Milly Alcock isn't enough to salvage the dreary and derivative Supergirl

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl is a bizarre comics creation. Technically, her origins date back to a 1958 comic where she first appears as a product of supernatural Jimmy Olsen machinations. She properly premiered the following year as a flesh-and-blood person wherein she became a DC Comics staple. In the decades that followed, Supergirl died, returned to life, and spawned all kinds of alternate universe incarnations (like Power Girl). She also fought crime with Comet, a sentient horse (who used to be a man) that was absolutely down bad for this Kryptonian.

Writer Tom King and artist Bilquis Evely introduced a new, more world-weary version of the character in Supergirl in 2021-2022's comic miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. This iteration of the character made room for dinosaurs and Comet, continuing Supergirl’s weirdo track record. Tragically, director Craig Gillespie’s loose film adaptation of Woman of Tomorrow, Supergirl, betrays this superhero’s comic roots. Specifically, Gillespie and company opt for the familiar and rudimentary when the movie desperately needed outlandish fun. A comic book legend who once cucked a lovesick horse cannot headline a movie so often bereft of color.

Continuing on from her ending cameo in last summer’s Superman, Kara Zor-El/Supergirl (Milly Alcock) is a Kryptonian who refuses to stick around one planet for long. Instead, she and loyal pup Krypto travel around to planets under red suns so that this alien can get drunk. As her 23^rd birthday approaches, numbing the pain with booze is Supergirl’s only real plan for the future. Wandering into a bar one night is the adolescent Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), whose family was just murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his Brigands.

Ruthye's mission to vengefully slaughter Krem doesn't initially interest Kara until this cosmic asshole shoots Krypto with a dart that will slowly kill him over 72 hours. Now, this mismatched duo's out in the vast cosmos where danger lurks around every corner. Not even the super-powerful Supergirl can handle everything thrown her way.

Sometimes, you bite into a burger and just know right away it isn’t working. It doesn’t matter the restaurant’s atmosphere or if the accompanying fries are properly seasoned. That underwhelming burger just sinks the whole experience. Similarly, several core Supergirl creative decisions automatically frustrated me and kept me at arm’s length for the entire runtime. For starters, Ana Nogueira's script is a non-linear creation repeatedly pausing the plot for flashbacks to Kara’s tragic childhood or her first time meeting characters like Krypto and Superman.

There are countless amazing non-linear movies out there. Supergirl isn’t one of them. The extended digressions to yesteryear suck all the propulsive tension from Zara and Ruthye’s journey. If they’re always pausing for stories about the former character’s past, how urgently important can saving Krypto and stopping Krem be? This movie yearns to deliver a rollicking atmosphere, but its story structure, emphasizing didactic expository dialogue, keeps capsizing those ambitions. 

Meanwhile, Gillespie and cinematographer Rob Hardy’s vision for outer space in Supergirl is pervasive browns and greys. Every realm viewers travel to is a drably colored location with no interior lighting save for streaks of sunlight coming through rooftop cracks. The film’s finale transpires in a brown landscape with Supergirl punching hordes of men in black leather and grey tanks. These qualities are clearly intentional and meant to emphasize how Supergirl festers in the drabbiest corners of existence while her Earthbound cousin exists amongst colors reflecting his buoyant personality. That concept’s execution, though, still leaves viewers staring at a bunch of tediously dull backdrops. Specific intent can't disguise that every Supergirl location begins blurring together even on an IMAX screen.

As someone whose proclivity for blockbusters runs more towards Speed Racer than Terminator: Salvation, this hesitancy to embrace vibrant hues is endlessly frustrating. At least incorporate interesting blocking to accompany the limited color palette. Cinematographer Greg Fraser has repeatedly demonstrated that subdued colors and compelling visuals aren’t antithetical. Adding insult to injury, there’s an inescapable derivative quality to many of the sets. Supergirl’s various environments keep reminding viewers of other sci-fi films rather than immersing them in this specific story. Rutheye gets stuck in a prison that could have existed on Yondu’s ship in Guardians of the Galaxy, for instance. Meanwhile, a second act fight scene between Supergirl and Brigand forces just looks like everyone’s duking it out on repurposed Kalki 2898 AD sets.

Similarly visually underwhelming is the realization of the various fight scenes. Craig Gillespie’s prior directorial efforts include I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl, and Dan in Real Life (AKA the Steve Carell pancake movie). His inexperience with fight scenes amusingly materializes in how two early Supergirl skirmishes happen either heavily obscured or off-camera. Eventually, though, Gillespie has to show Supergirl and her unexpected pal Lobo (Jason Momoa) beating up people.

When that moment comes, the fight choreography is shrug-worthy and everything descends into weightless digital blobs. Gillespie’s action movie impulses are so rudimentary he even hinges the third act around a crashing CG ship like Supergirl’s a Phase Two Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. If you find this title’s dialogue-heavy scenes tedious, there are unfortunately no punch-heavy treasures awaiting you for your patience.

At the center of all these faults is a seriously exceptional performance courtesy of Milly Alcock. She proves more than capable of anchoring an entire movie in her first feature film leading role. Alock exudes both an absorbing screen presence and a believably jagged personality that’s fun to watch. Any time Supergirl’s waltzing around in a drunken stupor moments before punching an alien bozo into the sky, this film comes alive. To boot, her portrayal of Supergirl slowly letting some vulnerability bubble to the surface is impeccably realized.

Playing opposite Milly Alcock’s superhero are hordes of practically realized alien creatures. The designs on these beasties aren’t especially unique, but the makeup and puppetry departments did a terrific job of realizing these organisms. Also co-starring against Alcock is Momoa in a supporting role as Lobo. Sometimes, this character’s expository dialogue (like when he’s in a jail cell explaining his “code”) feels too much like the producers trying to pitch audiences on solo Lobo adventures. Momoa’s outsized personality (complete with endearing bellows of glee as his character whips out weapons) and solid comic timing, though, help justify this character’s presence.

Speaking of aliens, Supergirl’s proclivity towards emphasizing its titular character living in a dingy cosmic Hell doesn’t just extend to the film’s color palette. It also materializes in a bizarre motif emphasizing the defecation and lactating habits of CG aliens. This bizarre motif will undoubtedly turn off some viewers. However, there’s a compelling specificity to emphasizing otherworldly feces and breastmilk. So much of Supergirl either evokes memories of other summer blockbusters or has its pronounced features sanded off. Lingering on the natural functions of alien beasties, on the other hand, doesn’t show up in every DC Comics movie adaptation.

Plus, that’s the kind of “WTF?” weirdness Supergirl’s comic exploits were built on. Silver Age madness, unfortunately, has been traded in for indistinguishably drab backdrops, a soundtrack of expected pop song needle drops like “Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a BANG)”*, and a thoroughly forgettable villain. Supergirl assembles common modern blockbuster traits and realizes them with frustratingly minimal showmanship. Milly Alcock’s Supergirl exudes a punk rock aesthetic. Her solo movie radiates self-conscious dreariness. This needed more 100 gecs or Death Grips chutzpah and less forgettable cover song energy.

*=Real 2010 cinema fans know that this tune already factored into a DC movie…or at least its trailer.