By Matthew Moorcroft

Unsure

• Directed by Craig Gillespie
• Starring Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, Jason Momoa
• PG-13

In true DC fashion, Supergirl is a bit of a strange oddity. You would think that years after the fact that DC Studios, having seen first hand the implosion of the original DCEU and the general healthy skepticism towards new superhero fare that general audiences have maintained post-Endgame, would learn from prior efforts to not half ass anything in an effort to maintain consistent output. Last year’s excellent Superman, while certainly a franchise starter, was a colorful blast that also had a cracking script that maintained the human stakes of it’s otherwise superpowered protagonists. You would think that Supergirl would continue this trend, and while it certainly has a pitch that makes you assume this the truth is unfournately more sour.

That truth being that Supergirl is mostly a return to form to the old DC; oddly shapeless and occasionally unpleasant in it’s creative choices, even if it’s surrounded by otherwise good ideas and a lead heroine whose performer is high above the material given to her. It’s especially frustrating due to Supergirl also being one of the few comic book flicks that is actively based on a specific storyline from it’s source material (that being Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s excellent Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) and so clearly is not up to par with that story’s exploration of deep seeded depression and anger. It’s certainly still here, but it’s sanded down, likely to try and stop audiences from feeling too alienated at what is otherwise supposed to be a four quadrant blockbuster aimed at everyone.

With the nastier edges seemingly gone, Supergirl‘s now grimey and dirty production design, Mad Max-inspired bad guys, and anti-hero take on Supergirl no longer have the punch it likely would have had. Even the film’s flirtation with it’s dark subject matter – this is a story that ultimately is about fighting back against a group of sex traffickers – feels perfunctory. It never changes the stakes of the film, which remain mostly honed in on Kara’s relationship with Krypto (who is on death’s door for much of the picture, so warning for all dog lovers out there) as well as her burgeoning friendship with Ruthye, a young girl whose family was murdered and is on a quest of vengeance. It’s pretty obvious where the story is going, and while this isn’t a terrible thing on it’s own, it does give Supergirl a feeling of “been there, done that”.

Which isn’t good enough anymore. It might have been back during the heyday of the superhero flick, but a couple of fun performances and cool alien designs isn’t enough to carry something like this. The perfunctory and poorly edited action setpieces don’t carry wonder or fun like they should, and while there are a couple of dialogue pieces between Kara and Ruthye they are far and few between as Craig Gillespie seemingly wants to speed through as much of this as possible. In fact, the only times the film really seems to come alive is really when Alcock gets to interact with Corenswet’s consistently great Superman portrayal. At the very least, the two of them have a developed rapport that makes them a fun duo, with Alcock’s more cynical worldview both clashing and grounding Corenswet’s happy-go-lucky, sweet take on the Man of Steel.

But if it holds true about the current claim that DC Studios gives feel creative control to their directors, then Gillespie has no excuse for how so much of this is handled. The film has clearly been hacked to bits in the editing room, with the opening credits and the final act in particular just rushing through potentially meaty material in favor of needle drops that lack rhythm or greater meaning. It seems like Gillespie was more interested in aping Gunn’s styling rather then crafting his own feature, and unfournately for him he is no Gunn; the lack of colors in the visual palette, while clearly a creative choice instead of poor cinematography, is proof of that. It’s also a disservice to Ana Nogueira’s script, which does have some glimpses of gold in it but like the actual execution of the film have clearly been messed with.

This isn’t the first time that a cinematic universe has faltered after a decent start – hell, even the MCU took a couple of stumbles after the success of Iron Man – but Supergirl is a noticeably messy, almost lazy flick that does disservice to the characters it so clearly wants to represent. Kara Zor-El herself is one of DC’s most iconic and layered female heroes, and yet she is saddled with as bland and generic a picture as they come which feels like a hate crime in of itself. And while Alcock’s career is just getting started, and it’s likely Supergirl herself will soar higher in Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow next year, this first big screen outing for the character in 42 years is unfournately one of the year’s biggest letdowns.