Supergirl is very disappointing. While this was always doomed to fail due to the sky-high expectations after James Gunn's new DCU debut, Superman, being a resounding success between critics and fans alike, what's causing so much more disappointment is that this will inevitably be compared to 2025's Superman, which is a fight it simply can't win.
I'd classify this as a "hindsight failure", in which you walk out of the cinema thinking about how much fun you had, until you then talk about it, or even think more deeply, and you realise you're able to see so many more problems than you originally thought the movie had. It's a great cinema experience, but not a great movie.
This immediately sets its tone in the most literal way possible. The opening scene has Krypto drop a needle, which is something that happens a lot here, and proceed to piss on the events of 2025's Superman. That is exactly what this movie can be summed up as, in all the best ways... mostly.
I will say, a few of the needle drops do feel somewhat out of place. I feel as if this is because the movie is constantly chasing a Guardians of the Galaxy, early 2010s superhero movie vibe, which is simply something that fans have moved on from, partly due to oversaturation. Many parts of this movie feel as if they're chasing that Guardians allure, but just falling short. Not just in the music but the humour, too. Even though this isn't written or directed by James Gunn, it still feels as if it carries some of his trademarks, failing to devote itself to Kara Zor-El's tone.
The reason I think a few of the needle drops may not work quite so well is that, in any moments where it is trying to be Guardians of the Galaxy, it doesn't commit. It feels as if it's trying to balance its own unique vibe with an unoriginal one from the 2010s, causing a lot of visual and auditory confusion. These components would often be great on their own, but wouldn't mix well.
One thing I loved was how many of the fight scenes were shot. They'd be focused entirely on Ruthye, with any action happening in the background. Not only does this put the focus on the person that Kara is somewhat doing this all for, but also gives us a deeper understanding of her power, rather than these massacres feeling like fodder, which they often can in many forms of superhero media. This reminds me heavily of Godzilla (2014) and how moments of him barrelling through big cities would often be framed from a civilian's perspective, giving you a much grander idea of his sheer size, rather than the wide shots that shrink his space on screen.
The problem with these scenes, however, was that they'd often be backed by grand rock and metal songs, which didn't seem to fit with that same vibe. While this can't be said for the final fight scene, as the much slower The Middle by Kelty Greye was used to immerse us fully into Ruthye's perspective as the protected child, I'd argue this was the one time one of these rock songs would have actually been better, if edited slightly differently.
Each fight scene was often quite contained and set on a specific purpose, making sure not to drag them out into any more than was necessary for the plot and avoiding gratuitous violence, until the final fight. It seemed as if the story got somewhat lost in this huge battle, simply made for an audience that got tired of this kind of climax almost 10 years ago.
The ticking clock is always a great addition to movies like this, but it seemed to be slightly forgotten about in the final act, giving us absolutely no scope of how long Kara has left. She's stranded on this planet, poisoned almost to death by the green sun, and we have no idea if she has enough time to wait for the yellow sun to emerge, as we don't know how many days have actually passed.
I loved Kara's mission throughout this movie, to get an antidote for Krypto's poison, but that seemed to also be often forgotten about, almost completely after a while, to make space for Ruthye's story. Once the final fight ended, Krypto being healthy again felt like quite an afterthought rather than the reason for this entire movie.
My biggest worry for Supergirl was that it would become the Thor: Love and Thunder to Superman (2025)'s Thor: Ragnarok, mostly in its comedy. Mostly stemming from the trailers, I worried that this may be very oversaturated with its comedy, forgetting a core part of Kara's jadedness and anger at the world. Luckily, this wasn't the case, even though her backstory wasn't delved into as much as I believe it could have been, but I'm sure they're saving that for future movies.
One complaint I do have about Kara's backstory and general character is that I felt as if she occasionally got sidelined to make room for Ruthye. Sometimes, she seemed to be boxed into simply becoming Ruthye's protector, when Kara has so much more to offer as a character.
There was a part of Kara's core character that didn't seem to make much sense, due to a change with Krypton's death. In the comic series, Kara is already a teenager when Krypton explodes, and we're left with only Argo City. This means she experienced the gruesome reality of Krypton's end first-hand. In the movie, however, they change Kara's birth date to 8 years after Krypton explodes. We then see Kara living a happy and fruitful life in Argo City with loving parents. Even though she does eventually have to see her mother die, she's then sent to Earth, where she's greeted by her loving cousin, who does everything in his power to help her. While I understand Kara having survivor's guilt and carrying the weight of the death of anyone she ever knew, she was constantly surrounded by love and acceptance throughout her entire life, never enduring these traumas that shape her cynicism.
I would have liked to have seen a little more of Kara's early life on Earth, to both show her trying and failing to "find her people" as well as strengthen the bond between her and Clark. It would even suffice if we got to see Kara's powers kick in, how Clark deals with that, and how she manages to calm down and take hold of them, rather than the cheap cutaway, played for laughs.
Ruthye was an incredible character for this origin movie, as she seemed to reflect Kara's early life really well. At face value, it seems as if we don't delve very deeply into Kara's early life on Earth, only having one scene - without audio - of her on Earth outside of the Fortress of Solitude or the final scene. While this lack of development is somewhat present, it seems as if we explore her mood and attitudes within Ruthye's rage. Throughout, Kara is trying to tell Ruthye that Krem's death is not the answer to her problems. This shows Kara's regret for what she presumably did with the rage from her planet dying and her need for Ruthye not to follow in her footsteps.
All in all, while I did really enjoy this in the cinema and can see a lot of promise in Supergirl herself going forward. Jason Momoa was destined to play Lobo, and Matthias Schoenaerts did amazingly with the script he was given. Reflecting on this, however, I can see that there are a few glaring flaws, leaving many positives with caveats, which disappoints the movie quite a bit. Ultimately, this ended up slightly above average.
No AI was used in writing this article.