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Supergirl – Film Review

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

Director: Craig Gillespie

Synopsis: As she heads off-world to celebrate, Supergirl finds herself joining forces with an unlikely companion on a quest for revenge…

Review: As memorable cameos go, Kara Zor-El’s at the end of Superman (2025) would be right up there with the very best. As she drunkenly crash landed into her cousin’s Fortress of Solitude in search of her beloved dog Krypto, she showed herself to be a free spirit. Same set of powers, but more off the chain and eager to let her hair down at every opportunity. A woman with a penchant for partying, preferably on planets with red suns so she can get drunk. No less super, but considerably more jaded and a far cry from the symbol of hope and optimism that Clark represents. After the James Gunn-led Superman and Peacemaker season 2 got this cinematic universe up and running, it made all the sense in the world to pass the torch to her. It is a crying shame that her solo film fails to deliver on its considerable potential.

Shortly after picking up Krypto, Kara whizzes off to the planet Holzherr to celebrate her 23rd birthday, letting loose with the booze flowing in plentiful supply. The morning after a night celebrating is very rarely fun, but in Kara’s case, it’s made even worse when the nefarious space pirate Krem of the Yellow Hills (Schoenaerts) arrives to commandeer her ship and poisons Krypto, leaving him fighting for his life. With a limited window to save her beloved pooch, Kara reluctantly teams up with Ruthye (Ridley) on a quest to find the antidote and get revenge.

After earning well-deserved recognition for her brilliant portrayal of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, Milly Alcock steps into the role of a superhero with effortless ease. As the young Targaryen princess, she balanced a refined, regal presence with a rebellious streak. It is the latter that comes to the fore at this point in Kara’s life. She may have adopted the mantle of Supergirl, but unlike her cousin, she struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth because of the devastating fate that befell her family and Krypton. Such raw pain and grief lead her to planet-hop and drink as a coping mechanism, a tragic foundation that Alcock brilliantly brings to her performance.

Alongside Alcock, Ridley gives a commendable performance as the young warrior driven by her quest for revenge against Krem after he murdered her family. The chemistry between them takes a little while to click, but they make for an effective duo to root for. Adapting Tom King’s Woman of Tomorrow comic, widely considered the best Supergirl comic, should give screenwriter Ana Nogueira plenty to work with and help it stand out in a very competitive genre. However, despite some fun action sequences and emotional moments exploring Kara’s origin story on Krypton, the script lacks sufficient spark overall and does little to differentiate itself from the plethora of superhero origin stories we have seen in recent years, not least last year’s Superman. Director Craig Gillespie, no stranger to directing films centred around compelling and complicated women (I, Tonya and Cruella), does little to spruce up the rather bland action sequences. Furthermore, with needle drops aplenty, it all just comes across as a hollow imitation of Gunn’s previous directorial efforts.

Schoenaerts’s Krem certainly looks ominous and threatening, thanks to some striking hair and make-up, but not even that can prevent him from falling into the generic and forgettable villain territory that has so often been an Achilles’ heel of superhero movies. While the film might have wasted its villain, at the very least, Jason Momoa lights up the screen with boundless charisma as the bounty hunter Lobo. A dream role for him, and it is easy to see why, as he feels like he was born to play this character. One can only hope the studio plans to have Momoa reprise the role in future films. It is incredibly frustrating that, despite having all the right components to build on the foundations of this cinematic universe and to do justice to this character on the big screen, the film still struggles to take off, even with the best efforts of its superheroine.

Milly Alcock does everything she can to elevate the material she was given, but ultimately a lacklustre script prevents this space adventure from delivering on its considerable potential.

Red Sparrow – Film Review

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling

Director: Francis Lawrence

Synopsis: A Russian ballerina is enrolled into a top secret programme that trains its recruits to become highly skilled agent known as Sparrows. Her primary target quickly becomes a CIA agent who is in possession of some top secret information.

Review: The United States of America and Russia, two countries with an extremely murky history. A history that teased the terrifying prospect of nuclear conflict that lasted the best part of the 20th century. As such, it opens the door for filmmakers and storytellers to tap into this relationship of sorts between these two countries and how that may develop in the years to come. Mix that in with elements of espionage and seduction, and you have the materials to make a dark and unsettling espionage thriller.

Yet despite ticking all these boxes, there is something about Red Sparrow that just never hits the mark. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Jason Matthews, it’s intriguing premise offers much, but the hope that this intriguing premise would deliver a compelling story feels really misguided. Marking his first project since completing the Hunger Games franchise, Francis Lawrence has reunited with his Hunger Games collaborator Jennifer Lawrence (no relation) to tell this story of Dominika. A gifted Russian ballerina who suffers a devastating accident which destroys her career as a ballerina. Unsure as to what she should do next, she is pushed into the direction of the Sparrow programme, and it’s from this moment, her life will never be the same again.

The trailers certainly made the movie look as though it was going to be an intriguing espionage thriller, yet sadly it really is not all that thrilling. The screenplay by Justin Hythe certainly offers up an intriguing first act, including some very dark scenes that could have taken the story in a very interesting direction. However, it all quickly fizzles away into insignificance before long. A story with this premise should not be this mediocre, but several scenes just meander and it all becomes just not very interesting to watch. The actual plot itself is extremely convoluted, and it all just gets a little bit messy. There’s some impressive camerawork involving the moment her ballerina prospects go up in flames, but there’s not much else to shout about, which is frustrating given some of the work we have seen from Lawrence as a director (see Catching Fire).

Lawrence has shown that since she hung up her bow as Katniss that she can take on a variety of different roles and make them her own. Her performance is admirable as she tries to hold the film on her shoulders, but the extremely lacklustre material she has been given to work with prevents her from doing so. Though her accent does slip on occasions, she gives comfortably the strongest performance. The rest of this very talented cast are by and large either extremely under-utilised or not given enough development to really make the audience care for them. Edgerton is perhaps the only exception, but even then the development he gets is thin, at best. Meanwhile, other actors such as Jeremy Irons seem really miscast in their roles.

The chemistry between Lawrence and Edgerton is serviceable, but it could and really should have been so much stronger given the talent of the actors. The plot is so convoluted that by the time the credits begin to play, you’ll be wondering if it was worth it, and the answer sadly, is probably not.

An intriguing premise, thrown away on an extremely convoluted and messy plot, combined with very bland and forgettable characters, all of which results in an extremely disappointing finished product.