Supergirl? More like So-so girl

I like Supergirl, played in this new DCU outing by Australian actor Milly Alcock (House of Dragons).

As superheroes go, she’s pretty relatable. Her place is a mess. She eats cereal for dinner. She wears a vintage Blondie T-shirt. She gets into fights in bar parking lots. And all that casual, scruffy attitude can’t hide a moral backbone made of steel.

That’s why I wish her movie was better.

James Gunn’s planned multi-project DCU reboot got a solid start with last year’s Superman. This Supergirl- centred followup isn’t all bad. It has a lot of feel-good fan-service and fun, friendly charm, and Alcock is a standout as our fabulously messy heroine.

Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) handles the light-comedy aspects just fine, catching a kind of grungy, goofball, Guardians of the Galaxy vibe, but his action scenes are muddled and generic. And the script, by rookie Ana Nogueira, can be structurally sloppy and tonally off. (Why would you insert a storyline involving the sex trafficking of girls into what otherwise feels like easygoing summer-blockbuster entertainment?)

We first see Kara, a.k.a. Supergirl, marking her 23rd birthday with a weeklong interstellar bender. Unlike her adorably dorky and idealistic cousin Clark, a.k.a. Superman (David Corenswet), who enjoyed a wholesome Kansas upbringing and is devoted to his adopted planet of Earth, Kara can be self-destructive, cynical and alienated. (We eventually get a flashback to her Krypton childhood, which reveals a much darker backstory.)

Her only loyalty is to her dog Krypto, a sweetly idiotic mutt who was a fan favourite in the last movie.

That’s why Kara is irked when her pub crawl is interrupted by Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a determined 13-year-old girl who has sworn vengeance on Krem (Matthia Schoenaerts), the brutal brigand who murdered her family.

Channelling that Han Solo reluctant-hero trope, Kara does not want to get involved — at least until Krem shoots Krypto with a poison dart that will kill the little dog in 72 hours unless Kara can retrieve the antidote.

Now she’s plenty involved, headed out on a planet-hopping mission with pesky, persistent Ruthye tagging along.

(Side note: if you’re bothered by canine-in-jeopardy plotlines, you can always consult Does the Dog Die?, a handy crowd-sourced website for checking on all kinds of potential triggers in movies and TV.)

Kara and Ruthye’s adventures involve double-crosses, prison breaks, a hijacking on what appears to be an intergalactic Greyhound bus and repeated run-ins with Lobo (Jason Momoa), a motorcycle-riding “mercenary with a code.”

Gillespie offers some grimy worldbuilding, with nods to Blade Runner and Star Wars and lots of weird little details. The fight scenes are basic, though, undercut by poor mechanics but also by Supergirl’s own nature.

Like her cousin, she really only has two modes. She’s either completely helpless, brought low by kryptonite or a green sun, or she’s virtually invincible, which makes it hard to build tension.

There are discussions of justice versus revenge, means and ends, and some feminist edge, with Kara making a very clear distinction between young women being “nice” and young women being “good.”

And of course, there’s the whole issue of Kara’s cousin being called Superman while she’s called Supergirl, even though there’s not that much difference in age. Ruthye is understandably confused by what feels like a double standard.

Well, by the end of this frustratingly up-and-down story, Supergirl has celebrated her birthday, put on the red cape and taken on new responsibilities.

Maybe in her next movie outing, she can be a superwoman.

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