Last year’s “Superman” ended with Iggy Pop singing “Because I’m a punk rocker, yes I am” - an ironic coda for a superlatively square hero. But it rings straightforwardly true for Superman’s cousin.
Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl, sports not a spandex suit but a Blondie T-shirt. When we meet her in Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl,” she’s been on an interstellar bender for days. She’s more Courtney Love than Clark Kent.
Nonchalant and sarcastic, Kara is also a little Han Solo-ish, you might say, given that she moves capriciously through the galaxy in her junky spaceship while getting in fights in extraterrestrial bars. She’s a welcome, jagged riff on more buttoned-up superheroes, and Alcock is terrific in the role. If only “Supergirl” was as good as she is.
While the latest DC release, and second under James Gunn ’s stewardship, has its moments, “Supergirl” struggles to match Kara’s punk-rock energy with an equally spirited supporting cast and story.
Skepticism seems to have gathered for “Supergirl” ahead of its release. Many fans have argued it wasn’t the right next step for DCU. But I’m not so sure. Alcock’s breezy cameo in “Superman” was one of that movie’s highlights. Handing the follow-up to her, and her faithful floating dog Krypto, strikes me as an extremely natural next step. When in doubt, follow the dog.
And much of “Supergirl” is winning. It resides almost entirely in space, touching down only momentarily on Earth. In its consistently creative production design, clever needle drops and underdog story arc, “Supergirl” resides a little closer to Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies than other DC entries. Its outer space is filled with cosmic detritus, mean characters and cute critters. Seth Rogen as the voice of a tiny alien co-piloting a space bus is an inspired concoction, as is a shabbier sci-fi realm with rest stops along the intergalactic highway.
Kara, drunk and disheveled as she celebrates her 23rd birthday, prefers such environs even if it means, thanks to the distance from a yellow sun, her powers don’t work. But as much as she’d like to remain off the superhero grid, Kara is reluctantly compelled into action. A young girl, Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), whose family is slain by space pirates known as the Brigands, enlists her to avenge their deaths. Kara wants no part in it, but when the Brigand leader, Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), poisons Krypto, she sets off to get the antidote that hangs around Krem’s neck.
Little in the story, scripted by Ana Nogueira and inspired by the comic-book series “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” will bowl you over for its originality. But it’s a sturdy enough vessel - a Western, really, with Kara playing the hired-gun part of John Wayne in “True Grit.” It inevitably leads Kara to superhero maturity, with Krypton flashbacks that reveal the roots of the pain she’s trying to drink away.
Less ideal are some of Kara’s companions. Ruthye is too soberly hellbent on revenge to be much fun. Jason Momoa’s bounty hunter, Lobo, who rides a space motorcycle and looks ready to sing for a Kiss cover band, is a bit much even for a movie with a flying dog. Schoenaerts menacingly grins his way through the movie, with appealingly bulging eyes. But no characteristic of the bland Krem is as interesting as his studded face.
His metallic touches and the movie’s biker-gang flourishes, not to mention a plot that involves “brides” trapped by the all-male Brigands, will no doubt bring “Mad Max” to mind. But to the credit of “Supergirl,” the film often feels like it’s striving for fresh ground in big-screen superhero-dom. Modest Mouse and Jenny Lewis are heard here, after all. Gillespie, who made “I, Tonya” and “Dumb Money,” utilizes the IMAX cameras to vivid effect, even if his grip on the material isn’t convincing.
The zip the movie needs isn’t quite there, though. Alcock does her best to keep “Supergirl” aloft, but she’s let down by too much of what’s around her - most of whom are men, truth be told. Maybe the mistake all along was taking the dog out of the story. John Wayne, after all, always had his horse.
“Supergirl,” a Warner Bros. release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for sequences of strong violence, action, language, and smoking. Running time: 107 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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