Supergirl

Movie Name: Supergirl
Year of Release: 2026
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mamoa, Eve Ridley, David Corenswet, Ferdinand Kingsley, Diarmaid Murtagh, Bruce Lennox, Emily Piggford, David Krumholtz, 
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

The always underrated Craig Gillespie is back, following the well received past features, "Cruella" and "Dumb Money", alongside his consistent directorial work on prestige shows, such as "Physical", "Your Friends and Neighbors", and "The Better Sister". The narrative for this film focuses on Supergirl/Kara Zor-El, whom we first encounter on a remote planet celebrating her birthday. Her celebration comes to a halt with the appearance of Ruthye, wanting to hire someone to help her avenge the murder of her entire family at the hands of a ruthless group by the name of Brigands. They're confronted by that group once again, and while they manage to escape, Kara's dog, Krypto, is shot with a poisonous dart. Kara has 72 hours to get the antidote to save her dog, and agrees to take Ruthye along. Once again in possession of her powers (thanks to the yellow sun), Kara is able to thwart the attack of space pirates, and learns of the location of the Brigands. The criminal and brutal group has also been kidnapping young women to force them to be their brides. Kara has another confrontation with the Brigands, and while she manages to defeat them, many of them escape, even if she has the help of the mercenary Lobo. She eventually manages to convince local aliens to indicate the location of the Brigands, but not all goes well when they leave her at that location. Ruthye comes to the rescue. 

One of the best things about James Gunn's take on "Superman" was its screenplay, one that married the general societal anxiety, with social media pervasiveness, image manipulation, with the constant emergence of authoritarian-like regimes that seem to be flourishing all over the world, all this wrapped around this concept of a hero who is trying to do the right thing, even when that right thing seems more and more out of reach. It was visually dazzling, but also reflected what is happening in the world, moving beyond the typical stereotypes that comic book films seem to constantly reinforce. "Supergir", stemming from Craig Gillespie, who in the past has directed the great remake of "Fright Night" alongside "I, Tonya", and also the underrated "Lars and the real Girl", can't overcome the terrible script he has been dealt with. It's a script that amasses every conceivable cliché that has been heard of, mixing elements from "Conan, The Barbarian", "Red Sonja", "Batman", and every other hero origin story in existence (the parents who have been killed in front of the pure hero, who is then hellbent on revenge), throwing multiple splashes  from other influences such as George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road", and even James Gunn's own "Guardians of the Galaxy". There's nothing ostensibly wrong with this film, aside from the fact that it feels generic and devoid of any intelligence, nuance, or even memorable reasoning. Supergirl's motivation for this storyline is saving her dog, but also coming to peace with the life she now has on Earth, something that her relationship with Ruthye brings into perspective. Aside from that, the film and the script offer absolutely nothing that is distinctive: the characters barely have any dimension, and the actors for all their effort, can't inject charisma and humor when there isn't much to work with. Matthias Schoenaerts, who is a solid actor, has very little to do here, aside from parading a series of makeup effects, and acting very disgruntled. Jason Mamoa shows up to collect his paycheck, and attempt to convince the audience that his character isn't the same as "Aquaman", just with a space motorcycle, leaving Milly Alcock with most of the heavy load to make the film have some interest and charisma. For the most part, Ms. Alcock does manage to do so, but the script doesn't give her much to do. The production team is solid, featuring Claudia Sarne's score, Rob Hardy's cinematography, and Michael Mooney & Anna B. Shephard's costumes. It's not by any means a wreck, but another example of the importance of having good scripts that go beyond a bunch of clichés tied together with little humor, or written with no sense of what is happening in the world. Give Mr. Gillespie better material, and let him do his own thing.