Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice when an unexpected adversary strikes too close to home. (from IMDb)

Oof. DC has been struggling for years with their cinematic universe. Last year, appropriately so, Superman brought hope to the franchise as the first in a newly rebooted DC cinematic run of films - even if it arrived with mixed reception. The first follow-up film? This summer's Supergirl, the DCU's official sophomore slump.

While Superman had James Gunn's screwball tone written all over it, the movie had an overall light tone - even though it would occasionally get very violent. Comparatively, 2026's Supergirl aims for that Guardians of the Galaxy whimsical tone, but only ends up feeling weird, or awkward, instead. Unique - and often grotesque - creature designs are seen in abundance for the early half of the film as Kara is seen planet-hopping as she tries to drink her troubles away. And instead of the universe being fun to experience, it's more uncomfortable or creepy. Guardians, and even last year's Superman, seemed to welcome you into their worlds, but Supergirl almost warns you to stay out of it. Part of the problem is Kara's character. She's bitter and unfriendly and prickly without being charming. There's just zero charm. It's hard to tell if that's because actress Milly Alcock doesn't have the charm to make this character work, or it's just poor writing. (It's probably both.) Most of the movie has Kara refusing to help a young teenage girl, named Ruthye, get vengeance on the villain, Krem, who killed her entire family in cold blood, and only reluctantly sort-of joins the girl after the same villain poisons her dog, Krypto. It's not exactly a noble stance for the character. In fact, she really only teams with Ruthye because the girl refuses to listen to anything Kara says - good or bad advice - and keeps following her. It's a strange dynamic. And neither characters are all that likable.

It isn't until Kara shares her backstory with life on Krypton, and the inevitable tragic loss of her family, that you kind of start to understand a little bit about why she's the way she is. Still, we don't really know how much time has gone by since she was found by Superman on Earth, so it's hard to know how she went from sad-and-overwhelmed-Kryptonian-teen to a drunk and partying 20-year-old traveling the galaxy. She's miserable, she's cynical, and she's just not a hero. Sadly, her transformation to a more heroic Supergirl is also very sudden and doesn't really make a lot of sense. It's a welcome change for the character for sure, but it may be too little too late in the film. It's a delight to see her kick bad guy butt, but the payoff doesn't feel like it fits the preceding journey.

Jason Momoa finally gets his longtime wish to play the anti-hero Lobo, and he's one of the only bright spots in this film. If anything, you're likely to want to know more about his character when the film ends than Kara's. But still, Lobo feels tossed into the story just for the sake of Momoa finally getting his chance to play the character, and it's not quite enough to make the film worthwhile.

David Corenswet's Superman also has a few cameo moments, but most of them feel like they just belittle or poke fun at the character of Superman. Still, one of the movie's best scenes is a fun one where Superman meets his cousin Kara for the first time.

There's also a really weird theme about Kara trying to save Ruthye from making the irreversible mistake of killing Klem for revenge. She tells her repeatedly that murdering him won't make her feel better and she'll have to carry that with her for the rest of her life. (Stopping him also enables Krem to keep killing mercilessly, though.) Meanwhile, Kara freely kills bad guys left and right. Why is she the exception to the rule? It's never explained and it just ends up feeling kind of silly.

I could talk endlessly about what didn't work in Supergirl, but the movie is hardly a complete lost cause (And I'd still rather rewatch it than The Marvels... *shudder*). If you like Kara's character already - or Milly as an actress - you'll probably find it easier to look beyond the film's faults. But Kara is barely even suited up as Supergirl in the film - only during its finale - and she just spends most of the movie trying to convince everyone, and ultimately the audience as well, that she doesn't want to be a hero. I feel like I can look at the film and see what they were going for with it, but it all just fails to come together well. Still, the action is hardly boring and there's a decent score from composer Claudia Sarne driving the action. Kara's backstory does work to help garner some sympathy for her, but she's hardly a likable grump (She's certainly no Han Solo or John McClane, for example).

The content of Supergirl is a hard PG-13 (my wife thought it should have been rated R, but I disagree. I wouldn't say it's quite that aggressive). The film is extremely violent, but it's seldom graphic. Part of its intensity involves Krem's people basically kidnapping young girls and keeping them as slaves - especially for the continuation of his species. It's icky for sure. Furthermore, Krem kills with little hesitation, impaling innocent bystanders with blades, slicing their throats, and hurling blades into his victims. It's pretty intense. If he didn't seem like such a lame villain visually and by how he carries himself, he'd truly be a villain to fear. In one scene, Kara arm wrestles a big alien and breaks his arm. We see it bent at the forearm, but the bone doesn't break through the alien's skin. There are also two scenes where Kara pulls a spike or arrow out of the bare skin on her thigh and we see the hole and blood they leave behind. There is some profanity - mostly the "S" word and a few of "*ss," as well as some uses of "G-d" as exclamations. And Kara drinks heavily throughout the first half the film, even to the point where we see her throw up a couple times.

It's sad to see the DCU already struggling with their second entry. Supergirl had potential, and even though I was underwhelmed with Milly's cameo in last year's Superman, I was willing to give her solo run a try. I did, and sadly, it's worse than I could have ever expected. I'm all for a good Supergirl movie - and I was surprised by how much I really liked 2017's Wonder Woman - but this film just doesn't do anything good for the character. Hopefully Gunn can right the ship a little with next year's Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, but I think it's probably safe to remain cautious at this point.

Side note: there are surprisingly no post credits scenes.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 7/5/26)