When I say “Supergirl crashes,” of course I mean that she’s wound tight on space sake and falls flat on her face. Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya; Cruella) and screenwriter Ana Nogueira adapted Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s acclaimed 2021-22 comic miniseries for this second film in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe. Their title character is exactly the role that Nick Nolte perfected in the 1980s — the drunken, disheveled antihero, all scruffy charm and a grumpy heart of gold. Isn’t it weird that a film about a female superhero purportedly reflecting contemporary feminist values actually just borrows a hackneyed dude cliché and calls that a character? It’s superdumb, and it’s the main reason this movie was so badly received at theaters this summer.
The film opens on Kara Zor-El’s (Milly Alcock) 23rd birthday. Unlike Superman, Kara actually remembers Krypton and witnessed its destruction firsthand. Her survivor’s guilt and the trauma of losing her parents and nearly her entire race have left Kara adrift. She can’t fully embrace Earth or her red-caped cousin’s heroic mission. Celebrating her birthday with her dog Krypto at a bar in a rough part of the galaxy, she crosses paths with Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), a young alien girl whose father has just been murdered by a ruthless mercenary named Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). Ruthye eventually recruits Kara for a cross-galaxy revenge mission.
This is essentially the setup for True Grit, which is a pretty great setup. But Gillespie blows the execution, mostly due to Nogueira’s script. It’s a challenge to write the title character, but Nogueira also writes Ruthye as a cipher only capable of repeating herself, always in a helpless state of distress. That might play if the script gave her more emotional depth, but you can say that about all the characters in this movie. Nothing ever feels at stake because nothing ever feels believable. I don’t believe Kara is Nick Nolte. I don’t believe Ruthye is the spunkiest tough girl in the universe when she has to be saved constantly. Those are opposite things, and the contradiction is genuinely confusing.
Their interplanetary journey of rocket-assisted revenge takes them across multiple worlds, each with its own alien culture and look, and this is where the film finds firm footing. I’ve read negative takes on the effects, but they really caught my eye. The lived-in look of the exteriors, interiors, and various vehicles felt right out of the original Star Wars, and the plethora of off-world creatures were largely created using practical makeup effects. I loved the old-school look and the designs were mostly impressive. Visual effects were supervised by Geoffrey Baumann, special effects by Paul Corbould, and character prosthetics and animatronics by Legacy Effects under supervisors Lindsay MacGowan, Shane Mahan, and J. Alan Scott. Supergirl takes the audience to interesting places, but then you just want to join some other tour group.
Going to see a movie in the theater is inconvenient and expensive when the movie isn’t good, but when it’s on a service you’re already paying for, maybe Supergirl is worth a look. If you’re a sci-fi effects maven who loves seeing people dressed up as scary monsters, this one might even inspire some Halloween brainstorming.
Supergirl is streaming on HBO Max.
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.