27 Comments
User's avatar
KHAZAD's avatar

I never thought this would be a good movie. The character (and especially the dog) provided some fun relief in the Superman movie, but afterwards, I kind of wondered how Superman suddenly had a cousin, and why the dog was able to do stuff. (Not being a comic book guy, I didn't get it)

But it seems often that a movie takes a moment, and tries to make that moment into a movie. It happens more often with comedy stuff, but it is rarely successful.

Kris J's avatar

It was disappointing to me too, but more at a 5-6/10 level because the source material is incredible. BTW, that origin story is pretty well established Supergirl lore. The surviving city with a force field was even in the television show.

dlf's avatar

"When we first see the guy show up at a family’s house, he demands to eat some of their pie. As bad guys do."

Did Michael Schur write the movie? The key characteristic of the Bad Guy is that he eats fruit pie.

...

I think it's time for me to once again read Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.

KTM's avatar

Now that was funny!

Craig from Bend's avatar

I am so burned out on superhero movies that Joe could have said this was the best movie ever made and I would be completely unlikely to go see it. That said, the review is HILARIOUS and worth every penny I paid for my JoeBlogs subscription.

On a related note, how much does it cost everybody out there to go to a movie? I'm going to a matinee showing of The Odyssey today. Not IMAX, regular. $14 a ticket. IMAX version was $25. The last time I went to a movie, 2 tickets, a bucket of popcorn and 2 drinks was $63. Seems to me like movie prices are getting a little out of control, but I live in Bend, OR where we have one movie theater, so maybe those numbers aren't typical?

Steve  Fischman's avatar

Jason Momoa was pointless. Milly Alcock was terrific.

Bryan Sullivan's avatar

Choice #11: Very minor question because it isn’t a problem, but still… Since Kara was not raised in Smallville, why not let Milly Alcock use her natural accent? All Kandorians can be British — sure, why not?

Matt's avatar

Is the bad guy's name Freddie Kitchens??

Patrick Dunn's avatar

Oh Joe, I so wish you were wrong but you're not. A sad waste of yet another DC movie.

Erik Lundegaard's avatar

100%.

It's so derivative, too. The 13-year-old girl is space Arya Stark, Jason Momoa is Randall "Tex" Cobb from "Raising Arizona" (and, as you said, completely unnecessary to the plot), AND you don't frame the movie with the poisoning of a dog!!!!! Because it makes all of SG's actions less urgent than they need to be. Any act that isn't doing everything she can to stop her dog from dying is a stupid act.

But yes to Milly A. She was good. It's a shame they gave her this story.

Scott Catamas's avatar

I wish that the powers that James Gunn and anyone else making decisions at D.C. Studios would read this. You nailed it Joe.......

Matt Baron's avatar

I had a less than 0% chance of ever caring to see this movie, even before reading this review. ...this strikes me as the Ishtar of superhero movies: so irredeemably bad that it's actually monumentally a must-see. So, maybe I have a 1% chance of seeing it now . Also, this column is the latest exhibit of the truth that really crappy movies are a wellspring of hilarious reviews.

On a related note, I just watched The Odyssey [very good!] in a 2:55 a.m. showing at a 70 mm screen, the only one in Illinois. I plan to write my next column about the experience, which included waking up at 1:30 in the morning and minimizing my water intake so that I could make it through the Apocalypse Now-ish length of the film. I'm going to need about 72 hours to get my days and nights straight to be able to form three consecutive coherent sentences for that one.

Joe M's avatar

How many moon falls is that?

KTM's avatar

Were there any dogs in the movie?

Dave's avatar

Spoiler Alert. There is a very good dog in the Odyssey and he deserves a nomination. Acting Tour de Force!

Michael Baldwin's avatar

Not that I agree with it, but I bet the decision to put the movie in space is to prevent us from asking "where's Clark and can he come help" if the movie had taken place on Earth. The MCU seems to run into this problem a lot

Zilla Rocca's avatar

Please read Tom King’s book “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow”. That’s the comic this entire movie was based on.

Also, the entire point of the character is to be the Winter Soldier to Clark’s Captain America: a tragic variant of someone with the same powers. You can’t be more fun and upbeat than Superman…and I thought the movie did a great job showing you WHY, similar to Bucky being pulled out of the ice by the Russians instead of Steve Rogers being saved by America.

Superman is all powerful. Supergirl wants to suppress her powers. Clark grew up in Smallville with kind farmers. Kara watched her home planet die slowly. And so on

I think you’ll understand the film a bit more after reading “Woman of Tomorrow”.

Dave's avatar

From what I can tell (did not read the comic but my kids did), they actually did not really adapt Woman of Tomorrow. Lobo is not in it. Krem actually had levels. There was a super horse. Like to have seen that movie.

Overanalyzer Craig's avatar

This touches on the skill of adaptations. Satisfy those familiar with the original material while entertaining those that aren't. It sounds like this movie missed the balance. It is possible though that long ago the screen forms changed Kara into a girl-power version of Superman which is what many, including Joe, expect and want to see as opposed to the "real" Kara of the original comics.

Ray Charbonneau's avatar

Winter Soldier was also bad.

Mike's avatar

Wait, what? You're literally the first person I've ever seen who didn't like it.

Richie's avatar

So you have to do homework prerequisites before going to the theater?

Dan Mundell's avatar

There was no "buzz" about this movie to generate interest, just buzzkill. What a missed opportunity.

Jason Winston's avatar

Wanted to see it. Haven’t seen it yet. No longer want to see it. Joe has saved me $20 or so.

Mike's avatar

If Joe is this unhappy with movie it must be pretty unsatisfying

Drew Thomas's avatar

Nothing lasts forever, but especially the superhero movie complex since Endgame. This is coming from a 50-something comics collector.