More grit than glory

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, June 26th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A new twist on a classic superhero.

Warner Bros.’ DC Studios releases Supergirl this weekend, introducing audiences to Superman’s edgy cousin.

WORLD’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino now, with his thoughts.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Supergirl is the followup to last summer’s Superman and the second installment in DC Studios’ recently rebooted DC Universe.

British actress Milly Alcock plays Supergirl, who goes by the name Kara Zor-el. She might be Superman’s cousin, but she didn’t have the luxury of growing up with a loving family in Kansas. 

This Kryptonian carries a world of sorrows.

CLARK: I’m worried you’re not going to find your people.

KARA: Yeah, well that’s the thing, Clark. I have no people.

The film opens with Kara celebrating her 23rd birthday getting drunk in a bar on an alien planet. She’s started hanging out on planets with red suns, which sap her of her super powers. She’s running from the responsibility that being Supergirl requires. 

Maybe she just wants to live a normal life, one that allows her to feel physical pain.

KARA: Oh, that might be a problem.

But in the midst of Kara’s intergalactic pub crawl, she meets a young girl named Ruthye. Ruthye’s parents were killed by the leader of a gang called the Brigands. And she believes that with Kara’s help, she can get revenge. 

Initially, Kara has no interest in getting involved in someone else’s quarrel, but circumstances drag her into Ruthye’s quest for vengeance.

KARA: Revenge. It won’t take your pain away.

This story might sound familiar to some listeners. Supergirl is based on the comic book series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which in turn was inspired by Charles Portis’ classic True Grit and its film adaptations. 

Ruthye serves as the indomitable Mattie Ross, and Supergirl is her grizzled Rooster Cogburn. It might sound strange to restage True Grit in outer space with a twenty-something blonde girl filling the role made famous by John Wayne...but the overall story arc was satisfying.

The journey with Ruthye changes Kara. She goes from being hopeless and self-absorbed to embracing the responsibility required of someone with enormous powers. 

However, she’s still going to have more of an edge to her than her more famous cousin.

KARA: He sees the good in everyone. And I see the truth.

Supergirl also introduces the alien bounty hunter Lobo, played by Jason Momoa. Momoa used to play Aquaman in the previous incarnation of the DC franchise. 

He seems to be having fun with this new character, chewing the scenery as he chomps a cigar. He represents power unhinged from moral responsibility. The kind of person Kara might have developed into if she hadn’t met Ruthye.

LOBO: I’m looking for a Brigand. Goes by the name of Drom Baxton.

In the last few months, Milly Alcock has caused some consternation among fans who have cringed at some of her public statements. But the movie isn’t burdened with a left-wing agenda like many feared. Alcock brings an appealing rock-n-roll vibe to the character, and the film turns out to be a straightforward space-cowboy adventure. 

At only an hour and 47 minutes, it doesn’t contain the typical bloat and setup you get with most comic book movies. It manages to seamlessly tell Kara’s origin story without getting bogged down.

I was also impressed by how the film handled the perennial problems associated with such a powerful central character. 

It’s difficult for a story to build meaningful conflict when its protagonist possesses a list of abilities that make her almost invincible. This script puts her in numerous situations in which either her powers fail her or she can’t use them effectively. 

In this film that explores the galaxy’s gritty underbelly, Kara won’t be able to save everyone.

KARA: You cannot give up on me.

But I’m sad to say this isn’t a top-tier superhero movie.

James Gunn, who directed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, is currently serving as the head of DC Studios. And while he didn’t direct this movie, his fingerprints are all over it. The visuals of DC’s alien worlds look remarkably like those featured in Gunn’s Guardian movies. The dialogue aims for that snappy irony in Gunn’s films. And each big moment begins with a pop-music needle drop. Another of Gunn’s signature moves. The best superhero movies all have memorable scores—no such-thing here. These kinds of tricks are getting a little stale. 

Another disappointment: the action sequences. I’m guessing Alcock wasn’t hired for her physicality, because the camera often pans away during her fight scenes.

KARA: Okay...this does not look like this is going to end well… for you guys, I mean. Anybody wanna leave?

Superhero movies tend to embody our God-given desire to see justice roll down, and this movie is no exception. We even get—what’s almost become commonplace in superhero movies—the hero’s metaphorical resurrection before exacting justice. 

Despite its problems, I was more or less satisfied with how Supergirl turned out. 

However, superhero fatigue is real, so Supergirl might struggle to find an audience. But if you think a mashup of True Grit and Guardians of the Galaxy sounds appealing, this might be the movie for you.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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