Ticketworthy - Supergirl

It has been almost two decades since Iron Man introduced the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the world, and movie studios have been scrambling ever since to get a taste of the success the MCU has had. Last year, Marvel’s biggest competitor, DC, launched their newest attempt at a shared universe with Superman. That film was a fun, vibrant, and uplifting take on the classic superhero that started the DCU off on a high note. Its follow-up outing, Supergirl, isn’t consistently any of those things. The themes are a bit darker, as are almost all of the colors, and the film suffers from some big problems that hold it back. That said, it’s still entertaining and left me wanting to see what they do with the characters next. Sometimes that’s the best you can hope for.

This time following Superman’s cousin, Kara (Milly Alcock), Supergirl is a much more cosmic story. While Kara is barhopping across the galaxy, she finds herself pulled into a revenge plot by a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley). The pair must travel from planet to planet, hunting the men that destroyed Ruthye’s family and poisoned Krypto, Kara’s dog. Along the way, Kara has to confront her grief over the loss of her home and discover if she can be the kind of superhero that her cousin is.

Getting the obvious question out of the way, Alcock is a superb Supergirl. There is a pain and vulnerability in her performance that brilliantly showcases the damaged girl Kara really is. She does so much acting with just her eyes and subtle facial expressions, really bringing the character to life. At the same time, she exudes the kind of power and cockiness you’d expect from a nearly all-powerful superhero. It’s a complete performance that couldn’t get much better.

Oddly enough, however, the film isn’t always about Kara’s story so much as it is Ruthye’s. While Kara is certainly central to the plot, it is the younger girl who gets the biggest character arc, the lessons, and ultimately the most important moments. Eve Ridley is the heartbeat of the movie, and she handles the responsibility with grace. This is her first time in a leading role like this, and it’s a shockingly good first outing.

Unfortunately, the split focus between Ruthye and Kara doesn’t always serve the movie well. There are several times in the film where experiencing one of their perspectives makes the other a bit muddled. Kara, in particular, gets short-changed by this. By the end she’s supposed to have grown into a proper superhero, but that rarely feels like the journey she’s on. I’d have liked to spend a bit more time watching her grow into that role instead of just grappling with her past.

The lack of focus bleeds into the direction as well. While the action sequences are all pretty exciting, they do tend to jump from character to character, making it difficult for the audience to get any feel for the space. Most of the time you just have to trust that the characters are where they should be and all of the cool fighting, flying, and laser blasting makes sense. The set pieces themselves don’t do much to make the watching experience better, as the background and costumes are much duller than that we saw in Superman. It looks more realistic, but it’s way less interesting to look at.

Despite its issues, though, I can’t pretend I didn’t have a good time with Supergirl. The excellent characters and performances do enough to keep the film afloat, even if the story and directing choices don’t always hit. There are some suitably epic moments, a few emotional gut-punches, a decent soundtrack, and action that’s good most of the time. It’s hard to ask for more than that in this kind of film. It doesn’t soar quite as high as its predecessor, but Supergirl flies nonetheless.