by Doug Wise
Long ago (never you mind how long ago) I stopped listening to movie reviewers. They don’t actually seem to enjoy movies. And they aggressively hate sci-fi and superhero movies. Now the people who watch movies professionally are supplemented by internet dwellers who don’t think women should be in movies - at least not as anything but victims. Copious venom was expected from all directions, and the reviews that I’ve seen have met those expectations. Having seen the movie last night has further confirmed the irrelevance of reviewers and their opinions.
Supergirl ranks among some of the best work to come out of DC. This was her story. She wasn’t playing The Boy Scout’s Shadow (a.k.a. Superman and his cousin). They didn’t fall into the trope of making boys fight boys and girls fight girls. Kara fights men, women, robots, and a crippling sense of loss. She’s not the hero that Superman or Batman would want her to be - she’s her own person and she deals with problems her own way.
The movie shows the depth of loss and the attachment to Krypto the Dog so much better than Marvel did with Steve Rogers and Bucky. Captain America lost his body, his best friend, his time, and his first love. When he found out his best friend was still alive he went on a crusade to find and save him, but his inner pain and his need to save just one piece of his old life was left for our head canon. Supergirl shows everything being taken from her in a series of flashbacks, shows her struggling with life, and how she and her dog love and need each other.
Historically, DC uses the nigh invulnerable powerhouse of Superman as the inspiring force for the other heroes and the people of Earth. But, it’s easy to fight the good fight when you can’t be hurt. Kara’s example to learn from isn’t a god made human, but a young girl with nothing but a sword and a need for revenge. That’s the hero she aspires to be and the people she wants to protect.
With two leading female characters, another film maker would lean into the miniskirts, belly shirts, and the flowing cornsilk hair and her sidekick, an underaged teen model. Not here. These women are dressed for the roles they’re playing. Even when the uniform comes out, this isn’t some cheerleader pinup.
The filmmakers saw a solid story in the comic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and tried not to mess with it. Age of Ultron and Avengers: Civil War took the names of popular comic stories, but nothing else.
You’ll see shades of Star-Lord and Captain America in there, but no level of borrowing an experienced movie goer can’t see in a million other movies.
I’ve heard the movie was too slow AND had too many fight scenes. No! You don’t get to have both. Neither is particularly true. It doesn’t look like the comic book art? True. It’s more Guardians of the Galaxy than Firefly.
You want complaints? OK.
I didn’t have a well defined theme song stuck in my head as I left the theater. Christopher Reeve left me with John Williams stuff that orchestras will be playing for centuries. Wonder Woman rocked an electric cello that I can jam to any time. They had themes that one could argue were better than the movie. Similarly, the denouement gives the movie a chance to sit and mellow. It’s a mellower happy ending, not an ending where you scream “girl power!” and want to go punch a mugger. Also, I would have added a scene where we see Lobo’s chain hook whipping around in slow motion just to show the audience what they’re seeing.
Looking at the DCEU as a whole, it’s a good move. Superman brought us into a world already populated with heroes. Supergirl takes us into a broader, and well populated, universe. Now Lanterns can sit in Nebraska or take the action to Oa.
So, step away from the soccer games and go support the filmmaking we want to see. Odds are that by the time you get back nobody will have scored, anyway.
Doug Wise is a long-time comics reader and a friend of mine since we worked together at Walter Reed Army Medical Center decades ago. When he was texting me these comments, I asked him to consider revising them to publish here. If you liked this, let us know and I'll nag Doug to do more reviewing.
