(M) ★★★★
Director: Craig Gillespie.
Cast: Milly Alcock, Eve Ridley, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Momoa, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet.
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| Supergirl inspects a bus of the future in Supergirl: Buses Of The Future. |
DC faces a tough task - reboot an entire superhero megafranchise in the midst of a culture suffering from "superhero fatigue" (a fatigue's that's been around for over a decade, apparently).
But they've started strong with last year's Superman, and are two-from-two with this Superman-adjacent sequel, which has been unfairly derided by many.
Combining the goofy space hi-jinks of Guardians Of The Galaxy and some apocalyptic baddies and moods out of Furiosa, Supergirl is a surprisingly dark sci-fi adventure that does a good job of making a character with goddess-like powers feel very human (and surprisingly easy to defeat), while creating a universe that's both fun and scary to play in.
This ain't your parents' version of Supergirl though. In this outing, she's an alcoholic, hiding from her powers, her destiny and her cousin (Corenswet's Superman). That's until a big bad named Krem (Schoenaerts) kills the parents of Ruthye (Ridley) and threatens Supergirl's beloved dog Krypto.
In what looks like being the first of a bunch of ambitious choices by DC's head creative James Gunn (the next film is Clayface, a lesser-known Batman villain), the darker angle is an interesting and welcome one for Supergirl. Painting her as a hard-drinking quasi-nihilist is fascinating, and though the inevitable softening comes, there is still a nice Mad Max aesthetic and attitude to the baddies that ensures the blood never really washes off the storyline completely.
Aussie actress Alcock does a fine job in a complicated role. While her drunk acting leaves a little to be desired, she conveys the inner turmoil of her character well, and ensures Supergirl comes off as a layered individual. Less so, the big bad, though this is not the fault of Schoenaerts, who does a fine job in making Krem dispicable. It's just a shame the character has no other qualities about him, other than looking like a Mad Max extra and being a horrible person.
The only other main character is Ruthye, and Ridley does a fine job (especially for a kid) at giving her character depth. There are cameos that are interesting as well, helping to flesh out the bigger universe, and Momoa's short visits as Lobo certainly light up proceedings.
But the key thing to appreciate here is the tone. Supergirl treats its characters seriously, makes its world feel lived in, and even works hard to find ways to limit the heroine's limitless goddess-like powers. It can feel contrived at times but it all seems to fit, and it makes a good fist of its themes around seeking revenge and meaning in a life. Supergirl carries around a lot of grief related to where she's come from, and how that manifests, especially compared to Superman, is interesting to explore.
It's easy to knock this film. I did see one writer belittling a scene where Supergirl screams her pain into the soundless reaches of space, but I liked that scene. So maybe this isn't to all tastes, and maybe this is a genre in which I'm happy to accept more readily than others. But Supergirl is fun, with a weirdly dark undertone, and its lead character is interesting and complex and begs for more adventures. So that's a pretty strong pass in my book.
