In Director Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl, Milly Alcock plays Kryptonian survivor Kara and Supergirl, who tries to save young Ruthye Knoll, played by Eve Ridley, from her path of vengeance. Ruthye buried her family massacred by pierced-face, powerful Road Warrior -like alien Brigand Krem, played with crazed zeal Matthias Schoenaerts.
Krem came to collect swords forged by Ruthye’s smith father Elias, played by solid Ferdinand Kingley. Krem sex trafficked women to procreate the all-male Brigand race. He murdered Ruthye’s entire family before her eyes. Although she apparently doesn’t fight, Ruthye takes her father’s sword as reward for anyone, who can help her kill Krem.
As Supergirl opens, her dog Krypto urinates on the newspaper headline of her cousin Superman and Clark Kent, played by strong understanding David Corenswet. Kara wakes up in sunglasses with a massive hangover. This world has a red sun, like her demised Krypton. Kara does not have her superpowers like great strength and invulnerability in red sun light. Therefore, she can party and get drunk. Ana Nogueira’s screenplay meticulously tracks the kind of sun each planet has that Kara visits. A clumsy narrative device. Ana’s narrative better paints the pathology underneath Kara’s binge drinking: her trauma and loss.
Much of Ana Nogueira’s screenplay occurs as a narrative and tonal mess. Except for the final scene, all of Supergirl takes place off of Earth. On planets with red suns, yellow suns, and even deadly green suns. Despite Eve Ridley’s brave innocent best to create empathy for Ruthye, she’s frequently annoying. Guessing that she can’t fight, she takes down a bigger stronger Brigand with her bare hands. One of several logical erratic gaps in Supergirl.
At times, Craig Gillespie literally wanders off into space down this chaotic violent path. Fortunately, he and Ana converge on the narrative arc of mercy, which forgives many of their trespasses. Why I really liked Supergirl.
In Supergirl flashback to Argo City from the doomed Krypton, Kara’s beloved Mother, played by compassionate Emily Beecham, died from Kryptonite radiation poisoning. Before she passed, she told Kara, “Just be good.” During her mother’s funeral procession, Kara befriends stray dog Krypto. Krypto helps Kara heal her grief and loss. Like her cousin Clark, Kara’s father Zor-El, played by loving wise David Krumholtz, sends her to Earth to save her. In Ana Nogueira’s narrative that trauma and loss sourced Kara’s excess drinking.
Milly Alcock’s whimsical sincerity and swag ground Kara’s authentic humanity, the saving grace of Supergirl. That along with Jason Momoa’s strong performance as jacked, long maned, motorcycle riding bounty hunter Lobo, the Immortal who wants to be a god.
Surprisingly, Kara saves Ruthye by disposing alien thugs on a planet with a red sun. Without her superpowers, she wrecks dudes with vicious martial art skills. No, Ana Nogueira doesn’t really explain Kara’s training. Still, Milly Alcock as Kara is total badass throwing front kicks and left hooks.
Krem shoots Krypto with a poison dart when he tries to protect Kara. Ruthye tells Kara that she has three days to find an antidote or Krypto dies. In a bizarre plot branch, Kara and Ruthye board a wormhole bus to find Krem and the serum for Krypto. Kara embodies this strange John Wick vibe in a good way. For Keanu Reeve’s John Wick, his dog represented the love for his late wife Helen. Milly Alcock’s Kara loves Krypto, because in many ways he saved her life. Their dogs were all that they had.
At the space rest stop, Kara gets into another bar fight trying to obtain information on Krem. Hulking goth Lobo is also drinking at the bar. He has a bounty on Krem’s second in command Drom, played by Diarmaid Murtagh. Lobo explains, “I kill for money, not for sport.” Badasses Kara and Lobo thrash the Brigand crew.
Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa have natural charismatic chemistry as Kara and Lobo. Too bad, Craig Gillespie didn’t leverage more of that. Really, the main weakness of Supergirl is its villain Krem. He’s vicious. He’s physically threatening. Yet, he comes off a goof. I couldn’t take him seriously. I just waited for someone put him down.
The too many tangential narrative threads throughout Supergirl are all on Writer Ana Nogueira. Give Craig Gillespie and Ana Nogueira their flowers for the emotional climatic narrative arc. Kara tearfully pleads with Ruthye, “Let your life be your revenge.” Milly Alcock and Eve Ridley are authentic humanity together. Kara wants to save Ruthye’s soul. She knows what it’s like to lose her own. Still, Kara can’t let evil prevail and do nothing.
In Supergirl, Director Craig Gillespie messily wanders all over the galaxy, but poignantly returns home, where the heart is. Shakespeare wrote, “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Mercy is blessed for those, who give, and for those, who receive. In that Supergirl is blessed, too.
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Photo: DC Studios
