‘Supergirl’ Review: DC’s Female Answer To ‘Superman’ Doesn’t Fly High Enough

Milly Alcock is the titular star of Supergirl, but the main attraction and secret sauce as far as I am concerned is a CGI dog named Krypto.

So why did the filmmakers behind this cinematic reboot of DC‘s female answer to Superman relegate poor Krypto, who was such a big part of making last year’s Superman so much fun, to a mere cameo? He’s basically a plot device to give our heroine an emotional hook and reason to go after the villain with vengeance. We really only get Krypto at the very beginning and very end of a movie that also seems to borrowing from others rather than staying in its own lane.

There’s a bit of True Grit, a bit of Star Wars, a dash of Hellraiser, a whole lot of Mad Max, but Superman? Not so much. It feels like takes forever before this hero dons her cape and demonstrates her full powers. It was a breath of fresh air for me when David Corenswet, the new Superman introduced in last summer’s enormously fun smash revival of DC’s crown jewel, turned up in a couple of scenes — one a flashback to meeting his cousin Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl) and the puppy named Krypto she arrived on Earth with, the other in a scene at the end where she returns to Earth, obviously setting up the next edition of this spinoff, if there is one. The dog steals both of those scenes, with Corenswet a close second, showing off the infectious charm he brings to the franchise, something this dark “origin” film mostly set in outer space could use a lot more of itself.

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After the last rather dismal attempt to make Kara Zor-El a movie hero on the same level as her male counterpart, 1984’s Supergirl, crashed and burned despite the best efforts of Helen Slater and a weird Faye Dunaway, and after the CW series starring Melissa Benoist finally petered out after six seasons from 2015-21, the new management of the DC cinematic world at Warner Bros has decided to take it in new directions, and they didn’t waste any time.

So a year after the reinvigorated DC and Superman was so successfully relaunched under the guidance of Peter Safran and James Gunn, and teased Supergirl right at the end, here we have it. But despite some good moments and sharp dialogue in places (Ana Nogueria is the screenwriter), something feels a bit off.

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It all opens nicely, establishing a normal day in on her planet with an anything-but-superhero-like Kara Zor-El (Alcock) as lovable Krypto bounces up and down destroying things. Rather abruptly, the location changes and the mood switches to darkness in another part of the planet as key villain Krem (who seems to use the same stylist as Pinhead and is played by Matthias Schoenaerts) arrives and murders the parents of 13-year-old Ruthye (Eve Ridley). This horrendous act leads a grieving but determined Ruthye to Kara Zor-El, dead set on exacting revenge for the killings and using our Supergirl to help get her to the culprit.

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Meanwhile, the same villain plants a lethal dart right into the heart of Krypto, a moment that places the pooch at death’s door unless the antidote needed to save his life can be retrieved within 72 hours. Now both Kara Zor-El and young Ruthye have compelling reasons to go planet-hopping in search of this very bad guy. Along the way there will be fierce battles with heavily armed interplanetary technology pirates known as Sklarian Raiders, as well as other encounters including a bus ride to hell with all sorts of exotic alien creatures on board as fellow passengers, plus a visit to a nightclub right out of a Star Wars bar.

On their journey they also meet up with the outrageous Lobo, a space bounty hunter played to the hilt by Jason Momoa who steals every scene he is in, whether locked up in jail with Ruthye or riding his fantastic flying Spacehog bike like he is auditioning for a part in Fury Road. There is a ton of action, destruction, chases, explosions, spaceship crashes — you name it. But at its center is the budding relationship between Kara Zor-El and Ruthye, very reminiscent, as some online have already noticed, of Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross in True Grit. But Alcock is no John Wayne or Jeff Bridges, and Ridley lacks the spunk of Kim Darby and Hailee Steinfeld. The premise is similar, though: Young girl hellbent on revenge for death of her father hooks up for help with somewhat messed-up not-so-super hero who has to rise to the occasion.

This scenario, though, is not True Grit in space but instead inspired by the Tom King comic book, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Director Craig Gillespie — whose impressive filmography has included I Tonya, Lars & The Real Girl, Pam & Tommy and Cruella — has proved to be a master at letting characters breathe in all their eccentricity. He’s not a surprising choice to try and do that here, but the special effects and relentlessly dark tone often get in the way of making this group rock, despite the best efforts of Alcock, who is a bit too quirky, playing Kara Zor-El as somewhat reckless, headstrong and not always put together.

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Momoa is a load of fun; he knows exactly what his mission is and delivers whenever he is on screen. The problem is the movie is called Supergirl, not Lobo, so he is relegated here to a splashy, if scattered supporting turn. Ridley seems to play Ruthye with one pained expression on her face and a frequent deadpanned “I am out for revenge” for many of her lines. However, she does come alive in her big jailbreak scene, so there’s that. I didn’t buy Schoenaerts and his heavily affected Krem at all, a supervillain with no dimension other than being bad, which is a shame since the 1984 Supergirl suffered from the same problem. Gotta have a good villain, folks.

A sequence that works nicely is a flashback with David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham as Zor-El’s parents, who watch their lives come apart and can only hope for the best for Kara Zor-El by sending her off to her cousin Clark on Earth. Performing their roles in the invented Kryptonian language and dialect with Alcock, all three actors shine here. A special shout-out to Claudia Sarne, whose big orchestral music score really soars, even when the action doesn’t quite reach the same heights.

There was audible disappointment at the press screening I attended Tuesday night when it turned out that the end credits were exactly that, no extra scene(s). So if you want to skip the credits you will miss nothing.

Title: Supergirl

Distributor: Warner Bros Pictures

Release date: June 26, 2026

Director: Craig Gillespie

Screenwriter: Ana Nogueira

Cast: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa

Rating: PG-13

Running time: 1 hr 47 mins