Supergirl - Not The Most Spectacular Superhero Movie but Still Pretty Decent and Entertaining Introduction to Superman's Cousin

I was looking forward to see this movie for the past few weeks but it was such a big challenge. Ever since its advance ticket sale last week, I wanted to buy tickets for its premier date but it did not play in my favorite cinema for watching blockbuster movie. When it played there on the following day, I could not go because of previous engagement. Sadly the cinema did not play the film anymore when I was finally available yesterday. So I decided to just see it in the theater near our home with my wife. OK without further ado, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Kara Zol-El aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock - House of the Dragon TV series, The School etc) had been going through phase in life where she did not feel happy and just drinking herself across galaxies in places where she could get drunk. This made her cousin Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet - Look Both Ways, We Own This City mini series etc) always felt worried about her. One day she met a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley - Emerald TV series etc) who was trying to get revenge on group of space pirates called Brigands led by the vicious Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts - The Old Guard, Django TV series etc). Despite her reluctance to be involved, it became personal for Kara when Krem did an unexpected thing. 

During the journey, Kara and Ruthye encountered plenty of danger and also met with a rather psychotic bounty hunter named Lobo (Jason Momoa - The Wrecking Crew, Fast X etc) who was trying to capture a brigand.

So what would happen to Kara and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Before seeing this movie, I caught few rather negative comments and news headlines which made me a little worried of its quality. But after seeing the film, I thought those were quite unwarranted. We already knew from the brief appearance of Supergirl in Superman that she loved to get drunk and Krypto dog was hers. So it was not surprising to see her kept on drinking in the beginning and how messed up her life was. My wife did comment that Kara was totally messy. But that messy appearance was what made it really cool when she showed her strength especially in the outer space. 

The story itself was not complicated at all. In fact it felt very simple for a superhero film, although I think Kara's journey to "return" to her path as Supergirl was quite interesting as it was full of difficulties and even life threatening. However I did think the villain here (Krem) did not feel to be the strongest one to face Kara, although they were pretty successful in making him to be detestable. The action part was also entertaining with some awesome special effects specifically during the climax. But it might not be very spectacular and might bit a bit disappointing if you are expecting some very grand and intense action sequence.

The cast in general did a decent job here, with some praised Milly Alcock's performance. I also liked Jason Momoa's appearance as Lobo. Aside from the above, there were few support cast such as David Krumhotlz (Oppenheimer, Numb3rs TV series etc) and Emily Beecham (Cruella, The Village TV series etc) as Kara's parents Zor-El & Alura In-Ze respectively, Ferdinand Kingsley (Mank, Victoria TV series etc) as Ruthye's father Elias and several others. The film was directed by Craig Gillespie whose prior works included directing The Better Sister mini series, I, Tonya, 2011 remake of Fright Night etc. It was adapted from comic book mini series titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and written for movie by Ana Nogueira who is an actress herself with this being her first experience in writing for a feature film. 

Btw the movie had duration of 108 minutes which was pretty short for an origin superhero. Surprisingly though it did not feel too short for me, probably because there was not a lot of issues covered in the story that require long time to conclude. More surprising was the non existence of any mid or post end credit scene seeing this a part of DCU and it would have been nice to have some sort of tease for the future. During the closing credits, I did notice Industrial Light Magic name mentioned for the special effects which would explain its quality. However, I think it made the film to have a rather high budget (not enormous but still require good Box Office performance to break even). And it might be challenging with the mixed critics review and so so audience views. Let's just hope it could still make it as it would be a shame if the second film of DCU already damage its future.

Overall I think this movie was still enjoyable despite people's negative comments. My wife and I were quite entertained and felt the action was pretty cool with Lobo making the film funnier with his behavior plus his no hesitation to kill. Oh we also liked the final part involving the villain that made us wonder about Kara's past which probably need to be explored later. As a story about superhero, it might not be suitable to call this an origin story but I think the non linear story telling about Kara's past was a nice touch. One thing that might be lacking here was probably the emotional depth (not sure why but it seemed there was not a touching scene, although there was an aspiring and inspirational moment before the climax that made my wife delighted). So if you are OK with the qualities above, I think you can still be entertained by this movie. But if you want a grand, really exciting, full of funny moments superhero movie, then this might not be totally fulfilling. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

PS: If you want a full Kara's story with a completely different characteristic, then Supergirl CW TV series starring Melissa Benoist might be more suitable for you.