i hate that i didn’t like supergirl (2026)

i am a huge superhero movie fan.

i love the cliché template. the elaborate fight choreography. the bright colours. the ridiculous costumes. the cheesy one-liners. i grew up on marvel films and comics, obsessing over every detail of the stories and characters, convincing myself that one day i’d be a superhero too - saving the world while somehow looking effortlessly cool.

despite all that, i’d never really cared much about DC. i never followed the universe in the same way i did marvel, and the characters never quite clicked for me.

then superman came out.

i saw it once. then i went back. and then i went back again.

i absolutely loved it.

the score gave me goosebumps, the action felt genuinely exhilarating, and every fight carried real weight. it was hopeful, colourful, and heartfelt, with a real sense of its message and what it was. it somehow managed to feel incredibly relevant while still embracing everything that makes superhero films fun. every character brought something distinct to the story, and the entire film overflowed with personality. i remember watching in complete awe, catapulting between emotions, never once feeling bored.

going into it, i knew almost nothing about these characters. i actually worried that my lack of attachment to DC would make the film less impactful. instead, it completely pulled me into the universe.

for the first time, i was genuinely excited about where the new DCU was heading. especially supergirl.

i am an absolute sucker for a complicated female superhero. yelena belova has become one of my favourite characters in this phase of the MCU because she’s messy, funny, deeply traumatised and endlessly compelling, but equally as powerful and badass. so the moment kara appeared at the end of superman, i immediately started counting down the days until her film.

i watched supergirl the day before i travelled. i was stressed, distracted and completely unprepared, so when i left the cinema feeling oddly empty, i decided not to judge it too quickly. i was also conscious that a lot of the criticism surrounding the film felt rooted in misogyny, and i didn’t want to contribute to negative conversations unless i was completely certain about how i felt.

so a week later, i watched it again. empty cinema. no distractions. fully focused. and unfortunately… i walked away feeling exactly the same.

i love kara. i think she’s an incredibly interesting protagonist. she’s immensely powerful, but underneath that power is someone carrying unimaginable trauma. one line in particular really stayed with me: her mother tells her that she can be tough, she doesn’t have to be nice, but she must always be good.

that feels like the emotional core of kara’s character, and i loved watching her wrestle with that throughout the film.

i also think milly alcock is fantastic. she completely commits to the role, balancing kara’s arrogance, grief, humour and vulnerability effortlessly. if anything, i almost feel sorry that this was the film introducing her to such a huge cinematic universe, because i genuinely think she deserves stronger material. i’m still excited to see where this version of kara goes next.

another highlight was krypto. kara’s loyalty to him became the emotional heart of the film, and their relationship felt genuine.

although i should admit i have a dog that looks and behaves almost exactly like krypto, so every scene where he was hurt absolutely destroyed me. i spent an embarrassing amount of the film crying. those moments were very difficult to watch.

i also really enjoyed finally seeing kara’s memories of krypton and learning more about the life she lost before coming to earth. it’s something that’s often mentioned but rarely explored in much depth, and it helps us connect and understand her survivor’s guilt and why she is the way she is.

there are also fun moments throughout. some of the early fight scenes are exciting, kara’s dysfunctional personality is entertaining to watch, and there are flashes of something really special underneath it all, which somehow made the disappointment even bigger.

for me, the biggest issue was the writing. it somehow managed to feel both repetitive and overcrowded at the same time. the film kept cycling through almost identical scenes: ruthye follows kara, kara gets annoyed, something attacks them, kara saves ruthye at the expense of the mission (probably so the movie doesn’t end immediately), they move on, and then the cycle repeats. i remember sighing repeatedly towards the end - tired of the lack of development, the same emotional beat, and the almost identical moments - just in varying locations - happening time and time again.

at the same time, the film introduces so many plotlines that none of them receive the attention they deserve. the storyline involving the trafficking of young girls is probably the clearest example.

i understand why the writers wanted to include it. it’s an important story. but stories like that need space and time. black widow has its flaws, but the red room storyline understands the weight of its subject matter. the opening credits alone communicate the horror these women experienced before the plot even begins. everything in that film continually returns to that trauma.

supergirl, on the other hand, introduces an already established revenge story against an underwhelming villain, a mission to save her dog, brings in ruthye, and then quietly reveals that young girls are being kidnapped and abused almost as another plot point to juggle. by the climax, kara is protecting ruthye, ruthye is confronting krem, an entirely separate rescue mission is unfolding in the background, and suddenly these girls we’ve barely spent any meaningful time with are freed in what is supposed to be an emotional payoff.

it barely lands. not because the subject matter isn’t powerful, but because the film never gave it enough room to matter. it felt less like a story the film wanted to tell and more like another idea squeezed into an already overcrowded screenplay.

ruthye is the greatest example of this.

this was probably the biggest surprise. i understand exactly what ruthye represents. she’s supposed to embody hope, innocence, and optimism despite unimaginable grief. she’s everything kara has lost.

their relationship should be the emotional centre of the film. but i never connected with her.

whether that’s the performance or simply the writing, i found her strangely monotonous throughout. she constantly reappears only to create the exact same situation: she follows kara somewhere she shouldn’t, kara gets frustrated, then kara abandons whatever she’s trying to do in order to save ruthye from another dangerous situation.

i kept waiting for a moment where ruthye would surprise me. where she’d demonstrate some kind of growth, resilience or ingenuity that made her feel like an active participant rather than someone constantly being rescued, but it never really happened. she has no powers and she can’t fight, so when she couldn’t even provide any heart or real message to the story, what was she providing?

even during the final battle, kara spends most of it flying in and out simply to stop ruthye from being killed.

instead of rooting for their partnership, i found myself growing frustrated every time ruthye wandered into another dangerous situation, hoping she’d stay behind and just let kara complete the mission.

lobo is another character who left me feeling conflicted.

i actually enjoyed him. he brought some genuinely funny moments to the film, and whenever he appeared, the energy noticeably lifted. but beyond being occasional comic relief, i’m not entirely sure what purpose he served. it almost feels like the film was trying to establish an unlikely trio.

from the moment kara and lobo meet in the bar, to the final act where he’s helping ruthye pursue her revenge before ultimately standing by as kara kills krem, it seems as though the intention was always to build this strange partnership between three completely different people who, despite their differences, end up relying on one another.

the problem is, it never really happens. it felt as though several scenes had been cut from the film - scenes that would have actually allowed that relationship to develop. instead, lobo appears, disappears, cracks a joke, and then reappears later without ever feeling properly woven into the story.

there’s one particular moment, during the jail sequence between lobo and ruthye, where i felt the film beginning to find something interesting. for a brief second, i found myself becoming invested in their dynamic and excited about where their relationship might go.

the film immediately moves on before that connection has any chance to grow.

it’s another example of supergirl introducing an idea with real potential, only to abandon it before it has the opportunity to become emotionally meaningful.

i also think this reinforces one of my main criticisms - that the film is full of almosts. almost a great partnership. almost an emotional subplot. almost a satisfying arc.

throughout the film, kara repeatedly explains to ruthye why revenge won’t heal her. why carrying that anger forever isn’t the answer. the two characters are clearly meant to help one another process grief and survivor’s guilt in different ways.

then kara kills krem anyway, after spending the movie explaining to ruthye why she shouldn’t.

i understand what the writers were trying to say. kara is hardened. she’s protecting ruthye from becoming like her. she’s willing to carry that burden herself. but for me, it completely undercut the emotional journey.

if the entire film is about learning to move forward rather than remaining trapped by vengeance and survivors guilt, then having kara ultimately choose revenge anyway weakens everything that came before it.

i honestly think it would have been far more powerful if krem had simply been imprisoned. if ruthye had chosen to walk away and if kara had chosen to walk away too. then, when she finally returns to earth and tells clark she’s happy to be home, that moment would’ve actually felt earned.

the frustrating thing is i can see what the film should’ve been.

there are fantastic ideas here, a brilliant lead performance, an incredibly compelling version of kara, interesting themes about grief, trauma and identity, but none of it comes together.

it feels like the writers had six different stories they desperately wanted to tell and tried to fit all of them into one film, while simultaneously not understanding the real root and message of the film.

the result is something that feels crowded, repetitive and lacking in personality. especially after superman, which felt so confident in its identity. that framework that was established as the first film of this new phase of the DCU was completely abandoned for this film.

i hate that i didn’t like it.

stara film club: all you need to know

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Apr 13

before i get into everything, i want to say a massive thank you. i started my substack over a month ago and i’m so grateful i did. i am so excited to actually get to launch stara film club and begin growing this community with all of you! please subscribe for updates - i also post reviews, recommendations, essays, and so much more on all things film!

and read the first sfc breakdown:

stara film club: cinema paradiso

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Jun 8

i recently had the opportunity to host a discussion of cinema paradiso for stara film club, and it was such a rewarding experience. it was the very first stara film club session, so i was quite nervous going into it, but being able to talk in depth about film with other people who genuinely love cinema is exactly what i had in mind when i first thought …