Film Review : "Supergirl'

 Time to get some things straight after hearing a lot of opinions online about this movie from people who have never read a "Supergirl" comic. To be honest, it's unlikely that director Craig Gillespie has ever read one either. Before we get started here, let me say I do not give a fuck about the opinions someone might have regarding a superhero movie if they have never read the source material, because they obviously do not know what they are talking about. Granted, in today's world, not knowing what you are talking about is more common on social media than not. This dismissal is not a one-way street, as I also extend it to movie critics, who are quick to scream superhero fatigue as they don't understand that comic books are the modern-day mythology and that being faithful to them is more important than making a hip art film worthy of an Oscar.

So while I am not going to dogpile any Superhero movie since it's the thing to do as a critic, it's important to remember that this blog is a comic book blog first and foremost. But on the other side of the coin, I am not so invested in wanting there to be a good female superhero movie that I am going to throw things out like a decent script and ignore CGI that looks like it is straight from the late 90s CW. If you want a movie with a strong female superhero to bolster whatever agenda you have, that is not happening here. She does not fully use her powers until the last 20 minutes of the movie. This is not unique to this movie. Hollywood writers don't know how to make an all-powerful characr relatable, so they dampen or strip them of their powers. This was first noted in the first Thor movie, but it is a recurring trope now because these writers don't read the comic books, so have no clue how to write the characters. 

Milly Alcock does fine in the role; she is just working off a terrible script. If they had her play the role a little more like the portrayal from the Flash movie, it would have worked better. I am mena even the CW's portrayal works better than her being a drunk. Jason Momoa's Lobo is a little underwhelming, not sure how he was contained in a prison cell for part of the movie, as he is only vulnerable to a rare lizard bacteria in the comics. He was better as Lobo than as his Point Break version of Aquaman.. The movie as a whole is a patchwork of the Mad Max movies, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy, when the budget of the movie might have been better spent grounding the movie in Metropolis and have ber facing a version of Brianic that addressed AI and perhaps modeled him after Elon Musk, but James Gunn is showing his hand as having a limited vision for what the DC Universe can be.

If you are just a fan of the character and want to see Kara on the screen, then brace yourself for a less-than-faithful version, but an actress who fits the look well. At the end of the day the lack of box office receipts is what will bury this movie, but it's not a terrible movie, perhaps it would have worked better if  it had been the Sydney Sweeny Barbarella instead as they did not want to make a super hero movie. 

Guardians of the Galaxy

There is a good reason this move has cracked the  90 percentile range on Rotten Tomatoes. Its is one of the best super hero movies Marvel has pumped out thus far. Why some might argue this is just a sci fi flick and not in the same category as Iron - Man. Star Lord wears a mask and in their comic incarnations bump elbows with both X-men and Avengers a like, in fact Ms Marvel has been a regular the past few issues.

It is obvious the film doesn't take it'self seriously, the tone often not unlike James Gunn's Super.The laugh out loud moment mainly come from how the band of cosmic heroes carry themselves. It could be argued that Pratt played Quill like the re-boot version of the young Captain Kurt, I like Pratt depiction of Starlord, more than I like the character in the comics. While familiar with Drax and Gamora from the Infinity Gauntlet series, that this movie often hints it could lead into, the character I had the most connection to in the comic only appeared for a few minutes a Breet the alien girl who followed Banner in the early eighties appears.

The visual elements make up for the few  moments of stiff acting that come from Lee Pace who plays Ronan the Accuser, a character that was pretty one dimensional , until he hooked up with the Inhumans a few years ago. Brolin's Quick appearance at Thanos , who actually appears in the film and not just as a hologram like the folks at Marvel , was a high point for me as the character looks awesome.

The cgi characters Rocket Racoon and Groot, could have been the movie's weak spots, proved that with the Avenger's Hulk Marvel studios has learned the value of getting the cgi right in order for the audience to connect to the characters. The other worldy landscapes were cool, in the future perhaps they can get a little more Blade Runner with this , but what they did worked.The action scene . were very coherent and not just too much thrown at you too fast.

The characters all received pretty equal screen time despite the fact this was from Quill's perspective, it would be great if for a sequel it was more from Rocket's. These guys have set the bar pretty high for the sequel the studio already signed this one up for before the movie came out and with a 11 million dollar opening night they guessed right.The easy way out on the sequel would be to bring them to Earth, but I think just expanding the Cosmic world, as it still leaves the Star Jammers, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill and the Sliver Surfer to name a few and you know I could keep naming for days here.

Some of the Easter Eggs which ranged from Howard the Duck to the Nova Corps, were good teases, put why not have one of them blast off as the real Nova instead of flying around in ships. Where was Adam Warlock is a good question. The celestials were cool and unexpected as well.Overall you don't have to geek out and now your Marvel inside out to like this Movie, though sense I do I have to look at my girl friend's perspective when it comes to what the normal non-comic lifer's view on this is ,even though like I said I never had much of an emotional investment in these characters. They did win me over here.She really like the movie anf was willing to endure me pulling out my big hard bound encyclopedia to the Marvel Universe and search out more on the characters afterwards. And yes that sort of thing does happen at my house.     Avenger's Age of Ultron is going to really have to come correct if they are going to be able to top this...but it could happen.