{"id":60690,"date":"2026-07-27T00:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T04:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=60690"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T19:58:00","slug":"supergirl-almost-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=60690","title":{"rendered":"Supergirl: Almost Great"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1984 Helen Slater-starring Supergirl<\/em> film was an attempt to cash-in on the successful Salkind-produced Christopher Reeve Superman<\/em> film series. I enjoy the movie, more in a “so-bad-it’s-good” way; even though the final product is a mess and it’s clear the filmmakers had NO IDEA what they were trying to do. The 2026 Milly Alcock-starring Supergirl<\/em> is an attempt to introduce Supergirl in DC’s new Gunn-directed universe, and explain why she’s a different character than Superman, rather than just a “female Superman.” The 1984 movie is poorly-conceived, badly-written, is loaded with bad FX and weighed down by bad editing. The 2026 movie is WORTH WATCHING, and even has some greatness, but is hurt by it’s own misguided direction, multiple faults with internal consistency, and mostly poor construction and lack of focus. What most-directly connects the two films is performances by the two stars, Slater and Alcock, elevating the chaos around them. I would have watched Helen Slater play Supergirl opposite Reeve’s Superman, and I’m looking forward to seeing Alcock’s Supergirl alongside Corinswet’s Superman.<\/p>\n

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This is somewhat of a review with commentary, and there ARE spoilers. If you want to see Supergirl<\/em> unspoiled (as much as possible) please do not continue.<\/p>\n

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The intent is clear, although the telling is muddled. Supergirl<\/em> is not a great movie, although it has great parts. Neither is it a bad movie…although, again, it has bad parts. Saying “Supergirl<\/em> is good” seems to ignore some egregious flaws; saying “Supergirl<\/em> is OK” isn’t giving the movie enough credit. The FX are occasionally shaky and unconvincing. The most noticeable examples are some flying scenes featuring Krypto…and Jason Momoa’s Lobo. Lobo’s first appearance, in fact, is ATROCIOUS. He looks like an unfinished action figure. Of course, considering Lobo was originally conceived as a parody of 1990’s comic superheros, I suppose one could say this is appropriate. Hell, Lobo even calls out his weapon and rocket\/motorcycle BY NAME, as if he were selling toys. But intentional or not, it was a mistake. The plot fails internal consistency repeatedly. Not in small ways, either. We’re talking the kind of thing Ryan George would make fun of as “happening because that’s what has to occur for the movie to happen.” There is a flighty “tone” issue as well. The movie bounces between light-hearted, jokey adventure and serious, melodramatic, heroic journey. This doesn’t work, really. Supergirl is a more serious character, and the movie is, at times; and SHOULD be, a more serious work.<\/p>\n

The score is forgettable. The film is too long, not so much in total run time, although that is a natural consequence, but on a scene-by-scene basis. Every event that should take fifteen seconds takes twenty. Every plot point that occupies ten minutes instead takes up twelve. That is to say, frequently throughout the movie pacing is a problem. In the first fifteen minutes I thought the film was dumb. By the next twenty I decided the problem wasn’t the intelligence level of the process…it was just BORING. This gets better, but in the end I realized the issue was both one of a thousand small failures; and an overall fault with the construction of the movie. I don’t know whether this is because of issues in the editing room or a design flaw in the first place. Maybe both.<\/p>\n

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Based on comments I had seen the past few weeks, I had formulated an idea about what had happened, why people were reporting this movie was not only not as good as they hoped, but only serviceable. Having seen Supergirl<\/em> now, I was wrong partially, but I suspect I was also right. The creators were so focused on the Supergirl that appears in the *movie’s* story, they neglected the Supergirl that emerges, and will in fact be part of future stories. But while watching the film I was able to see how the movie COULD have worked on the terms the filmmakers were pursuing. There IS A GOOD MOVIE in Supergirl<\/em>, the creators just had it backwards.<\/p>\n

I have read that the 2026 movie is based on a particular book; I have also read it’s based on a series of books. I have also also read it’s based on a particular comic creator’s “run” on the Supergirl<\/em> comic title. For those that don’t know, when someone refers to a “run” on a comic book title they mean something like when a particular creator is credited with a “run” on a television show. For instance, Dr. Who<\/em> fans may talk about Steven Moffat’s “run” as the second showrunner of the Dr. Who<\/em> revival that started in the 2000’s. He was responsible for the overall direction of the series while he was in charge, wrote many episodes, etc. I will be upfront that I have NOT read the comic\/comics this movie is based on. I don’t know anything about the truth, and whatever I would say about it will just be derived from some quick internet searches. So I’m only observing what got put on the screen. I have long argued that if I have to read the source material to make sense of a story presented in a medium that is meant to stand on its own, the creator has failed. Sure, a plot-point may make SENSE in the original media, but if that doesn’t transfer over you’ve lost some of the audience. Simple as that.<\/p>\n

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Having got that out of the way, one simple analysis is that the movie plays as if all the stories, even individual scenes from a series of books were written down, story-boarded even; then placed in a vice and squeezed together. The scenes and story elements didn’t get compressed, many just got squeezed out. So…sometimes the film moves from point A to point C, and clearly C comes after A…that’s not the problem. But it’s also pretty clear there’s a missing “B.” Something got lost somewhere. No one ever went back and figured out how to stitch the remaining scenes together *better*. Or, possibly, they just couldn’t figure out how to do it. I will also concede maybe this problem exists in the source material. I don’t know. I hope not. But at the same time comics are partially a written medium, and many things can be construed with narration.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to the second point: Supergirl<\/em> has some exceptional narration by Kara (Supergirl), but only for one flashback, her childhood in Argo, which we’re about to talk about. It’s brief, it’s effective, it could have been used in other areas, considering what they were trying to do. And that leads into the structural problems.<\/p>\n

The point of Supergirl<\/em> (2026) is to explain how Supergirl is a different character from Superman. I won’t get into an exhaustive history, but Supergirl usually has a more serious and tragic story, and this interpretation follows that model. I’ll go over the established facts, introducing how Supergirl fits in. You know Superman, originally known as Kal-El, was sent to Earth in a special rocket when he was a baby. His father Jor-El had discovered the planet Krypton’s core was unstable, and the world faced rapid impending destruction. His message was ignored by Kryptonians, so he rescued his son moments before Krypton basically exploded. While different stories mess with the timing, the Supergirl story adds Jor-El’s younger brother Zor-El. While Jor-El chooses to save his newborn son, Zor-El creates a giant force field (and other stuff) that allows a city-sized chunk of Krypton to survive the planet’s destruction. This is variously called “Argo” or “Argo City.” The origin story used for Supergirl<\/em> (2026) has Kara Zor-El being born about a decade later. She grows up on\/in Argo. In her teen years citizens of Argo start getting sick and dying. Doctors soon discover that the force field Zor-El created to save thousands of Kryptonians ALSO exposed and trapped an element previously unidentified, but known to Superman fans: kryptonite, in the crust of Krypton captured by the force field. Kryptonite radiation is slowly poisoning the citizenry. Or, in this case anyway, only the adults? Teen-aged Kara is presented as unaffected, even after seeing her mother die and living with her dying father. I have NO DOUBT a reason is given SOMEWHERE why kryptonite radiation sickness works this way…but the movie doesn’t include the explanation.<\/p>\n

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So Kara’s mother, Alura, dies from kryptonite radiation. Her father, Zor-El, is dying from the same thing. He engineers a new escape rocket like the one used for Superman, big enough to carry Kara to Earth. She objects…Argo is the only home she’s ever known. She wants to lay down and die next to her mother and father. But Zor-El insists. On Earth, she is met by Superman. Who knows nothing of Krypton except the history and lore passed on by computer programs. She knows nothing of Earth, and has ONLY known Krypton; or at least her part of it. While Earth is Clark Kent’s home, and he is only *technically* from Krypton; Kara Zor-El is a Kryptonian…Earth is very much NOT her home. Kara is…to put it bluntly…pretty effed up. Understandably. As she ages into adulthood Kara spends more and more time on other planets; especially those with red suns where she can *feel*. Things can hurt her. She can get drunk, and sick. The psychology and emotions of her behavior are pretty obvious.<\/p>\n

That’s the backstory, as I mentioned, depicted in the film through flashback. What, you thought a movie introducing Supergirl and explaining her would be about who she is, where she came from, and why she does what she does? See, what the movie tries to do is view all those things from the perspective of a whole ‘nuther story. What the story of the MOVIE is about is a young teenage girl named Ruthye (Ruthie, or Ruthy). Ruthye’s father makes swords. Some intergalactic brigands come for the swords. And Ruthye’s parents are happy to hand them over, but some complications happen and all of Ruthye’s family except her are killed. AND the brigand chief leaves behind the most important sword (yes, Ruthye is Inigo Montoya). Now, in addition to the brigands coming for the swords and then intentionally leaving the fanciest, best one behind; we soon learn their main business is kidnapping teen girls for the sex slave industry. But they left teenage Ruthye behind with the sword.<\/p>\n

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The entire middle section of the movie creates an ultimately unconvincing reason for Kara to go after the brigands herself (Krypto is poisoned by the brigands on the red sun planet), Ruthye tags along despite Kara trying to stop her, something inconvenient keeps happening that prevents Kara from finishing the job every time she gets the chance. On the second planet she’s poisoned by the same poison used on Krypto, but since she drank it, then threw it up after realizing it was poison…it’s fine? Later in the SAME SEQUENCE she gets poisoned by the same poison darts PREVIOUSLY USED on Krypto…except this time the leader of the brigands filled them with kryptonite because that would work even better. Except, much like the poison from earlier, since this is a yellow sun planet, it only hurts Kara for a bit. Full exposure to the yellow sun is shown to literally overpower the corruption of the kryptonite. Which then calls back to Krypto being poisoned in the first place, because it sure seems like the BEST thing for her to do instead of going on a three-day trek for the antidote would have been to get him in front of a yellow sun pronto. She was able to do so pretty easily. But, you know, then the movie’s story couldn’t happen.<\/p>\n

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The final section of the movie takes place on the brigands’ HQ world, which circles a green sun AND a yellow sun. How Kara missed this on the way in is NOT discussed. Maybe she’s just determined to make it work because she’s trying to save Krypto…this is left up to you to wonder about. See, it doesn’t come up much, but “green” suns work on a Kryptonian much like kryptonite does: it’ll kill them in a day or two. Thankfully, once again, and thankfully for the movie’s plot Ruthye has tagged along yet again and drags Kara to a cave. Ruthye gets kidnapped because the only source of water happens to be right next to the brigands, and Kara is dying. This is, like the Argo City scene, pretty effective. And it made me start wondering, and figuring out how they could have made this movie better.<\/p>\n

See; On her deathbed, Supergirl’s mother Alura makes Kara promise to “just be good.” Doesn’t mean she has to be weak, doesn’t mean she has to be nice…JUST BE GOOD.<\/p>\n

When Kara is sent to Earth, against her will, Clark shows Kara the Superman outfit, and the Supergirl outfit he has already prepared. He semi-apologetically explains the “bright colors,” the red and yellow and bright blue: it’s so people know we’re *good*. As Kara lays dying on an alien world, the green sun setting, these thoughts play through her mind. And just as she’s thinking about “just be good,” the yellow sun starts to rise. And when she appears moments later to wreck the brigands finally and for good<\/p>\n

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Then she destroys everything, and the final scene of the movie shows her returning to Earth, still wearing the costume. She arrives at Clark’s apartment in Metropolis the same time he returns from…something. They talk, she tells him she thinks she’s going to stick around for a while.<\/p>\n

Supergirl’s arc is the crux of the movie. It’s the POINT of the movie. The Ruthye and the Brigands story, and the poisoning of Krypto, are clumsy and uninteresting (the poisoning story just has too many holes, and feels contrived). Unfortunately these are the FOCUS of the movie. There are some good insights into Kara’s character scattered throughout the film, in between other scenes. Why is she Supergirl and not Superwoman? The writers almost do a good job of just dismissing this question as “unimportant.” Arguably they could have, and should have, left it out entirely. The costume itself is brought up multiple times, helping build to the payoff at the end. Unfortunately this is one of the things that feels like they left a scene or two out. There is enough about the suit still in the movie that the viewer can infer the important parts, but they could have devoted just SECONDS more and made it fully part of the story. Only minutes before the resolution that leads to the final scene, Kara is telling Ruthye, about the Supergirl costume; “it’s just a suit. It doesn’t DO anything.” It’s a good line, that would have worked better earlier in the movie. Kara rejects Clark’s point-of-view, because of the events that formed her own outlook. She even addresses this earlier in the film, saying “Krypton wasn’t destroyed in a day.” This is directly tied to her experience of living most of her life, as far as she knew, ON KRYPTON, in Argo. Before seeing the entire population condemned to die because of her father’s attempt to save people (as far as she can see).<\/p>\n

My idea, MY POINT, is that the entire movie should have been told through the lens of Kara dying on that alien world under a green sun. From there we see her recall her childhood in Argo and her arrival on Earth. We see bits of the story of Ruthye and the Brigands leading up to how Kara ended up in a cave dying. We see her contemplating all of this, and how it ties into her confronting who she is and what she wants to do…ending with the emergence of Supergirl, her destruction of the brigands, saving Ruthye and all the other victims, and returning to Earth a changed person.<\/p>\n

The Ruthye story is clunky, merely a gimmick. It needs to be reduced and abstracted; it’s just another minor Kryptonian adventure. The brigands ARE NOT real threats, not the thing you make a whole damned movie about. They are an annoyance. Doing this, there is no reason to poison Krypto to give Kara a reason to engage with the story. It’s an implausible distraction anyway. And finally, as I’ve already pointed out, Lobo didn’t even need to be in this movie. He has nothing to do with anything. He’s a waste of screen time. That’s not about Jason Momoa, who is good in the role, it’s purely a matter of “he is unimportant to the story and brings nothing to the film.” And they likely screwed up some his FX anyway.<\/p>\n

That’s how, as far as I can see, you make this a GREAT movie. All the parts are in there, I certainly recommend seeing Supergirl<\/em> (2026). But as is, the film is flawed…mostly with unimportant kruft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 1984 Helen Slater-starring Supergirl film was an attempt to cash-in on the successful Salkind-produced Christopher Reeve Superman film series. I enjoy the movie, more in a “so-bad-it’s-good” way; even though the final product is a mess and it’s clear the filmmakers had NO IDEA what they were trying to do. The 2026 Milly Alcock-starring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paige-writes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60690"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60737,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60690\/revisions\/60737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}