There have been many on-screen iterations of Supergirl to date, but the character's surprise cameo in last year's Superman suggested that Milly Alcock's take would be something very different. She wouldn't be a clean-cut hero; it was clear that she had some emotional trauma to deal with.
It was a promising introduction to the new DCU's version of Kara Zor-El, and with Tom King and Bilquis Evely's terrific Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow series used as the inspiration for Alcock's first solo movie, the pieces were in place for a soaring superhero outing.
Unfortunately, it's the hope that so often kills you. Supergirl is far from the worst DC offerings we've endured over recent years, yet it does feel like one of the biggest missed opportunities. A performance as good as Milly Alcock's deserves a better movie, but it's battling against a blockbuster that suffers from familiar issues.
Supergirl kicks off with Kara (Alcock) in a week-long binge in pubs on red sun planets to mark her 23rd birthday. Her cousin Kal-El (David Corenswet) is worried about her, checking in from Earth with messages that Kara has little time for. All she needs is her faithful dog Krypto – and the occasional yellow sun to perk her back up before she goes drinking again.
During one such binge, Kara meets Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), a young girl seeking revenge against Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) for killing her parents and brother in cold blood. Kara's stance on not just this, but likely everything, is, "Not my monkeys, not my circus".
But even Kara can't stand to see a young girl get bullied and, against her better wishes, she helps Ruthye out just once. Unfortunately for Kara, that one time leads to a run-in with Krem and Krypto being poisoned. She has just three days to save Krypto and, whether she likes it or not, Ruthye won't let Kara go out on her mission alone.
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And so begins a planet-hopping adventure where... every planet looks the same. It doesn't take long to tire of the brown, murky colour palette that endures throughout most of Supergirl. If it's meant to convey Kara's general negative outlook on life, it comes at the detriment of the movie as it only brings back memories of Thor: The Dark World.
The same could be said of the villain, Krem of the Yellow Hills, who is so one-dimensional to be utterly forgettable like that guy from the Thor sequel. Sure, he seems evil, but he's so nondescript that it has no impact, even when he's kidnapping young girls for what can only be described as a child sex ring. It's a grim subplot that is intended to showcase how gritty the movie is, but it's barely developed so just comes across as needlessly icky.
You could maybe forgive those stylistic and villain missteps if Supergirl delivered on the action, but the set pieces largely serve to make it even more of an eyesore. They're often filmed in close-up with rapid editing which, combined with the brown landscape, makes them indistinguishable. The one time that the action works is during a fun, vibrant slow-motion sequence near the end, soundtracked to a great cover of 'The Middle'.
Through it all, the shining light is Milly Alcock. She's excellent, managing to turn the familiar themes of grief and belonging into something affecting and endearing. The strongest aspects of Supergirl are the striking, emotional flashbacks to Krypton and Kara's time on Argo City, which provide the spectacle that the rest of the movie struggles with.
A close second is any time we get brief interactions between Kara and Kal-El, with Alcock and David Corenswet – who continues to prove he's the perfect Superman – sharing a fun chemistry with instantly recognisable sibling energy. It gives you hope for more of the same in Man of Tomorrow, and more of a showcase for Alcock's talent in the role.
Any time Alcock is off-screen, which is a surprising amount in the final act, the energy and the interest drops. Jason Momoa's much-anticipated second DC debut as Lobo is fun, but you couldn't imagine wanting to see an entire movie of it, while Eve Ridley is lumbered with an overly-serious role that doesn't allow her much exploration.
Another character who's off-screen for more of Supergirl than you'd like is her adorable sidekick Krypto. Make the most of what you get in the first act as the movie really doesn't do much else with him, even in the flashback sections. It'll leave you longing for a Supergirl movie that was just Kara working through her grief on an intergalactic holiday with Krypto, rather than the gritty and gloomy mission we actually got.
But as Ruthye tells Kara at one point during the movie, "You're not perfect, but you're good" and that just about applies to Supergirl. You can't imagine returning to it as a regular movie watch, yet it's enjoyable enough thanks to Milly Alcock that it manages to avoid completely crashing to Earth.
Supergirl is released in UK cinemas on 25 June and in US cinemas on 26 June.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
