Directed by Craig Gillespie
Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. July 7, 2026 4:00 PM
Near the conclusion of the latest reboot of "Superman" from writer/director, James Gunn, we were briefly introduced to Kara, played by Milly Alcock, who is a relative of the hero from Krypton and the only other survivor from their dead planet. This has led to a movie, "Supergirl" that spotlights this other super-powered visitor from Krypton. Unlike her cousin, Supergirl is edgy, disheveled and far from what many would consider heroic. Yet this coming-of-age, sci-fi adventure from Craig Gillespie winds up feeling disappointing due to a lack of an inventive style and persuasive thrills.
We first see Kara (Alcock) traveling the galaxy with her dog, Krypto, bar hopping from planet to planet, drinking heavily in a solitary celebration of her twenty-third birthday. Her cousin, Clark (David Corenswet) attempts to contact her to check in, concerned that she's having difficulty adjusting to life on Earth, but she tries to avoid his call.
On one of her stops, Kara's partying is interrupted by Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a young girl searching for someone to help her kill Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), the ruthless leader of the space pirates, Brigands who murdered her entire family, in exchange for the majestic sword her father designed. No one in the bar is interested, particularly Kara. But an imposing alien decides to just take the sword from Ruthye which causes Kara to forcefully get it back, solely on principal.
But Krem had been following Ruthye. After disabling Kara's spacecraft, Krem shoots a charging Krypto with a deadly poison that will slowly kill him within three days. Now she must track down the dangerous space pirate for the antidote to save her dog while reluctantly taking Ruthye along who still wants revenge.
As Supergirl begins her pursuit of Krem, she discovers that these pirates are kidnapping young girls to use as sex slaves while another entire family is wiped out by trying to save their child from this murderous crew. I usually appreciate when these super-hero films make an effort to expand beyond the expected plot beats of this genre. But this all just feels far too dark and bleak, creating a harsh and unpleasant tone that just drags this movie down. This isn't helped by the screenplay from Ana Nogueira, which was adapted from the comic-book mini-series, "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow", that fails to drive up the thrills with its plodding narrative filled with clunky one-liners and underdeveloped characters.
We are given Kara's back story, told throughout the film, where her parents, scientist, Zor-El (David Krumholtz) and his wife, Alura (Emily Beecham) manages to save a large section of Argo City with a force field system that separate and protects the city after Krypton explodes. Kara is born eight years later but is sent to Earth after the survivors in Argo City are slowly being poisoned from exposed Kryptonite. Alcock certainly captures a scrappy, party girl vibe as Kara but her character is not fully fleshed out enough to help us really understand her brooding, self-serving nature.
Gillespie has a history of making engagingly quirky films like "Lars and the Real Girl", "I, Tonya" and "Cruella", each elevated by an offbeat charm and unhinged humor. However I don't know what happened with "Supergirl". Perhaps the studio gatekeepers held him back on a firm leash but this movie feels constrained, needing a serious infusion of wacky levity and weirdness to offset the overly grim setting. Supergirl repeatedly getting drunk at a bar and showing her severely hungover the next day is about as wild as the film gets. We do get Jason Momoa who shows up as the shadowy bounty hunter, Lobo to apparently add more menacing gruffness and star power to the film. But the striking actor, in his brief appearance, doesn't end up really contributing much that is crucial or memorable.
The first time "Supergirl" made it on to the big screen was back in 1984 with a solid Helen Slater as the girl from Krypton and a grandiose Faye Dunaway as the glamourous villain. This banal, campy movie ended up being a critical and box-office flop. The new filmed version of "Supergirl" seemed like an opportunity to give this character another fighting chance to soar high above this previous cinematic misstep. Yet this latest attempt from Gillespie has run into much of the same problems as the first film with "Supergirl" having an aimless narrative, inconsistent characterizations and a serious lack of entertaining fun.
Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. July 7, 2026 4:00 PM
Near the conclusion of the latest reboot of "Superman" from writer/director, James Gunn, we were briefly introduced to Kara, played by Milly Alcock, who is a relative of the hero from Krypton and the only other survivor from their dead planet. This has led to a movie, "Supergirl" that spotlights this other super-powered visitor from Krypton. Unlike her cousin, Supergirl is edgy, disheveled and far from what many would consider heroic. Yet this coming-of-age, sci-fi adventure from Craig Gillespie winds up feeling disappointing due to a lack of an inventive style and persuasive thrills.
We first see Kara (Alcock) traveling the galaxy with her dog, Krypto, bar hopping from planet to planet, drinking heavily in a solitary celebration of her twenty-third birthday. Her cousin, Clark (David Corenswet) attempts to contact her to check in, concerned that she's having difficulty adjusting to life on Earth, but she tries to avoid his call.
On one of her stops, Kara's partying is interrupted by Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a young girl searching for someone to help her kill Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), the ruthless leader of the space pirates, Brigands who murdered her entire family, in exchange for the majestic sword her father designed. No one in the bar is interested, particularly Kara. But an imposing alien decides to just take the sword from Ruthye which causes Kara to forcefully get it back, solely on principal.
But Krem had been following Ruthye. After disabling Kara's spacecraft, Krem shoots a charging Krypto with a deadly poison that will slowly kill him within three days. Now she must track down the dangerous space pirate for the antidote to save her dog while reluctantly taking Ruthye along who still wants revenge.
As Supergirl begins her pursuit of Krem, she discovers that these pirates are kidnapping young girls to use as sex slaves while another entire family is wiped out by trying to save their child from this murderous crew. I usually appreciate when these super-hero films make an effort to expand beyond the expected plot beats of this genre. But this all just feels far too dark and bleak, creating a harsh and unpleasant tone that just drags this movie down. This isn't helped by the screenplay from Ana Nogueira, which was adapted from the comic-book mini-series, "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow", that fails to drive up the thrills with its plodding narrative filled with clunky one-liners and underdeveloped characters.
Gillespie has a history of making engagingly quirky films like "Lars and the Real Girl", "I, Tonya" and "Cruella", each elevated by an offbeat charm and unhinged humor. However I don't know what happened with "Supergirl". Perhaps the studio gatekeepers held him back on a firm leash but this movie feels constrained, needing a serious infusion of wacky levity and weirdness to offset the overly grim setting. Supergirl repeatedly getting drunk at a bar and showing her severely hungover the next day is about as wild as the film gets. We do get Jason Momoa who shows up as the shadowy bounty hunter, Lobo to apparently add more menacing gruffness and star power to the film. But the striking actor, in his brief appearance, doesn't end up really contributing much that is crucial or memorable.
The first time "Supergirl" made it on to the big screen was back in 1984 with a solid Helen Slater as the girl from Krypton and a grandiose Faye Dunaway as the glamourous villain. This banal, campy movie ended up being a critical and box-office flop. The new filmed version of "Supergirl" seemed like an opportunity to give this character another fighting chance to soar high above this previous cinematic misstep. Yet this latest attempt from Gillespie has run into much of the same problems as the first film with "Supergirl" having an aimless narrative, inconsistent characterizations and a serious lack of entertaining fun.
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