The reviews are in and Supergirl is currently sitting at Rotten on RT’s review aggregator, with the audience score not being much more impressive. It would be fair to say that with the second film of the DCU now out, this doesn’t look great for the fledgling franchise. Superman did much better last year, but I’m not sure I would call that an out and out success either. Now the second DCU film is being slated by most critics and fans don’t seem that enthused either.
As always we will give you a snippet of a few reviews to get an idea. However, in general what we are hearing is a poor script, unimaginative direction for set pieces, but a decent lead star in Milly Alcock. Rotten Tomatoes score is currently at 58% from critics which is in the Rotten category.
The Popcornmeter, i.e. the audience score is better at 77% currently. However, bear in mind this is opening weekend and therefore the fans most excited to see this film are the first ones through the door. Also add in that even a poorly rated film by critics like The Mandalorian and Grogu was in the 80% + range for audience score. This is more in line with Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom and Flash.
Fresh
Some fresh reviews,
This movie proves that you can take something that might seem esoteric or strictly-for-the-heads and make mass entertainment out of it without selling out completely.
Milly Alcock’s hungover hero is delightful, even if the film never truly cuts loose. Here’s hoping she gets a weirder, wilder showcase.
The strain shows in different ways in “Supergirl,” which is derivative if altogether watchable, largely on account of its star.
Ultimately “Supergirl” is a competent continuation of the DCU, even if it isn’t as well made as “Superman” before it. A lot of the frustration stems from potential that it just can’t seem to reach.
Rotten
And some rotten reviews,
Written by first-time screenwriter Ana Nogueira and directed by action newcomer Craig Gillespie, it is honestly shocking how directionless this followup to DCU’s eclectically energetic 2025 Superman is.
I have always admired DC for taking creative swings. The problem is that this swing never works. It lacks compelling storytelling, memorable characters, emotional weight, and a clear artistic voice.
For every great moment Alcock has as a performer, there are others where Supergirl stoops to the lowest common denominator of joke, with more than a handful of “So, that happened” style gags that are irritating and unfunny.
While young star Milly Alcock shines in the titular role, this Supergirl adaptation falls flat when compared to its beloved source material. It’s no different than many other middle-of-the-road superhero movies.
Of course there are loads more reviews, hundreds if you want to check them all out. As I said, the most praise any one component gets in this film from critics is Alcock’s lead role with some even bemoaning how little the focus is left on her. Almost everything else is either watchable our downright bad.
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One of two things happened here. Either James Gunn doesn’t actually have the skill to spot what is a great script after all, as he greenlit this. Or, the director absolutley fumbled the task, which really Gunn should have seen coming sooner and had him replaced.
I’ve heard both the script and the direction as being the chief culprits here, so one of those makes most sense.
Meanwhile, it looks like Supergirl won’t be setting the box office alight and the film is expected to struggle to make it’s rumored $170m budget back. It’s said the film needs to bring in around $350m to turn a profit. With an average opening weekend on the horizon and bad word of mouth, it sounds like the film may struggle to break even. I guess we will see on Monday how the four day opening weekend went for Supergirl.
I’m just going to say it folks, outside of Batman, the DC Verse just isn’t as good as the Marvel verse. It’s for comic book nerds only, sorry DC fans. Whereas the Marvel books were more accessible as a kid for me and the Marvel universe felt more connected than DC’s ever did.
Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman… none have ever truly set the box office alight. Batman on the other hand can almost compete with Marvel on it’s own. So DCU’s priority right now is to get Batman into this Universe or it will be dead before they even get to him. If they get Batman wrong…goodbye DCU and goodbye James Gunn.
I won’t rush to see this one, but I probably will catch it and drop my Supergirl review on here when I do. I was actually looking forward to this one, so I hope I disagree with the other critics. Doesn’t seem likely though. As always, drop any thoughts below.
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