(film review) - Supergirl

It took me a while to get around to watching this. I work full-time, my weekends are busy, I'm trying to keep up with TV shows and films for personal enjoyment and for ReelReeviews, and quite frankly, there's just too much to watch. So when you listen to some of the reviews from the critics and YouTubers who see these films before you, and the general consensus is mixed to negative, it's easy to wonder why you'd spend your hard-earned money on them. Between the Guardians of the Galaxy comparisons and complaints about the story, I nearly skipped this altogether. But that's exactly why you should make up your own mind. Because... I actually liked it.
It is very far from perfect and certainly not amazing, but I genuinely had a good time with it.

Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, had a very different upbringing from Kal-El, aka Superman. She grew up on Krypton before losing her family as a teenager and is eventually sent to Earth with Krypto. While celebrating her birthday off-world, Krypto is poisoned, sending Kara on a race against time to find the antidote before she loses the last living connection to her home. Along the way, she meets a young girl hunting the very same person.

One of the biggest criticisms after the trailer dropped was that it looked too much like Guardians of the Galaxy. Honestly, I think that's a lazy comparison. Yes, James Gunn is running the new DC Universe, and yes, the soundtrack gives off Guardians vibes. Maybe the film could have leaned more on its score than its needle drops, but beyond that, I never felt like I was watching a Marvel film or Guardians of the Galaxy; I did feel like a lot of these aliens were bipedal, human-looking, but why not, I guess; Star Wars is similar.

The story itself is fairly simple, and that's perfectly fine. This is not another world-ending spectacle. It is a smaller story about grief, loss and trying to save the last piece of Krypton Kara has left, so it was definitely more personal and character-driven.

The biggest issue is the execution, and with most comic-book material put onto screen, this is where the problem lies with a lot of the films and TV shows being pushed out, leading to this so-called comic-book fatigue.

Modern comic book films often feel the need to be overly childish to appeal to younger audiences. Constant silly humour and toilet jokes just aren't necessary, and unfortunately, this film falls into that trap a few times. It's a shame because the flying sequences and action are excellent, but some of the characters needed more development, and a few emotional moments don't land quite as well as they should.

Milly Alcock is fantastic and carries the film with ease. Her chemistry with her unlikely companion works really well, and Jason Momoa looks like he was born to play Lobo. He's chaotic, entertaining and leaves you wanting more, although his part in the movie is very small.

The villain, however, is just... fine. Serviceable, but ultimately forgettable. He didn't really carry any feelings of dread when he appeared on screen. You kinda wondered what was going to happen, but he just felt like a generic bad guy rather than a force to be scared of, but maybe that was the point considering his motives.

Supergirl is most definitely not essential viewing unless you're already invested in DC, or the character themself, but if you've been put off by the reviews, I'd still recommend giving it a chance. Talks of the movie being a bomb or flop to me really depend on how much the studio wanted to make and what they thought going in. Did they want the type of money Superman made, or do they want something a lot smaller, considering how secondary the character is? Moreover, if they wanted something a lot smaller (because the storyline also kind of dictates that), maybe they should have spent less money, unless what they spent, between $170-186 million, was justifiable? I mean, I understand the types of special effects needed to make someone fly, but the original Deadpool movie was made for $58 million. As a whole, Hollywood spend too much money on movies expecting to make what they spent back and then some, but if the storyline is poor but you are putting it out because "SUPERHEROES", there has been plenty of examples in movies history as to what works, and in 2026, in comic book movie history of late, as to what does NOT work and sometimes I feel, they are just not gettin i, hence the term, comic book fatigue when really it is mediocre fatigue and if I am honest, this dabbles in the category of mediocre.

It is not the disappointment many people have made it out to be, or how it came across to me at least, and I went in with a very low bar. It is simply a good film that had the potential to be a great one.