Movie Review: ‘Supergirl’

Opening in theaters on June 26 is ‘Supergirl,’ directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Ana Nogueira, and starring Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, and Jason Momoa.

​Opening in theaters on June 26 is ‘Supergirl,’ directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Ana Nogueira, and starring Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, and Jason Momoa.   

Opening in theaters on June 26 is ‘Supergirl,’ directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Ana Nogueira, and starring Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, and Jason Momoa.

Related Article: ‘Supergirl’ Scribe Ana Nogueira to Write ‘Wonder Woman’ for DC Studios

Initial Thoughts

Starring in her first standalone live-action feature film since 1984, DC Comics’ Supergirl comes to life here courtesy of a terrific performance from Milly Alcock, whom we first saw in the part in 2025’s ‘Superman.’

But despite fine work from Alcock and a couple of others – including David Corenswet cameoing as her cinematic cousin Kal-El and bringing his sweet-natured charm with him – ‘Supergirl’ is hampered by a thin, derivative story, an extremely weak villain, drab visuals, and less than inspiring action scenes. The second feature film in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe seems made from leftover parts of other, better superhero movies.

Story and Direction

Adapted from Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s 2021-2022 comic book series ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,’ the film opens on Kara Zor-El, native of Krypton and cousin of Superman, celebrating her 23rd birthday in the only way she knows how: by zipping to various planets and getting s**t-faced drunk. On one of the planets she visits on her interstellar pub crawl, she meets Ruthye Marie Knoll (Eve Ridley), a young girl whose family has just been wiped out by the evil Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his band of vicious brigands, who travel around the galaxy kidnapping young women to use as ‘brides’ to perpetrate their race.

Ruthye is seeking to hunt down Krem and get revenge, a mission that Kara – who at this point tends to play down her superhero abilities – is not interested in joining. That is, until Krem and his men steal Kara’s ship to get off the planet – gravely injuring her beloved dog, Krypto, in the process. Determined to find Krem and get the antidote to the toxin he shot Krypto with, Kara reluctantly teams up with Ruthye, all the while knowing that the younger girl’s quest for vengeance may cost her everything, including her soul.

That main plotline is where ‘Supergirl’ falters the most. Episodic, languidly paced, punctuated by listless action scenes and set on a series of drab planets (clearly courtesy of the Volume background visuals), it borrows heavily from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (although not a director or writer on this, Gunn can’t seem to get away from his biggest creation), ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu,’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road.’ Craig Gillespie has done some fine movies in the past (‘I, Tonya,’‘Cruella,’ the underrated ‘The Finest Hours’), but his direction here is workmanlike, especially in the present-day scenes.

It’s in a series of flashbacks, however, that ‘Supergirl’ fares better, as Kara plumbs memories of her past and Alcock gets to deliver different levels of emotion that recontextualize the action in the present. We are shown how her father, Zor-El (a moving David Krumholtz), manages to seal off their city, Argo, and lift it free of Krypton before that planet explodes (as predicted by Zor-el’s brother – and Superman’s father – Jor-El), only for the entire population to be doomed by a side effect Zor-El didn’t see coming.

So he saves his daughter in the same way his brother saved his own son – by sending her off in a spaceship to Earth, where she’s greeted by her cousin. But unlike Kal-El (who notably introduces himself as Clark and apologizes for not knowing a word of Kryptonian), Kara cannot at first adjust to life on our little planet, making her grief and loneliness all the more palpable. It’s these sequences that give ‘Supergirl’ the emotional and character grounding that the best superhero movies have, and it’s a shame that they’re offset by the monotony of the rest of the film.

The stakes are so relatively small, the world-building so generic, and the film’s structure so repetitive (Krem and his merry men constantly get the upper hand on Kara and Ruthye, only for the tables to get predictably turned) that by the end of ‘Supergirl,’ one starts to wonder what the point of the film is, and who signed off on it looking so colorless and dim.

Cast and Performances

It’s really Milly Alcock herself who keeps the movie (which seems longish even at a relatively brief 108 minutes) afloat with her charismatic presence; although it takes a long time for Kara to don her red-and-blue outfit and finally start acting like a superhero, she’s funny and endearing throughout. The revelation of her deep heartache over the loss of her home and her inability to fit in elsewhere – manifested in her willingness to visit planets with red suns because those rays depower her and make the alcohol work better – is truly touching at one point, as is her devotion to the waylaid Krypto.

14-year-old Eve Ridley is inconsistent as Ruthye, veering between genuine anger and a sort of rote line reading, but she pairs nicely with Alcock and the two have a handful of engaging moments together. Her revenge arc, however, has been done many times before. On the other hand, Krem is an especially dull villain, with Schoenaerts emoting wildly behind a sheath of what appears to be studs installed in his face. His brigands are an interchangeable tribe of similarly bejeweled action fodder, reminding us of easily forgettable and weakly developed third-tier Marvel villains.

As for the much-heralded arrival of Jason Momoa as Lobo (discarding his old Aquaman gear for a combination of biker and demon), the immortal bounty hunter (and popular comics character) could have easily sat out the film with little effect on the story: he’s here purely as fan service. Momoa clearly relishes playing the role, which suits him well, but his gruff, growling, gonzo work is more of a gimmick than an integral part of the narrative.

Final Thoughts

Kara Zor-El has had a checkered screen career: 1984’s ‘Supergirl’ starring Helen Slater (part of the Christopher Reeve‘Superman’ universe) was a flop, but a TV series of the same name set in the CW’s Arrowverse lasted for six seasons. Sasha Calle briefly portrayed the character in 2023’s ‘The Flash.’ Much has been made of the party-girl persona of Milly Alcock’s version, but it’s a kind of character we’ve seen before in everything from ‘Iron Man’ to, again, Gunn’s own ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ and the fact that she’s a woman, while setting her apart, doesn’t add much in the way of meaning to the film.

Whether Alcock gets another opportunity to portray the character depends a lot on the box office for this ‘Supergirl,’ but we hope she does: the actor is quite winning in the role and immediately makes it her own. We only wish that most of the rest of the movie around her was just as interesting and compelling. It never quite soars, even if Kara herself does.

‘Supergirl’ receives a score of 65 out of 100.

What is the plot of ‘Supergirl’?

Kara Zor-El celebrates her 23rd birthday by traveling across the galaxy with her dog Krypto. Along the way, she meets the young Ruthye Marye Knoll and encounters a tragedy that leads her on a quest for revenge.

Who is in the cast of ‘Supergirl’?

Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl:Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow HillsEve Ridley as Ruthye Marye KnollDavid Krumholtz as Zor-ElEmily Beecham as Alura In-ZeDavid Corenswet as Kal-El/Clark Kent/SupermanFerdinand Kingsley as Elias KnollJason Momoa as Lobo

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