Millie Alcock from “Supergirl.”No credit/AP
super girl
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Written by Ana Nogueira
Starring Millie Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, Jason Momoa
Classified as PG; 108 minutes
Released in theaters on June 26th
In Supergirl, Millie Alcock does a lot of crawling. Her titular punk party girl, whose real name is Kara, can be seen drunkenly crawling out of bed after a bender or running across the floor during a fist fight. At one point, she even crawls out from under a large alien derriere. It’s a humiliation ritual that Alcock specializes in, taking a beating and coming out the other side with all her flint and resilient charm intact.
I hope that’s how it pans out when Alcock crawls out from under this cinematic mess.
The Australian star, who broke out playing young Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, is the perfect talent for Supergirl. But Internet boys like Brie Larson, the feminist-minded woman behind Captain Marvel, are already slamming Allcock. They picked up on hints of “woke” feminism, with Alcock daring to suggest in a red carpet interview that Kara Zor-El, the character she plays, isn’t all that interested in men in the film, suggesting that she would even welcome the idea of Supergirl being gay because, after all, this character has bigger concerns. Ah, scandal! Keep in mind that many of X’s self-proclaimed MAGA buddies have argued that Sidney Sweeney should play the character instead, but given Sweeney’s limited range as an actor and over-reliance on sex appeal, this suggestion clearly seems misplaced.
Alcock has not escaped accusations that he was cast in House of the Dragon, which won the drama series award at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards, after appearing comically inebriated on stage. Supergirl is passionate about how to make herself seem messy and out of her depth and still captivate everyone. To that end, Alcock, with her furrowed brow, sleepy glares and irreverent smiles, looks like her own teenage daughter, hinting at a soulfulness rarely expressed in director Craig Gillespie’s films.
Gillespie created “I, Tonya, Cruella.” He acquits himself well to the superficial entertainment starring Margot Robbie and Emma Stone, in which chaotic women display their dastardly deeds. It’s funny how Gillespie stumbles when dealing with women who are supposed to be truly heroic. That said, I’m sure the series as a whole, with its disjointed action and horrific CGI-heavy scenery, is mostly to blame.
Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira took their cues from director James Gunn’s Superman, which led the DC Studios CEO to overhaul the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. He also highlighted the Man of Steel’s immigration status, which makes MAGA types cringe, while introducing Alcock’s Supergirl and her ferocious dog Krypto.
Jason Momoa scene from Supergirl.No credit/AP
Supergirl is an adaptation of the Women of Tomorrow comic book series, which is a retelling of True Grit. Kara will play Rooster Cogburn, opposite Eve Ridley’s Lucy. Lucy is a child who offers a bounty in revenge after her family is brutally murdered by marauders who call themselves bandits. Kara has her own reasons for hunting bandits across the galaxy. Their leader, Clem, played very hyena-like by Matthias Schoenaerts, hits Krypto with a poisoned arrow, and he has an antidote. And since her dog is her only link to home and her Kryptonian family, she’s ready to hunt down the culprit like John Wick. Changed to rooster. John Wayne played him in the first movie.
Also, why not free some of the young girls Clem and the bandits keep as sex slaves? It’s a disturbing side detail that Supergirl borrows from Mad Max: Fury Road, but there’s no righteous anger or intent behind it. Instead, it was thrown in as part of Gillespie and Noguilla’s lame and disjointed attempt to fuse Gunn’s brash, deeply unserious house style with George Miller’s dirty diesel and rust aesthetic.
It feels like almost everything about Supergirl is tossed aside or thrown to the side, leaving little behind. Jason Momoa, for example, appears as a demigod robot on a motorcycle, and his usual banter feels like an afterthought, adding no material value to the action. His presence feels like an accounting decision to add a bit of testosterone to the marquee.
Even Alcock sometimes feels like he’s cycling through different issues. She’s a carefree party girl. She is a wise superhero. She’s a white immigrant, and like Superman, she’s able to make the faithful themes of trauma and loneliness understandable, if not meaningful.
In the end, all that’s left is its ruffles and bouncy charm.
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