The new and improved DC Comics shared movie universe, better known as the DCU, is continuing on. 2025’s Superman made a big splash when it hit theaters. Now, Supergirl has flown to theaters. Let’s take a look at if the DCU continues to soar to new heights, or if Superman was lightning in a bottle.

The Good

The action is a ton of fun throughout the film. Kara is a skilled fighter, which makes each fight scene incredibly entertaining to watch. There are scenes that shake up the action with the use of various superpowers, sci-fi tech that allows for teleportation, vehicles, and diverse weaponry. Supergirl, Lobo, Ruthye Krem, and a slew of others including space pirates duking it out make this an incredibly thrilling ride.

Something that’s especially worth enjoying in the movie is how alien it feels. It’s a space adventure, and they embrace that. There are a lot of alien creatures that look and sound awesome, many of which even speak their own wacky languages. There are a lot of really cool ships and environments. It all makes for a fun and unique setting.

Throughout Supergirl, there is a theme of encouraging people to do good. As the movie states, “You don’t need to be kind, you just have to be good.” It’s a nice, powerful, and thought-provoking message. It’s also one that fits the character quite well and adds some emotional weight to the story.

Supergirl goes through a rather captivating emotional journey throughout the movie. She learns to overcome her pain and grief, and use it to do good. It’s hard not to root for her to grow as a character and celebrate when she does. Her arc is an emotional one, and is interesting enough to get fully invested in. Anyone who has had trouble overcoming grief knows how she feels here.

The performances in the film are all really impressive. Milly Alcock is perfect in the role of Supergirl, as she captures the character’s pain, sarcasm, emotion, and growth. Eve Ridley is fantastic as Ruthye, bringing her determination and surprising maturity to life. Jason Momoa absolutely kills it as Lobo. In fact, it’s like he was born to play the character. His charisma, sarcasm, and overall vibe really brings the character to life. These excellent performances play a huge role in immersing the audience into this brilliant sci-fi world.

Speaking of Lobo, a lot of folks had been wondering how the Main Man would be in live action on the big screen leading up to the movie’s release. Thankfully, he’s incredible. He steals the spotlight every time he’s on camera. The way he acts, the way he talks, the way he fights, and his creative vulgarities are all source material accurate. It’s like Lobo climbed out of the panels of a comic book. He’s a badass and is an absolute blast. It’ll be exciting to see him again in a future movie.

The Bad

There are a handful of humorous scenes here and there throughout the movie. While some of them work just fine, there are some that really don’t land. The ones that don’t feel really awkward. On top of that, with the more serious tone and how little jokes there are in the film, it leads to some of them feeling a touch out of place. Thankfully, this only happens a couple of times.

The vast majority of the visual effects, both traditional and CGI, look phenomenal. That being said, there are some early scenes in which the CGI looks a little off. This is especially the case with Krypto in some of those early moments. It’s like some of the effects weren’t finished and look a little too cartoony for a live action movie. Again, though, it’s a very small amount that’s not-so-great while the rest does look fantastic.

Something that feels weird in the story involves Krem having kryptonite-based weapons. How does he know about kryptonite? Earlier scenes made it sound like while others knew about the destruction of Krypton, the only people who knew about kryptonite were on the planet. How did he obtain the kryptonite? He was able to fly to where Krypton used to be, get it, and come back to where the movie takes place? He also finds out he’s facing a Kryptonian, manages to obtain kryptonite, and build weapons that use it in the course of like three days. When did he do this? How does he have the know-how? There are definitely some loose threads there.

Conclusion

Supergirl feels like a classic-style action flick, like Mad Max, but in space. It’s a lot of fun with a simple plot that works extremely well thanks to the emotions of the characters. It has some minor issues here and there, but they don’t do too much to detract from the action-packed and emotional story that Supergirl is. It’s a welcome popcorn flick with nice themes. Throw in fun alien designs, a superpowered dog, and Lobo being Lobo, and it solidifies itself as one of the must-sees of the summer.

Rating: 8/10

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