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Not Your Typical Superhero Movie, That’s For Sure!: A Review of the Supergirl Trailer

“That the dog returns to his vomit and the sow returns to her mire, and the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the fire.” 

~Rudyard Kipling

“This movie is a wacky, irreverent adventure about a dysfunctional loose cannon protagonist with a love of dancing and 1980s pop music, who uses snarky humor to mask their inner pain and turmoil.  They’re not your typical superhero, that’s for sure.  But when they get embroiled in a world-ending conflict, they’re forced to team up with a group of likable misfits.  They’re not your typical superhero team, that’s for sure.  Our gang have to learn to put aside their differences and work together to save the day, and along the way our main character finds a new surrogate family in this crazy group of outcasts and learns that sometimes the real heroes are the friends we make along the way.  This isn’t your typical superhero movie, that’s for sure!”

This is the summary that kicks off a review by The Critical Drinker for a superhero movie that may or may not be the brainchild of James Gunn, the doubtful talent behind such hits as the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Suicide Squad (2021), and Superman (2025). “May-or-may-not” is to acknowledge what The Drinker’s review spells out: all of James Gunn’s superhero movies share the same core themes and styling to the point where it has become impossible to tell them apart.  So even though Supergirl is not actually Gunn’s movie, it has the look of “the most James Gunn movie that ever James Gunn’d,” in The Drinker’s words.  I agree.  There’s the 1980s pop music, the quirky retro-futuristic aesthetic, the irreverent humor advertised in the movie’s poster (“Truth. Justice. Whatever.”) and Krypto the super-dog’s sloppy on-screen urination over a newspaper that features a front-page of Superman saving the day.  

It’s all summed up in the portrayal of Kara Zor-el, Superman’s little cousin, whom The Drinker describes as “Not your typical superhero, though: she’s a drunken, cynical, messed up party girl who likes to cut loose and do her own thing.  She’s definitely not here to live up to your expectations, that’s for sure!”  She’s kitted out like a Star Lord fangirl in trench coat and puffy pocket earphones, and drops “funny” one-liners like “this does not look like this is going to end well…for you guys!” (da-da-tzz, Kara Zor-el, everybody!) and truth-bombs, wearily telling a curious sidekick that Superman “sees the good in people; I see the truth.”

Sigh.

This being a sequel to Gunn’s Superman (wherein a very drunk Kara made a cameo appearance) may be the inspiration behind these “creative” choices, but that heritage hardly absolves Supergirl of its all-too-apparent failings, and sets it squarely within the vision of its predecessor.  Maybe that’s what works for some people; I can’t say how often I’ve heard that Guardians is someone’s favorite MARVEL movie(s).  Now, mine may be the unpopular opinion here, but I never did take to that particular trilogy.  The aesthetic was entertaining, and plenty of the visual humor appreciated (I did laugh at the Sovereign drone fighters leaning into retro video game cliches) and at the time the 1980s references were fun; however, the humor and writing overall waffled between mediocre and dreadful.  Rocket Raccoon’s forced hysterics, juvenile human-anatomy jokes, and the overplayed and never-ending attempts at levity grate on the nerves and negate any sense of gravity or wonder.  Say what you like about Joss Whedon, at least his Avengers scripts land the jokes and also maintain the sense of impending doom that the heroes face if they don’t eventually get their crap together.  

Which is all to say that Supergirl, in keeping with Gunn’s style, has missed a huge opportunity to actually break from the mold and do something new, because it is based (at least in part) on a graphic novel that is one of the best I’ve ever read: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Now’s as good a time as any to commit to a full review of the Supergirl comic, but until I get to it, let me at least draw some differences to illustrate the opportunity missed.  First, Kara is not the main character; she’s the mysterious Stranger that stumbles (drunk) into young Ruthye Marye Knoll’s life as the latter is vainly seeking retribution for her father’s murder.  But where Gunn’s trench-coated inebriation appears to be the defining feature of his lovable rebel, Woman of Tomorrow’s Kara is drunk for a very specific reason, and trench-coated for a very specific reason.  For the rest of the book, she’s resplendent in red and blue, and the object of Ruthye’s curious awe—ignorant as the little girl is of Kara’s history—and thus a foil for Ruthye’s own hero arc from stubborn and petulant to mature and introspective and, ultimately, forgiving.  

Forgiveness, of one’s enemies and of one’s own survivor’s guilt, is the message of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  The message of Supergirl: Truth, Justice, Whatever looks to be shaping up as something less redemptive and philosophical and more dysfunctional, quirky, and “heart-felt.”  Because as long as it’s from the heart, that makes it good.  Right?