Supergirl

I need to talk about reception. First off, I'm a superhero movie fanatic so I understand that I'm easier on them than a lot of people. But I also don't understand sometimes what people want. Do they need it to be some life changing event? Can a movie not just be really fun and still get a high score? I suppose the people who disagree with me would argue that it wasn't fun though. But to me, a great lead performance, an interesting universe that's grimey and gross, an emotional hook that a lot of people can relate to, some good jokes and good pacing is fun.

I'm not trying to dismiss every criticism of this movie or the people who make these criticisms. I get that I'm dying on a hill here. It's just that sometimes I see criticisms and I wonder if we saw the same movie. For example, I've seen someone say, "Why do they keep the antidote on them? Pretty stupid," but that's explained. Saw someone say it's an "and then" movie but I mean, it seems pretty purposeful and coherent to me.

I'm not saying this movie is perfect. I do think the action could have been better. I agree that the villain isn't especially memorable, but that's always been a superhero movie problem. I mean, that's a problem in a lot of movies outside of superhero movies. It doesn't invalidate the criticism, because having a good villain is always a good thing, but the nomenclature IS "Supergirl" after all, not, "Supergirl vs Epstein." I'm there for her. Anything else is a bonus. Also, him being a murderous sex trafficker who also poisons a dog is more than enough reason for me to hate the fucker.

Which brings me to the point of Supergirl herself. Kara is great. She's endearing even though she's kinda rude. She's wrestling with trauma, but has an unwavering love for her dog. She's a good contrast to Superman. I've seen some people shit on the end where she kills Krem even though she just got done telling the girl not to do it because she'll have to take him with her throughout her entire life if she does. "Revenge doesn't solve anything" isn't original, but I LOVED what the movie did with it. Why? Because Kara maintains her edge. She grew in ways throughout the movie, but she's still the messed up counterpoint to her cousin, who would never dream of killing someone. Kara killed Krem and stained her own soul a) because Krem had to die and b) so Ruthye didn't have to.

With that said, I do acknowledge that Milly being as entertaining as she was plays a huge part. But so? If a performance is great enough that it elevates everything, it's still elevated. It's like when people would say, "The Dark Knight isn't as good without The Joker." But it's like... well yeah, but the Joker is in it. He's part of the movie. Milly's performance isn't Ledger, but the logic remains. The movie is entertaining in large part because SHE is so entertaining. And that's fine.

Seen people mention the tonal shifts too. Are we really flabbergasted by a movie that has a serious adventure but sprinkles in jokes and pop songs? Or that a movie is a superhero spectacle while also being, I don't know, a space western/revenge story? Sometimes abrupt tonal shifts are bad, but I never felt a whiplash from any of this. It all gels together well.

I don't know. I don't have any attachment to the source material so I guess I'm not angry about that. It was just pretty clear from the trailer that this was the kind of movie it was going to be. I'm going to rewatch the movie later on this year and see if I feel the same way. If anything changes I will update this.