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SUPERGIRL (2026)
I will not argue that the 1984 Supergirl is a good movie. It is not. However, I find it an oddly endearing movie. There is something delightfully camp about it all. Faye Dunaway as a literal witch! A plot that revolves around two powerful women fighting over a hunky gardener! Peter O'Toole wandering around the Phantom Zone in varying degrees of sobriety! What's not to love? The 2026 Supergirl, conversely, will struggle to be as beloved as its wackier, offbeat predecessor. I would say that Supergirl, rather than being a "bad" movie, is a frustrating one. The elements are there for a good film. They just were not mixed in right.
Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock) is wandering the universe on a 23rd birthday pub crawl. Her cousin, Superman (David Corenswet) checks in on her via video link from time to time but cannot persuade her to return to Earth. Kara is too busy drowning her sorrows in intergalactic booze and being as obnoxious to everyone that crosses her path.
One person that crosses her path is Ruthye (Eve Ridley). She is seeking revenge against Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). This Brigard has killed her family, and Ruthye wants to avenge them. Kara, while willing to protect Ruthye against beings attacking her, wants no part of Ruthye's vengeance quest. Things change when Krem himself attacks Kara's abode and poisons her beloved dog, Krypto. Kara now has three days to take the antidote from Krem to save Krypto.
With that, Kara hops on an intergalactic bus. Ruthye continuously shows up, determined to get her vengeance. Kara, stumbling about the universe, eventually learns where the Brigands are. She and Ruthye also learn that the Brigands are abducting girls to be breeders for their all-male species. Eventually, Kara and Ruthye track the Brigands down. Kara does manage to hold her own, but she is thwarted on occasion by mercenary Lobo (Jason Momoa). He is after Krem's lieutenant, Drom Baxton (Diarmaid Murtagh). Kara manages to stop Ruthye from enacting her revenge, convinced that this will doom Ruthye rather than bring her peace.
There are still more troubles and travails for Kara and Ruthye to stop Krem and save Krypto. The green and red suns do not help Kara. Ruthye and Lobo eventually form an uneasy alliance. Kara, thanks to a now-yellow sun, is able to don the wardrobe of Supergirl. Will Ruthye find vengeance in this life or the next? Will Kara save Krypto and herself from the guilt of being a Kryptonian survivor? Will she and her cousin finally see Earth as their true home?
While watching Supergirl, I kept thinking that a story, a true and heartfelt story about Kara's isolation and need for integration was always bubbling underneath. Some of the best moments from Ana Nogueria's screenplay where when we were in Argo City, where Kryptonian survivors managed to live after Krypton's destruction. These moments, where we see Kara and her family, were moments of genuine warmth and tragedy. Apart from my wondering out loud, "Is that David Krumholtz as Zor-El?" (and yes, he was Kara's father), everyone and everything in these flashbacks worked.
We saw genuine emotion from Milly Alcock on the separation and loss of her world. We saw the evolving tragedy of Argo City's doomed fate. Argo City was only a temporary reprieve from Krypton's total destruction. In the flashback scenes, Milly Alcock gave a genuine performance. Her comments to Ruthye about regret and the cost of vengeance work well. We even have a bit of gentle humor when Kara arrives on Earth. David Corenswet as Superman has a good rapport with Alcock. He also shows Superman to be more Clark than Kal-El. Corenswet seemed sweetly bumbling and stumbling, realizing that despite their family relationship he cannot communicate with her because he doesn't know Kryptonian.
One wonders if Supergirl would have done better to be a genuine origin story. It probably would have worked better if we'd spent time early in Argo City or at least flashed back long before we did. These scenes had a bit of heart in them. Alas, that is not the movie we got.
Instead, we got a long time with an unlikeable lead who almost goads you into practically hating her. I did not hate Milly Alcock or Supergirl. I was just frustrated at Supergirl's need to make her "edgy" by being a drunk. Sorrowful, mournful, I get. Obnoxious, partier and a lush, I do not.
Supergirl seems more set to hit various tropes than give us a character we care about. You have the various fight scenes punctured to pop songs. You have some unintentionally hilarious dialogue, such as Kara telling Ruthye, "Ruthye, your revenge is not going to get in the way of me saving my dog". You have uninteresting villains. The Brigands from what I saw were punk aliens with vaguely Russian accents.
Probably the oddest moment is when Kara takes an intergalactic bus to get from one planet to another. Why exactly there is such a thing as intergalactic public transportation is anyone's guess. Far be it for Ruthye to either have her own mode of transportation or hire someone. I trust Supergirl knows she can fly across space.
I do not know if having her "race against the clock to save Krypto" would make the public sympathize with her. Ruthye at least saw her family killed off, though to be fair, we barely saw them. It's hard to build up much sympathy when someone is killed after literally jumping in front of Ruthye and essentially (if not literally) going "BOO!".
Credit where credit is due. Eve Ridley was strong as Ruthye. She showed a steady, steely determination to avenge her family. It is unfortunate that the screenplay often forced her to step aside from battle. She did not have to be a mistress of the sword. It would have been nice if she had wielded it from time to time. As stated, Alcock was best when playing regret and mournful. When called to show action or strength, she did neither. Part of that is Alcock. Other parts of that are from both Noguera's screenplay and Craig Gillepsie's directing.
I am not well-versed in Supergirl lore to know what or who Lobo is. I do see that Jason Momoa had fun being so broad. I am not sure that he served a major purpose in Supergirl, save perhaps for name recognition. He never formally joined forces with Kara and Ruthye. He just wanted Drom Baxton's head (which he eventually got). Lobo never had a personal stake in any of this. He just popped up when he needed to.
This is a rare time when the CGI and green screen was strongly visible. Supergirl was loud and bombastic, but I don't think that this is what audiences really wanted. I put that down, again, to how the quieter moments were the best ones.
I again think that Supergirl is not a bad movie so much as it is a frustrating one. A lot of it felt remote and distant for me. I think Supergirl could have lived up to its name. As it stands now, I think it fell a bit short of its potential.
