Supergirl

I'm sorry, but I found this quite hard to get through. All love to Milly Alcock, who does the best she can with a terribly weak script and subpar filmmaking all round. She's the sole reason to see this film; her embodiment of Kara was as coloured in as the script would allow, and honestly elevated it considering the material she was given.

Apart from Milly herself and a few inspired flashback scenes, I have very little positive to say. The film feels identity-less, which is a real shame considering the proposition of this new universe from James Gunn. This cinematic universe was going to be different from the ones before; he promised each film would feel distinct and would only go into production when a script was finalised and deemed good. So what happened?

Part of this film feels reactionary to the praise Superman received; its identity is very much the same. For better or worse, this lacks any of Gillespie’s vision; it has all the markers of a Gunn film. It lacks the frenetic energy that graces most of his films, though.

We generically hop from planet to planet that are all varying shades of grey, recite why we are there, and then move on. There’s no attempt at digging into how these characters feel or how they're processing their grief that isn't explicitly told to you. Save for the only scene in the film that takes a moment to breathe, when Kara is reciting her past, and shockingly, it’s the best scene in the film.

It doesn't help that not only is it barrelling through the plot with super speed, but it's chopped to bits. The edit in the movie is really bad in areas. What do you mean I'm unable to tell what's going on in any action scene? Granted, this isn't solely on the editing; it's also due to the muddy green screen and the lack of positional awareness of the cameras.

But the edit even destroys emotional scenes. Why does Ruythe's family get killed within seconds, and we don't even hold on to her to see her reaction? We just move on to her wanting revenge. I felt nothing for her character as the movie gives you no room to care for her; it's like it’s relying simply on the fact that her family is massacred for you to care, but you need to allow the viewer to connect with a character, not simply what happens to them.

The film is guilty of this in many places, none more so than the inclusion of the human trafficking plot, which is tacked on in the most superfluous way. Again, trying to just tell you these villains are bad but putting in no effort to weave that into the story in a compelling way. This is only made worse by Kara freeing these women, who, as a reminder, have been kidnapped and enslaved. Instead of us talking to these women or shining any sort of light on what they went through, they get a Girlboss Avengers Endgame scene where they attack their captors, and that's it. They’re not seen again in the film. If you're going to have the guts to tell a dark story like this, you have to tell it. It's not enough to suggest and toe the line.

The film is just riddled with baffling decisions, none more so than what is perhaps the worst needle drop in film history, not even exaggerating when I say this. I'm not a fan of needle drops in films in general, but I'm baffled at this considering it's a Gunn production. The song makes no thematic sense and is just incredibly jarring; it undermines the entire scene. Career-worse performance from Jason Momoa, a hollow and forgettable villain, but hey, at least we got more David Corenswet; shame any scene he's in is more interesting.