by G.E. Uke, Reporter

DC has had a hard time coming out with consistently good movies for a while now.

This is not to be contested. There were a few hidden gems here and there, but the overall quality of their universe and the continuity of their “paradigm” have been hit and miss. That’s because it takes a special sort of storyteller to get the “feel” of DC right. The key, I think, is to make the emotional gravitas ‘heartfelt’ rather than ‘gritty’. Marvel villains are gritty, DC villains are not. They’re heroic in their villainy, and this makes them pure. They have none of the mewling compromises or cowardly half-measures we commonly associate with cinematic realism. But to get the most out of that philosophy you can’t ease into it or sneak up on it through clever narrative: you simply need to dive in with both feet.

James Gunn and Peter Safran get this. I realized that when they started the Superman movie with America’s favorite superhero getting punched into the arctic. No buildup, no origin story, they just jumped right in. It was great because it immediately gave people a sense of what DC comics are about: narrative woven into action rather than narrative leading up to action. Do that right, and you don’t need to pretend to be anything else. With Supergirl, the premise is refreshingly simple: Kara and an orphaned girl team up to go after a gang of space pirates who have wronged them. And it’s great.

So, Supergirl was done right. And that’s important for a few reasons. 

First of all, this movie demonstrates that Superman was NOT a high quality fluke. It marks the beginning of a new era of cinema where the DC paradigm has FINALLY found its voice. No more cumbersome origin stories, no more awkward attempts at “realistic” build-up, no more telling instead of showing. Supergirl does exactly what Superman does: it dives in unapologetically, keeps the world vibrant and the story compelling, and teaches us necessary history through tasteful flashbacks where and when necessary. And no more effort is put into this than needed: one or two great scenes accomplish far more than four or five poor ones. It makes all the difference.

Secondly, Supergirl doesn’t exist in the same vein as Superman at all. It’s a bubblegum space opera done right, much like Guardians of the Galaxy, which normalizes the awesome galactic “backdrop” showcased in animated series like Young Justice and Justice League Unlimited. The entire story takes place away from the Earth, and that’s a good thing. It’s bold, fresh, and Kara Zor-El juxtaposes Clark Kent’s polished heroism with her own refreshing cocktail of pessimistic antihero snark. Supergirl is all about Kara finding her ‘way’ to the superhero suit, overcoming trauma, and realizing her identity as a hero in the face of overwhelming loss.

It’s hard for me to give this movie enough praise, because it did a whole list of things right. The pacing, the music, the settings, the interpersonal moments, the fight scenes, everything was top notch. This movie also had the courage to avoid trying to do something ‘new’ simply for the sake of wow factor, like many other superhero movies do. It took all the best space opera tropes and did them well, which is harder. Milly Alcock played an excellent Kara Zor-El: a washed up party girl trying to overcome her existential ennui. They accomplish this WITHOUT sexualizing or glamorizing her, which is even more impressive. Jason Momoa plays an excellent Lobo, and his antihero act jives with Milly’s sleaze to throw her into sharp relief. Eve Ridley’s depiction of Ruthye Knoll is clean and heartfelt, doing a good job of providing the impetus for Kara’s character development over the course of the movie. And Matthias Schoenaerts…

I wanna talk about Matthias for a minute. He deserves special mention, because he’s the villain. Villains are vitally important to any good story, and I didn’t think Krem of the Yellow Hills had a whole lot of depth in the original comics. He doesn’t have depth in this movie either, and yet…he manages to be a solid villain regardless. His guys are space pirates, plain and simple. In his interview regarding the role he lays this out: he made no effort to humanize Krell, because this is a comic book. Not every villain NEEDS to be humanized or fleshed out. Much like real life, some people are just bad and take whatever they want unless fear stops them. Wannabe sophisticants who fail to understand this truth and believe all villains should be ‘deep’ or ‘relatable’ have clearly never met a genuinely evil person. Sadly, unapologetically evil people are quite real. And that’s Krell. Well done, Matthias.

Reading other reviews, I’ve noticed some negative criticism I’d like to address directly with my readership to stop people from getting the wrong idea. This is a rant, so get ready: There’s an unfortunate ‘trend’ among movie reviewers to give ‘Rotten’ reviews if a movie fails to do certain things they believe are ‘necessary’ for a film to be called ‘good’. When it comes to movies based on comic books (this is ComicsOnline after all), the greatest cardinal sin a reviewer can commit is attacking a film for adhering to the spirit of its source material. Supergirl was intended for a certain audience and it’s based on certain material, so it should be looked at through that lens.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Supergirl 5/5 stars because….it makes no mistakes. Everything was well conceived. If someone doesn’t personally LIKE what it is because that isn’t to their personal taste, then that’s a personal matter and they need to not spout about it online for attention. But I went to see Supergirl done right, and that’s 100% what I saw. So it gets an A+ as far as I’m concerned.   

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