Supergirl
If you were to put Superman and Supergirl in James Gunn’s DCU on the Alignment scale, Kal-el would be very much Lawful Good, and Kara Zor-el would be Chaotic Good. That feels right. From the moment Milly Alcock’s Kara-el cameoed at the end of “Supergirl,” we weren’t in the presence of some noble protector but someone who seemed out of step not just in Kal-el’s world, but her own skin. Immediately, that made the character compelling. The question is whether Craig Gillespie’s feature length film for her could explore that in a feature worthy of the answer.
The screenplay by Ana Nogueira takes a lot of its inspiration from the miniseries, Supergirl: World of Tomorrow. In it, Kara finds herself meeting an alien girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), who is looking to avenge her father’s death at the hands of Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). That is the structural bones of Gillespie’s film, which focuses Kara’s story of her being unsure of her place in the world after she was sent away from Krypton during a time where Kryptonians were trying to hang on for dear life. Unlike her cousin, Kara has conscious memories of growing up as a Kryptonian, and the pain of being forced to say goodbye. Can she challenge that in order to join Clark in the good fight?
While telling a personal story, “Supergirl” has a lot of exposition about Kryptonian lore to give us about how Kara and Kal and how their powers change based on the sun- yellow vs. red vs. even green- and the differences in Kal-el’s parents and Kara’s parents at the end of things for Kryptonian. The structure of the film is a bit shaky for a 107-minute movie- it almost feels like Ruthye and Kara are co-leads, each with their own arcs both combining and separating, and it’s an unbalanced narrative, as a result. The comic run of this story was told from Ruthye’s perspective, and it’s clear they tried to pay tribute to that here- with a lot of times where Kara is not part of the action- and while Ridley gives a solid performance, it also takes the focus off of why we’re there, which is Kara. If we’re looking at an MCU comparison, the obvious answer is “The Marvels,” but at least those three leads were all established by that point, and operated as a team. Gillespie- though talented at handling offbeat single-lead narratives (“Lars and the Real Girl,” “I, Tonya” and “Cruella”) is unable to get the balance right here. I still enjoyed the narrative that was told, though.
What does it mean to consider Alcock’s Supergirl as “Chaotic Good?” It means that, while they can be selfish, a personal trainwreck and all over the map when it comes to personal connections, ultimately, they will find themselves doing the right thing and saving the world. That’s one of the things I love most about the film, and Alcock’s performance. Because of her connection to Krypton vs. Kal’s, her grief over their home planet being lost is fundamental to her character, and why she finds herself taking trips to planets with red suns to drink herself into a stupor, even at the expense of her powers being diminished. As we get to see more of her pre-Earth life, we see the differences in her vs. David Corenswet’s Superman in a clearer light. In a way, both characters are going through personal dilemmas in their respective films- Kal-el having his view of his birth parents shattered, Kara having her birth home destroyed in front of her eyes, with only memories- and Krypto- to sustain her. Alcock plays the character beautifully, and the promise of that cameo feels like it was delivered on.
At this point in the genre’s life cycle, superhero movies feel like they are in a state of transition with audiences. For the most part, they are no longer the must-see events they felt like during Nolan’s trilogy or the pre-“Endgame” MCU, but they are still a significant part of the cinematic landscape. “Supergirl” does have some predecessors in how they play with cinematic superhero conventions, with the aforementioned “The Marvels,” as well as “Thor: Love and Thunder” and last year’s “Thunderbolts*” having some common elements in them. I enjoyed all of those movies, even if I would argue none of them reach the heights of a “Dark Knight” or “Endgame” or “Black Panther” when it comes to overall quality and impact. I would put “Supergirl” squarely in the middle of that first group- something that’s trying to do something a bit different on screen, not entirely working, but still being entertaining. I’ll take that.
