Truth, Justice, Whatever.
The latter was more than “Supergirl’s” marketing campaign. It applies to the film itself, a dimly-lit shrug of IP unworthy of blockbuster status.
Or anyone’s hard-earned money.
Star Milly Alcock isn’t fully to blame, although she does little to enliven matters. There’s no charisma to be found in her performance, but that’s hardly the film’s only sin.
How much time ya got?
Alcock is Kara Zor-El, the dysfunctional gal known as Supergirl. We briefly met her in last year’s tepid “Superman” reboot, and she apparently is still drunk from that appearance.
Literally.
She stumbles from bar to bar, with little purpose other than to visit a series of grim watering holes that quickly lose our interest.
She eventually meets a teen named Ruthke (Eve Ridley) seeking revenge against Krem, the brute who slaughtered her family. Kara isn’t nice, but she is good and decent to those in need. Or so says the on-the-nose dialogue that permeates this clunker. (The less said about the sorry screenplay, the better.)
So when said brute (Matthias Schoenaerts with a bedazzled face and zero interesting qualities) poisons Kara’s Krypto, she must track him down to get the antidote.
Yes, that’s literally the film’s plot. And, more importantly, this is the second James Gunn production that puts enormous emotional weight on a CGI dog that never appears to be anything but a CGI dog.
Hire. A. Real. Dog. How hard is this??
Even worse?
The “they killed my dog, so I need to slaughter a thousand people” spark that ignited “John Wick” had more emotional heft.
So we watch Kara and Ruthye attempt to track Krem down for dual purposes. Along the way, some of young Ruthye’s humanity rubs off on our anti-heroine.
And, once in a while, Jason Momoa shows up as Lobo, a smirking bounty hunter. Who is he? Why does he matter? How does he fit into the story?
To quote The Critical Drinker, “don’t know.”
Just understand that Momoa is given nothing to do save smoke a stogie and prove he has more star power than Alcock on his worst day.
“Supergirl” reportedly endured severe editing in recent months, and boy, does it show. This film is a bona fide mess, a story with no stakes, microscopic character movitation and bland battle scenes.
“Supergirl” features a trafficking subplot that never registers. We also glimpse our heroine’s backstory which is equally blah but suggests why she drinks herself into a stupor.
We also bounce from planet to planet, with some having yellow suns that give Kara super powers and others? Not so much.
So what?
David Corenswet drops in occasionally as cousin Superman, and these moments are like walking into an air-conditioned mall on a sticky summer day. The actor’s “Superman” film may have been a disappointment, but he embodies the character and has a presence that’s lacking here.
Who cares about anything happening in “Supergirl” from start to finish? The best way to sum up this stink bomb of a superhero romp?
Whatever.
HiT or Miss: “Supergirl” is a dud on every level that counts.
Lobo…….there’s a name I haven’t heard of since “Rio Lobo”.
I miss the days when movie stars were at least trying to appear to be decent people. Some of them were genuinely good people, though not perfect, but they at least had human decency and values… like Keanu Reeves.
When an actor gives me their negative views and ostracizes 55% of their viewing audience, it’s a lose lose for them. I will not waste my money watching their work.
“Whatever.”..what marketing person thought ‘whatever’ was a movie tag line that would fill theaters?
Go see Disclosure Day …smart, interesting, timely.
I’ve pretty much gone from “definitely want to see” to “will probably watch when it’s free.”
All thanks to the star and her mouth, the clips, and the buzz.
I haven’t paid much attention to this movie, but she seems to me to be the kind of character that is so badass that she can strut into any situation and swagger all the air out of any room she enters. That may have worked in the 80s, but it’s stale and cringeworthy today, regardless of gender.
DC has always been good on the animation side.
Now they are even having a rare period of “act-togetherness” on the comic book side.
So why is the live action side so pathetic?
Why can’t DC get its act together? With Marvel not delivering so well, it would be nice to see their ancient rival step up and fill the gap. I understand it’s a pretty radical group… maybe too much activism at DC is dimming their light?
It has been well noted that the ‘woker” they get, the less talent they have. The activists frustrate and drive out the artists in Disney especialy, and apparently also DC. Even as they attempt to pull back, the talent drain is hard to correct.
So my question is this, why did the writers guild get a new contract for higher pay and still they put out the same kind of garbage they always have and studios continue to lose money on bad scripts.
I would not necessarily direct any blame towards the writer’s guild – a brief perusal of the credited writer’s prior writing credits shows she did not actually qualify under the WGA rules for membership from her previous singular short video script, which only banked her 4 of the required 24 credits six years ago, and only with this movie’s release now just qualifies, getting 24 credits for a movie script given this credit for “Supergirl”.
She is a credited actor, however, so maybe some blame accrues to the appropriate actors guild.
I dunno, The Mary Sue said it was fabulous, are you sure about this review Christian??
And you’re going to take the Mary Sue seriously?
I’m pretty sure Mr. West was being sarcastic.
If ya can’t trust The Mary Sue for objective, honest cinematic critique, who can ya trust 🙂
As far as the movie goes, I see a silver lining here. If it bombs as bad as it’s projected to, this could be the final nail in the coffin of the naggy girlboss genre. And, as Yoda might say, short enough it wasn’t.
Yeah, this was likely sarcasm.
For my part, it’s not that a female lead can’t work or is getting old, it’s that it’s being done preachy and shows us that Hollywood thinks “female leadership” is total invincibility and the bashing of males.