Yes, it took me over a month to gather some thoughts on James Gunn’s latest contribution to the DC Universe in the form of the Craig Gillespie-helmed Supergirl. And the reason for that was because it took me a while to get around to seeing this thing in theaters.
What happened was that a friend had some tickets that they got on special and invited me along with a couple others in exchange for food and drink (elsewhere; movie goods are too bloody expensive for what little you get these days.) I figured why not and then we went and saw the film… and then we promptly forgot about it.
And that is not a good sign when this is supposed to be one of your tentpole features in your whole Gods And Monsters story arc that may or may not get a Chapter Two.
Here’s the thing with Supergirl that kind of annoys me. The best scene that I’ve this Milly Alcock version of Supergirl was when she crashed into the Fortress Of Solitude drunk as a kite at the end of Superman. Hey, drunken Supergirl sounds like a fun time at the party. Funny thing is that you’d want to see that character in a more positive light and be the strongest aspect of their own film since they are supposed to be the eponymous protagonist that is the driving force of this film.
As it turns out, the best part of Supergirl was Jason Momoa as Lobo. The (Main) Man looked the part, he sounded the part, and he looked like he was having a grand ol’ time. I would say that he deserves his own movie, but they gave him two Aquaman movies in the past and they were… okay, I guess. I can’t imagine Lobo being worse off.
If you have been a frequent reader of this blog… my condolences, but you would have noticed a significant lack of excitement or even mention of this Supergirl film. Other than maybe one post a week before it was unleashed upon the world, I have not shown the same level of anticipation for this film like I did with Superman. Well, let’s call a spade a spade. I can’t exactly manufacture excitement for something that doesn’t really excite me.
Yes, a lot of that hype for Superman was centered around the dog and yes, I will continue to argue that a CG bleached version of James Gunn’s own pup remains the best part of Superman, a film that I thought was pretty good and still consider it somewhat decent because it struck all the right notes. It had a Superman that acted like Superman (for once) and there was a comic book vibe that I hadn’t felt from one of these things in a good long while.
Supergirl, on the other hand, didn’t have that… and that played a huge part in my general ambivalence over this movie. No matter how much I tried, I simply could not be excited for this thing. It’s also a noted sign when someone I know who is big into Superman and the Superman lore did not show much interest in this movie like he did Superman.
Granted, there was the World Cup, which takes more priority, but still…
And so when we got together to watch this movie – which, to its credit, was under two hours and we were told beforehand that there were no mid or post credits stuff to wait for, so we got out of there and played a few arcade games before leaving for a bite out and talking about a bunch of stuff… none of which was about the movie we just saw.
I don’t know what it is about this film that has gave me such a blasé reaction; whether it was the dim lighting, the pedestrian storytelling, the bland and utterly forgettable villains, or the generally dull and uninteresting cast of characters as a whole – again, Lobo being the sole exception in this movie and I don’t necessarily say that as a fan of the character because I’ve been largely oblivious to a lot of Lobo stuff outside a couple old comics and some spots on the old Bruce Timm-helmed animated shows. There was nothing in this movie that had me excited or anything like that and that’s probably because there was nothing there that stuck to memory.
I don’t know what James Gunn saw in this script that he dubbed it an “incredible” script, but that isn’t a word that I would use. But then again, he did call The Flash “the best superhero movie he had ever seen.”
Yip.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded a good movie based on a shitty script because that’s usually the result of a good cast elevating that subpar material with splendid performances. Barring that one, sole exception, I didn’t get much of that either. Again, kind of depressing when Milly Alcock’s best Supergirl scene was in another movie and in this, she’s just generic “girl is wrong, out for revenge” caricature that I’ve seen in a whole bunch of these movies starring similar characters. That sort of thing blends in with the rest of that slurry.
Again, for someone who is supposed to be one of your major players in this ever-expanding DCU cinematic endeavor, that is not a good sign.
So, yeah, Supergirl didn’t quite work for me. Still, I’m not quite willing to write this character off like some other folks have. More than anything, it was the story around Supergirl that did her no favours. Chances are she’ll be better spotlighted in Man Of Tomorrow, where she’s supposed to be a major player in that. And hopefully, she gets another flick that isn’t like this one.
Because I’ll tell you what; given the choice between this and the one from ’84, I’d much rather watch the one from ’84.
Better luck next time, I suppose.
