to make friends when no one else has your particular set of problems. She is snapped out of her stupor when a young girl named Ruthe Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley) seeks her help after her family was slaughtered by a gang of ruthless bandits, led by space pirate / human trafficker Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). 

In the ensuing battle, Krem cheats by shooting Kara’s beloved Krypto with a dart filled with poison, for which he dastardly laughs and boasts about carrying the only antidote on his person. Thus, Kara must chase Krem and his gang in order to save Krypto and inadvertently help Ruthe too. In time, bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) joins in the battle, who doesn’t care about helping Kara or Ruthe, but gets involved anyway. 

There are red suns, green suns, and yellow suns, and a whole lot of hand-to-hand combat and hand guns that people shoot at each other. Eventually, Kara saves her dog, resolves her issues, and returns to Earth to help her cousin Superman. 

The action sequences are directed by Craig Gillespie as though he had never seen one before, so there is not poetry in the movements or in the framing; the action takes place, sometimes off-screen, and sometimes on, yet with little cumulative effect upon the characters; it just happens, and it’s a constant part of the movie, even as we know that Kara will be left for dead more than once and somehow survive to fly another day. 

Milly Alcock is quite good as Kara, though less convincing as Supergirl. The low-wattage movie that bears her superpowered name is quite alright as a non-apocalyptic adventure, though it never rises up to become essential. 

Is it worth the price of purchase or rental on Video On Demand services? Or do you prefer to wait for its physical media release on September 8? I’ve already seen it in a theater, so I’m inclined to wait for its streaming debut on HBO Max, probably sometime in the fall. 

The film is now available to rent or buy via various VOD services.