Supergirl winds up disappointing as its messages flatten through the usual white dilution.
Supergirl is fun with themes around loss, justice, and moving forward. But given the state of society, it’s less superhero and more of a white girl-boss flick. In particular, the way the story uses the few Black characters as fodder for the conflict and turn feels tiresome. So, while the first half of the movie had me, the second half was a prolonged discomfort. Supergirl winds up disappointing as its messages flatten through the usual white dilution. There will be some spoilers.
Craig Gillespie (Dumb Money, Cruella) directs the movie, based on a screenplay by Ana Nogueira, making her feature-writing debut. It follows Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, played by Milly Alcock (Superman), in a race against time to save her poisoned dog, Krypto. On this journey with her is Ruthiye, played by Eve Ridley (3 Body Problem, The Witcher), an orphan on a quest for revenge against the same enemy, Krem, played by Matthias Schoenaerts (The Old Guard, Brothers By Blood). Some parts, especially regarding the poisoning and search for the antidote, feel confusingly contrived. But the set pieces for the different locations and actions capture the vastness of space.
Supergirl Has the Emotional Lead But Flounders
While Milly Alcock—most well-known for her role as young Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon—conveys the emotional range through her expressions as the titular heroine. But the dialogue cannot add that additional emotional push. As such, there is a disconnect between the two that hinders full audience immersion into the story. Her face does a lot to capture the anger and sense of being adrift after leaving her world, but then she or someone else speaks, and it downgrades to a”huh” moment.
Eve Ridley’s performance does not rise to meet Milly Alcock’s. The attempt is clear. But it’s the effort behind the emotions that is most visible, rather than the pain from her recent tragedy. The more lighthearted moments work better for her acting. Krem is a flat villain, a caricature that feels wholly unbelievable as a threat, despite his antics. I’m not sure if that was intentional, or moreso that either Matthias Schoenaerts or the director did not know what to do with him. But at the same time, given the joke of who runs this country, it drives home that a joke of a person can still be dangerous, especially with a crew backing them.
Unanswered Plot Point and Usual Black Character Use
One confusing part is the antidote. The brigands keep the cure for that poison on their person, or so the film claims. So, any brigand would do, right? Yet the focus is getting it from the leader, Krem. So, either the script and film do not properly answer why Kara, uninterested in anything but saving her dog, would not just snatch the cure off the nearest brigand. Is it a plot hole, or is Kara cavalier with her dog’s life?
The most egregiously frustrating moment comes with the Black couple, Bomar Vran, played by Kadiff Kirwan (Everyone Else Burns, Slow Horses), and Mareck Vran, played by Thalissa Texeira (Ragdoll, Trigonometry), who attempt to sell out Kara to rescue their daughter, Sarna, played by Asha Soeten (Odd Squad). The father’s guilt has him help Supergirl, so Krem kills him, his wife, and his daughter. For all the emotional pain on the hero’s face, their sacrifice, which galvanizes her, goes unacknowledged.
But a Black woman harpoons an enemy later, thereby helping Supergirl. So that completely negates the Black family’sdeath. Additionally, when she defeats Krem, it makes it clear what matters. It’s for her dog, and for Ruthiye’s loss. Not the Vran family, not the countless other victims of child bride abduction. Supergirl has a heroine who’s less an alien and more a white woman than anything. The priorities say it all.
Some Will Love, Some Won’t
Supergirl shows promise with its strong lead leading the charge. There’s so much loss, and interactions between Kara and Ruthiye mixed with flashbacks, paint a more detailed picture of why Kara chooses to drown her sorrows to escape feeling the pain. But right now, society is harming and silencing Black people and Black voices, so seeing a family die for a white hero is bad enough. The longer I sat with this film, the more it bothered me. Seeing the lack of remembrance is even worse. Some argue that it’s sticking to the material and so on. Who wrote that material? Why is it acceptable to treat Black characters a certain way when it’s your fave? Supergirl will entertain some viewers, but others might desire more than a stereotypical story through a stereotypical lens.
