Supergirl review: Milly Alcock is the best thing about this superhero outing
James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new heads of DC Studios, are slowly building out their DC Universe. It launched last year with Superman, in which Supergirl made a cameo, and now she gets a standalone instalment all of her own.
The film follows Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), the cousin of Kal-El/Superman (David Corenswet), who has been planet-hopping and drinking her feelings instead of dealing with the loss of her home planet Krypton and her family. She’s messy, edgy and nihilistic and doesn’t want to do the superhero thing, even when young Ruthye (Eve Ridley) asks for her help avenging the death of her parents. However, when Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) poisons Kara’s beloved dog – and only friend – Krypto, she teams up with Ruthye to take down a common enemy and save the pooch.
A lot of people will compare this to Guardians of the Galaxy because it’s set in space, it’s got plenty of needle drops, and Gunn is involved. But it’s tonally very different, and it felt more to me like Star Wars (weird and wonderful aliens and a cantina-style scene), Mad Max (brutal environment, space scavengers) and also John Wick (the dog plot).
I appreciated that director Craig Gillespie, known for films like Cruella and I, Tonya, didn’t try to make this look and feel like Superman. It’s very much its own thing. It’s a more character-driven story, with more emotional depth and a great arc for Kara. The flashbacks showing us her backstory are genuinely quite moving, and through her sweet bond with the one-note Ruthye, she learns that she needs a different way to deal with her grief. I cared about her character and her journey more than Superman’s in the recent film.
Alcock is an absolute star and the perfect choice for this version of Kara. She is destructive, broken, and rough and ready. Her hair hasn’t seen a brush in years. She has never met a drink she doesn’t down. She wears a faded Blondie T-shirt rather than her suit. And she deliberately lives on planets where her powers don’t work. Alcock delivers the punk rock energy, plus some laughs, cool fight choreography and a lot of emotion and heart.
There are some downsides though. The narrative is quite weak overall and doesn’t do enough to push through the superhero fatigue, despite the different packaging and approach. The villain is as basic as they come, even if he has a genuinely menacing look, and Ruthye is pretty bland as sidekicks go. Jason Momoa is barely in it as the amusing bounty hunter Lobo (although he’s clearly having a blast) and the action setpieces are simply fine. Plus, the visuals are often murky and CGI-laden, and one needle drop is so poorly judged that it almost ruined a climactic scene.
I enjoyed Supergirl overall, mostly because of Alcock and this refreshing take on the superhero. I just wish the film as a whole was as punk rock, risky and original as its lead character and that Krypto wasn’t missing for most of the movie.
In cinemas from Thursday 25th June