DCU – Credits Rolling

The DC Universe was rebooted in 2025 with Superman. While the film had it’s flaws, it did signify a new and promising era for the comic book series. When it was announced that Supergirl would be getting the big screen treatment next, and that Milly Alcock would be in the starring role, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I loved her work on both House of the Dragon and Sirens – to see her featured in one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters was going to be a treat.

Forced to leave her home and family behind on Krypton, Kara Zor-El (Alcock) has a major chip on her shoulder. Her only confidante is her dog Krypto. Spending most of her time planet hopping and drinking to numb her feelings, Kara is simply just trying to get through the day to day. When Krypto is poisoned, Kara reluctantly teams up with Ruthye (Eve Ridley), whose family was killed by the same creatures, to get revenge.

I wanted so badly to enjoy this film, but there were so many things about it that just didn’t work. Alcock was perhaps the only bright spot throughout. She had the whole wounded and moody thing down pat and I really felt for her. The relationship she shared with Krypto was also a delight to watch; nothing can come between a girl and her dog after all. But the rest of the cast came up short for me. Ridley didn’t make a big enough splash. I actually found her to be a bit annoying in some scenes. As nice as it was to see David Corenswet reprise his role as Clark Kent, he was more on the sidelines this time around and therefore didn’t have much impact. Jason Momoa had his grand return to DC as Lobo and while I was initially curious about his character, I soon realized that he was a bit too cartoonlike for my taste. And don’t even get me started on Matthias Schoenaerts who portrayed villain Krem. While he looked the look, he did not talk the talk. I found him to be quite one-dimensional and not scary at all.

The storyline was also uninspired. Visiting different planets and meeting new beings should be fun, but this felt exhausting. They were jumping around so much, it was hard for me to keep track. It also didn’t help that the writing wasn’t up to standard. Additionally, there were some very obvious CGI sequences that took me out of it completely. I understand that a film taking place in space means I need to suspend some disbelief, but this was too much. At least it had a killer soundtrack.

I am not sure why Supergirl went so wrong when it had all the ingredients it needed to be right. It just lacked so much of that magic I look for when watching a superhero film and I kept wondering when it would be over. I’m not ready to write the DCU off just yet, but I am unsure of it’s next venture at this point.

Rating: ♥️♥️

It has been 5,000 years since Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson) became a demi-god and was imprisoned for misusing his powers. When Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) frees him from his tomb, the anti-hero must learn how to cooperate with the good guys if it means saving the world.

What worked for me here was Johnson’s performance as our protagonist – or antagonist – ? I thought he was perfect for the role. He had the look and the right attitude, though I wish we could have seen him grow more throughout the course of the film. Origin stories never give us enough time for that. I also liked the inclusion of the Justice Society. The casting for Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) were genius, however, Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) were very one dimensional and didn’t get nearly enough screen time. It was as if their characters were an afterthought more than anything else.

I must admit that for once the CGI effects were impressive. This franchise is notorious for having struggled in that department in the past so I am glad that they are getting better. Not only that, but I really liked the soundtrack choices too.

Unfortunately that’s about it as far as my enjoyment goes. In true DC style, it seemed like the story took ages to get going. I didn’t find the script to be particularly groundbreaking and the scenes that didn’t involve any action were pretty lacklustre. Plus, the jokes, few as they were, did not make me laugh at all.

I heard many claim this was a turning point for the DC universe. While I want to agree with them, I still think that a lot of work needs to be done. Was it the worst I’ve seen out of the bunch? No, it wasn’t. And while I have always and will continue to defend DC to my dying day, there was that spark missing for me with Black Adam that had me yearning for more.

Rating: ♥♥.5