Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Supergirl - Movie Review
Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) is Superman’s cousin, and as such, is a member of the DC Universe. She’s just turning 23 and has been spending her days and nights barhopping through galaxies, returning home hammered, faceplanting on her bed and waking up to a tongue bath from Krypto, her superdog companion. Sometimes with a nasty hangover.
Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley) lives on a rural planet with her parents and brother. Her father is known throughout the galaxy for making the strongest, most beautiful battle swords. Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenarts) arrives on her planet to take her father’s most exceptional sword. Krem then kills her entire family for fun, takes the sword and leaves. Ruthye sets out on her revenge quest, and with the help of Kara, spends the next 108 minutes tracking down the man who slaughtered her family.
There are many battles. Many. Many. Many. On various planets. With different bars and different suns. Good yellow suns help Kara. Bad green suns, well, you know.
It’s repetitive. It’s simple. Child in trouble. Girls in trouble. Dog in trouble. Revenge bad. Beating up brigands is good. Yet revenge becomes worthy and good if the life of your dog is on the line.
There are two things in the film that make Supergirl worth seeing. The first is Jason Momoa, who plays Lobo. Lobo is a disruptor. An anti-villain. Similar to MCU’s Loki, but different. You don’t know on which side of a battle Lobo’s going to stand because, according to him, he’s only interested in a cash money payoff. He’s morally grey, with a wicked sense of humor. He’s not an anti-hero, though some might think so. If a paycheck isn’t involved, you don’t know what Lobo’s perspective will be, so you may not root for him to succeed. He may help the bad guys if they pay enough. In Supergirl, Lobo can’t be counted on to help either Ruthye or Kara. He has his own set of rules and reasons, when money isn’t the payoff. I’d like to see more of Lobo down the line.
The second thing that makes Supergirl interesting is the stunt work. It’s films like these, weak plot, simple character development, framed as introductory stories, dependent on action sequences and stunts to drive the film, which surely emboldened the Motion Picture Academy to cave and create the Best Stunt Design category. The award, a long-time coming, will be distributed in 2028 at the 100th Oscars.
Why the delay? Because the Academy viewed this role as a craft, rather than art. Bah, humbug. Every 007, Mad Max, Matrix etc. film would have been boring, less artistic and less of a blockbuster without their stunts. The MCU and the DCU would be 2-dimensional. Will giving these highly trained actors their own category cause them to take greater risks? Possibly – which was also a concern of the Academy. However, you know who is probably more enthusiastic than me about this newly emerging category? Tom Cruise, who may finally receive that elusive Oscar.
