"Supergirl (2026)" Underwhelming, Yet Largely Inoffensive

    I'm finally glad to have watched Supergirl, not in the sense that I was super excited to see this film, but I like most other people was inundated with so much discourse surrounded by this film while it was coming out, about how it's the worst film of all time, so many stupid, pointless culture war talking points and how it had one of the worst superhero needle drops of all time. And to that I say, some good points were made, but some of them were overblown, and while this is a very, very underwhelming film, I would say it's far from franchise-altering and I don't think the DCU needed Supergirl to do super well, even if I wanted it to do that. Let's talk about it.

    I never actually wrote about Woman of Tomorrow though I was debating it so it'll be fun to talk about both that comic, how it compares to this film, and what I liked about each. I will say, for all the crap this film got about it's horrendous needle drop at the end, and I do mean horrendous, the soundtrack is actually quite good? Like I was pleasantly surprised with This Summer by Sleigh Bells, I love myself some Wet Leg of course, and some Wolf Alice as well. Like I found myself not just recognizing, but enjoying and jamming out to some of the musical scenes in this film. Other than the very last one which really should have just been the original version of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. The version they play is so flaccid and absolutely deflating, especially for what should be the triumphant climax.

    Staying on that final battle for just a little bit. It was a far cry from the very colourful and vibrant comic book it called it's source material. Like in my opinion the artwork was some of the best parts of the comic, whose story I felt could be quite lackluster at times (though whose ultimate message was worthy of preserving in my opinion). Like just look at the thumbnail, you could argue that it only looks like that because she's moving at a fast pace, but no the final setting looks entirely like that. What if I told you there's supposed to be a lake in this barren wasteland too? It's just disappointing. The source material is so colorful, Kara is supposed to be a spacefarer wandering the cosmos because she witnessed the loss of all of her people, Ruthye should be in awe every time they step into a new scene since she's never been to a new planet. But instead, the most exotic aliens/things you see are Seth Rogen as a tiny animal, and a popcorn pooping animal (yet they have normal slushie machines with normal plastic slushie cups).

    Sticking to the topic of changes that were made. It seems they scrapped much of what made Woman of Tomorrow compelling from a thematic point to make it more palatable to viewers. It's not unwatchable, but it in turn makes the story much more by-the-numbers than it needs to be, and considering how short it is, nothing quite has the same emotional impact. Firstly, Krem speaks with a bizarre accent, looks evil pretty much immediately and is simply now the leader of a group known as "The Brigands." I know Tom King isn't people's favourite writer, but that's kind of missing the point about Krem, whose character is basically changed completely. 

    The entire story of Woman of Tomorrow is about revenge, and ultimately how hollow it will leave you, something the movie tries but fails to replicate. Part of it is that Krem looks like a creepy pedophile sex trafficker, and is in fact a creepy sex-trafficker in the movie. In that sense when Ruthye says that Krem needs to die for all the pain he will continue to cause, she's kind of right. Which is why the movie decides to have Supergirl killing him, whereas the book ends with Ruthye simply letting him live, which undercuts the very message Supergirl has been trying to teach Ruthye the entire film. I guess the film is just now about how Supergirl is strong enough to carry these trauma's for people, after all what's one more life which ruined so many others?

    In the comic Krem looks completely human, he looks very normal, and that's sort of the point, her parents accept him in like they would a stranger, with hospitality. Even then, when he murders her father (in the comic her family is actually completely alive) it's simply kind of accepted that while cruel and unnecessary he was working for the king and thus Ruthye is the only one in her family who decides to chase him to the ends of the Earth. They've stripped the story of any and all nuance. Supergirl was much more removed in the comic, she had a sort of silent strength to her and was less bumbling, she possessed a silent sadness that one could not quite crack. 

    That's really the sort of the crux of the issue with this film, it's quite short and removes much of the nuance from a book whose story I never felt was quite the strongest in the first place. I will say I had no complaints about the acting. You could say Ruthye's actor was a little rigid, but that's sort of the point of her character, she's very stubborn in her ways and since she's never left her planet she doesn't quite have the flexibility and grace to try and understand other cultures yet. I thought Alcock's portrayal of a Supergirl who was both sad and haunted by her past was well done as well. My only real complaint with Momo's Lobo was that he didn't refer to himself as the main man? Like isn't that literally his entire bit? I mean I know it wouldn't help with the Guardians of the Galaxy comparisons since it was directed by Gunn but a part of me felt that if he was going to be featured he should have been featured more and from the beginning.

Final Score: 50/100

        There are disappointing 50's and there are some hopeful 50's. I would say this film is more in the latter camp for me. I'm not saying this film had a ton of potential to be good, but it is a superhero film and I generally find they have at least some level of competency in terms of a baseline for being good. Like the film is also short enough that you never feel like you've wasted your time, but I can't quite say I enjoyed watching the film. Part of the issue is she hardly ever wears the suit either, and her power levels fluctuate quite greatly. Like Krem shoots her with kryptonite arrows yet unlike the comic there's no mention of people being scared of Superman. So how do they know about kryptonians? How is she unable to shake off the Kryptonite until she flies in front of the camera to make an epic moment? Just little things like that that slowly eroded my ability to ignore the little nitpicks is what really killed the film for me.