Director Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl is entertaining, energetic, and supported by a solid cast, but it is also strangely unsatisfying. I enjoyed much of it while watching, yet I left feeling as though important pieces of the story were missing.
Milly Alcock stars as Kara Zor-El, a harder, angrier, and more emotionally damaged heroine than the hopeful Superman audiences met last year. Alcock has the necessary presence to carry the film, balancing Kara’s toughness with flashes of vulnerability and humor. She makes Supergirl feel like her own character rather than simply a female version of her famous cousin.
Eve Ridley is equally effective as Ruthye Marye Knoll, the determined young girl who pulls Kara into an interstellar mission of vengeance. Ridley gives the story much of its emotional sincerity, and she and Alcock develop an engaging, sometimes combative chemistry. Matthias Schoenaerts makes a suitably menacing villain as Krem of the Yellow Hills, while Jason Momoa clearly enjoys himself as the outrageous bounty hunter Lobo. David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and David Corenswet round out the solid cast.
Written by Ana Nogueira, the film offers action, humor, strange new worlds, and enough personality to distinguish it from many standard superhero movies. Still, it never feels completely formed. Weirdly, Supergirl feels both too long and too short. Certain action sequences and stretches of exposition drag, yet relationships, motivations, and emotional developments seem rushed or barely explained.
It feels as though several key scenes must have ended up incorrectly on the editing-room floor. Moments that could have deepened Kara’s pain, strengthened her bond with Ruthye, or made the villain more compelling appear to be missing. The film moves quickly past developments that deserved time, while lingering over material that could easily have been shortened.
I found Supergirl entertaining, and Alcock proves herself more than capable of leading another DC film. Gillespie brings style and humor to the adventure, and the cast remains engaging throughout. Unfortunately, uneven pacing and what feels like a lack of connective tissue keep a potentially terrific movie from becoming one.