A frustrating mess of a movie that never figures out what it wants to be or who it’s for. The story is paper‑thin and strangely unfocused, drifting from one generic fight scene to the next without any real emotional weight or clear narrative purpose. For a supposed origin film, it does a poor job making Kara Zor‑El feel compelling, coherent, or even particularly likable.
Milly Alcock’s take on Supergirl is part of the problem. Instead of giving us a hero with depth or charisma, the film leans into a moody, often inebriated drifter who spends more time sulking in space dive bars and cleaning up after her chaotic dog than actually growing as a character. The attempt to make her “edgy” ends up making her feel shallow and oddly off putting. It doesn’t help that Alcock has publicly gone out of her way to antagonize the very demographic most likely to show up for this movie 13 to 17 year old boys. It’s hard to get invested in a character when the actor seems to hold a visible contempt for a big portion of the fans.
Visually, the movie has its moments, it occasionally looks slick and colorful—but that only underscores how empty it is underneath. It borrows ideas and vibes from better franchises, as Brent Marchant indicated (you can see traces of “Star Wars,” “Mad Max,” and “John Wick” all over it), yet never builds an identity of its own. The cameos from Superman and Lobo feel less like organic storytelling and more like clumsy ads for other projects.
The biggest issue is that Supergirl herself is written in a way that alienates almost everyone. She’s too foul‑mouthed, violent, and hard drinking for kids, but too thinly sketched and erratic to resonate with adults. The film flirts with an interesting darker angle for the character, then bungles it with inconsistent writing and tonal whiplash. By the end, you’re left asking the same question over and over: Who was this movie actually made for?
There are tiny bright spots—a surprisingly solid villain turn and the occasional cool visual—but they’re buried under weak storytelling, uneven characterization, and a lead performance that never clicks. For a film called “Supergirl,” there’s nothing particularly super about it, and even less reason to care about where this version of the character goes next.