'Supergirl' Movie Review: A Remarkably Unremarkable Addition to James Gunn’s DCU

Some films have strong voices that resonate with you, some have unique voices that inspire you and some try so hard to be both that they end up sounding like Lucky from Golmaal. Craig Gillespie’s Mad Max-coded Supergirl is the second film in James Gunn’s new and renewed DCU (DC Universe) and unfortunately for DC fans (me), it falls into the third category.

This is the first project in the DCU that hasn’t been written or directed by Gunn... and yet, his shadow looms large. It has all the potential of being a classic James Gunn story aka, one that has a sad lead character who masks their depression with humour only to realise that their sadness can be turned into their biggest strength... with some weird looking aliens tagging along for the journey. Oh, and of course, a music montage. Yeah, I guess you could say there’s a pattern. 

A pattern that works often, but not for this film. In the film, Kara Zor El/ Supergirl, played effectively by Milly Alcock, says, “Luck by definition, almost always runs out,” and that’s what happens with this film too. It’s not that it's the worst film ever, it’s just remarkably unremarkable. 

Writer Ana Nogueira’s adaptation of the beloved ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow’ storyline falls flat on multiple levels. The film first re-introduces us to characters that we saw in 2025’s Superman: Kara and Krypto. It then introduces us to new characters such as Lobo played by an electric Jason Momoa, Krem played by a menacing Matthias Schoenaerts, and Ruthye played by Eve Ridley (the lack of adjective for this character is intentional and indicative of how I felt about it).  

The movie pits our protagonists against a villain who doesn’t think twice before destroying Ruthye’s family and still, leaves Ruthye unscathed, only to threaten to kill her two more times and still... not go through with it. Herein lies the film’s biggest problem. It teases but never commits.

Gillespie and Nogueira tease incredibly emotional ideas like the grief of leaving your parents and community to die an inevitable death on your home planet, not fitting in, coping via alcoholism, being burdened with a righteous elder brother and... having to travel across the universe to find an antidote for those you love the most.

However, that’s all they end up being; ideas floating across different planets simply because they must, just like our lead character. You know that both the characters and the conflicts are underwritten when you can’t even get the audience to care for an injured animal, let alone a cutely menacing dog.

The one saving grace for this film, if I may call it that, is the cast. Alcock is a capable actor, and her work on season one of House of the Dragon hinted at exactly this kind of restrained, interior performance and range. Here too, she plays Supergirl with a certain abandon that really does make us want to stick with her character and root for her. There is a scene where she sonic booms her way past the atmosphere into space to let out a scream; I wanted to feel her pain and anguish but the writing that builds up to that moment undoes it all. 

You can tell that Jason Momoa and Matthias Schoenaerts had fun filming their scenes and that translates. They bring life to these highly stylised and generic characters, and even though Momoa's Lobo is more underutilised than a fireplace in Mumbai, he manages to light up the screen with his infectious “Bastich!” 

Ultimately, what does one do with a 200-million-dollar superhero vehicle that has all the necessary resources at its disposal — including a solid source material — that is neither good nor bad because it's too scared to commit to being either? What does one do when such potential turns into the most bland, boring, tedious superhero film you’ve seen in a long time? I guess the only thing to do is pay attention to the ‘S’ on the Kryptonian suits and hope that the next film in Gunn’s DCU finds its footing before they end up rebooting these characters... yet again.