James Gunn’s new DC Universe on the big screen soared with last year’s surprising and successful Superman reboot and now, the cinematic universe continues in Supergirl, marking the solo debut of Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, who made a small appearance in the aforementioned Superman. This time, however, Kara has to stand on her own two feet and carry a planet hopping revenge tale, which she does with success in a fun, albeit more serious adventure than her cousin embarked upon.
Whilst on a birthday bar crawl, trying to get drunk on planets with non-yellow suns, Kara encounters Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a young girl whose family was senselessly murdered by Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts). At first, Kara isn’t interested in a revenge plot- “Not my monkeys, not my circus,” as she says- but when Krem makes it personal, Kara and Ruthye reluctantly team up to track him down.
Based on the critically acclaimed comic series, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the film takes its cues from that classic run, but still makes it its own. The True Grit in space comparisons are still there, especially as Kara and Ruthye bicker and disagree constantly, but screenwriter Ana Nogueira invents fun new scenarios that still tell you something about the titular heroine. This iteration of Kara is nothing like her CW counterpart, which makes for a compelling character to follow through the adventure as she struggles to be a hero like her cousin while also kicking alien ass.
Alcock is fantastic and gives Kara the spunk needed to get through the day, while also showing the darker veneer behind her tragic past, which is shown via flashbacks. Ridley also gives a great performance, even if Ruthye gets sidelined a little too much in the action scenes, and Schoenaerts’s villainous Krem is a true threat to our heroines and at times, gives the film far darker material to work with as he delights in killing innocent people, making for a film that I would think twice before taking the little ones to see.
Speaking of which, this is where the film falters a bit. As a fan of comic the film is based on, I was expecting this movie to lean on its source material to a point, but still surprise the audience. And while it mostly succeeds on that promise, the resolution to Kara and Ruthye’s journey diverges heavily from the Tom King/Bilquis Evely run and seems to miss the point of it as a result. The message both the comic and the film try to send is there, but done far differently in each version, which could’ve worked, but this film dumbs down the lesson too simply in trying to appeal to a wide audience. I wasn’t expecting the exact same ending as the comics, but the impact was lost in translation here.
All that said, Supergirl is a fun time at the movies that knows its heroine and reinvents her successfully. It certainly differentiates itself from Superman and the sky is truly the limit for the new DC regime. Kara and company are in good hands.
Supergirl is now playing in theaters.
