|
 (071526)
Last Year’s
Superman
film was not as groundbreaking or magnificent as the 1978
original starring Christopher Reeve, but it provided almost everything I wanted
and hoped for from a new Superman film. It offered a good though gentler and
more nervously energetic portrayal of the man of steel by David Corenswet. Also,
it was extraordinarily well-cast, including perfect versions of Lois Lane
(Rachel Brosnahan), Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Augustus Gisondo), and Lex Luthor.
(Nicolas Hoult). Plus, we got effective and amusing intros for several secondary
superheroes, including Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and Mr.Terrific (Ethi
Gathegi). Both were interesting enough to carry their own series, and I was not
surprised that Mr. Terrific is getting an upcoming TV series scripted by none
other than Alan Heinberg. The film offered an excellent blend of comedy, action,
and drama, and Krypto the Super Dog, a character I'd never cared about, was so
hilarious that he almost stole the show. I even liked the little irreverent
Supergirl cameo at the end, which some comic fans found almost blasphemous.
But the new Supergirl film pales in comparison to all the other recent DC films
and TV projects. For every strength, Supergirl has a glaring weakness, despite
the cameo of David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, and a supporting role for the
main man himself, Lobo, who happens to be one of my favorite DC characters.
On the bright side, the film has a decent Kara Zor-el/Supergirl in Milly Allcock, a great
Lobo in Jason Momoa, and Ruthye a somewhat forgettable sidekick in Eve Ridley. But
there is also a poorly motivated villain (Krem) that everyone will forget as
they walk out of the theater.
He’s so one-dimensional that Steppenwolf from
Justice League looks like Dr. Doom
in comparison.
The film was based on the graphic novel Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King
and Bilquis Evely, an initiation tale of growth and self-discovery. The graphic
novel was more consistent, well-written, and straightforward than the film. And
while the Lobo stuff in the film is entertaining, it does not jell well with the
material they took from the graphic novel, in which he does not appear.
Supergirl was directed by Craig Gillespie. He had previously made some decent
films, including Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Fright Night (2011), and Cruella
(2021), but his best film was I,Tonya (2017). Some scenes in Supergirl work
well, but this is his least impressive film, and it sometimes has the flavor of
an inferior James Gunn film rather than a true Gillespie movie. Gillespie never
quite finds the right tone, and he has created a film that will appeal to few
people. It’s too dark to appeal to many family audiences and not cynical or
violent enough to appeal to lovers of superhero deconstruction
The biggest problem with the film is the somewhat confused script by Ann
Nogueira, which transposes plot elements of True Grit into a Road Warrior-like
setting, along with some scenes that could have come from Guardians of the
Galaxy and Star Wars. We have seen most of this stuff before, and it has often
done better in the past. If a new script writer, Nogueira (she had been an
actress in Vampire Diaries), has any special talent for writing superhero
scripts, it is very well hidden here. It does not bode well for the new DC
Universe that she is currently scheduled to write both Wonder Woman and a new
Teen Titans project. Not much of the writing here is memorable, and very little
of the dialogue sparkles the way it did in either the last Superman or the
Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Milly Allcock (from
House of the Dragon) is a talented actress, and she is fine
in the lead, playing a version of Supergirl far more tragic and darker than the
WB-TV version. Melissa Benoist, who was the best part of the TV show, played
Supergirl as a beacon of hope closer to the comic versions. Allcock’s Supergirl
was seemingly irreparably traumatized by the loss of her family and her home
Argo City. I understand that they needed to change the character a bit to
differentiate her from other superheroes, but they go a little too far here. She
is caustic, sarcastic, and has little faith in humanity. The differences between
her and her cousin are summarized when she says, “My cousin and I have very
different ideas about what it means to be a hero,” Supergirl comments in the
film. “He sees the good in everyone…and I see the truth.” A problem with this is
that some of the most hilarious scenes with Lobo in both comics and animated
shows usually depict him interacting with squeaky-clean or at least mostly
morally upright heroes. It is much less fun to see him interact with another
dark superhero type like this version of Supergirl.
At times, the film’s Supergirl seems more like a drunken airhead you would meet
at a rave than a potential Justice League member, although the film does put her
on a path to becoming a better person. It does not help that she is shot in the
most unflattering angles possible, which completely downplays her
attractiveness, and she is constantly shown vomiting, drunk, or with a hangover.
I doubt this did anything to help sell the movie.
The film begins with Supergirl celebrating her birthday by partying at a pub
crawl. Her well-intentioned cousin calls her on an interplanetary line to check
in, but she seems annoyed, brushes him off, and tells him she has no immediate
plans to return to Earth. She may not want to go back to Earth because she can’t
feel the effects of alcohol there, since the yellow sun fuels her powers and
makes her immune to the alcohol's effects.
The main plot starts when Kara meets Ruthye, a girl whose parents were killed by
a leader of a human trafficker gang named Krem. As it turns out, the girl wants
revenge on this same person who shot Kara’s dog Krypto with poison. Kara needs
to find Krem to get the cure, and Ruthye pressures Kara to team up with her.
Kara repeatedly tries to dissuade her from her revenge quest by speaking of her
own loss and pain. And she tells the girl that killing Krem won’t take any pain
away; it will only add to it. “Your heart is still good and open,” Kara tells
Ruthye: “Your family is with you. Your life will be your revenge." Of course,
Kara becomes a reluctant mentor to Ruthye, a girl whose parents were slain by
pirates, and she mentors her, much like Wolverine was to Jubilee or Kitty Pryde
in Uncanny X-Men.
During their quest they stumble upon Lobo, a gruff, rude space biker/bounty
hunter who wants to find the traffickers for his own reasons. At first, Kara is
wary of him; she tells Ruthye to avoid his notice and says he is an “immortal
with a god complex.” Mamoa’s Lobo is one of the best parts of the film, but he
is frequently written better in other media, particularly in the various JLA and
Superman animated series Warner's has produced over the years (his current comic
book series is also a delight).
This brings us to another problem with the film. Supergirl is an incredibly
powerful being, and in order to make the fights more convincing, she keeps
losing and regaining her powers depending on her proximity to and the nature of
sun and its strength. After a while of traveling to various solar systems with
different colored suns, this all becomes inevitably contrived and annoying. Of
course if she
had just had her full powers, the film would have ended an hour earlier. Lobo’s
powers, too, seem to fluctuate during the film. At one point, this bruiser, who is sometimes
comparable to the Hulk in strength, cannot even escape a normal prison cell.
The film does provide some interesting background on Supergirl and information about
Krypton. In flashback, we see her city Argo escape Krypton's destruction and
then Kara's subsequent birth. A years later her father builds a ship to save
Kara from the deadly effects of kryptonite poisoning which is slowly killing the city's
inhabitants. Kara doesn’t want to leave, but her father tells her, “You are your
mother’s life, my life.” He tells her to live on for them. In contrast to
Superman’s real parents in the other film, Kara’s parents were good and moral.
Kara’s mother makes her promise to be good, and she adds, “That doesn’t mean
that you can’t be tough. It does not mean that you need to always be nice,” her
mother declares. “Just be good.” These scenes give the film and Kara some added
dimension and humanity. These scenes almost make the film worthwhile for fans of
the
Superman film.
But despite its good aspects, I cannot really recommend this film unless you are
a die-hard fan of the Maid of Steel or DC films in general. It might be better
to save your hard-earned money and wait for it to appear on streaming. Although
it is not terrible, this is the most expendable project so far in Gunn’s DC
Universe. While it lacks the extreme highs and lows of
the Flash, it is only
about as good as that film.
|
