Supergirl: woman of tomorrow - review

I wasn’t even cautiously optimistic about the Supergirl movie. From the trailer most of us could tell that the movie was going to be bad. But what I didn’t expect was that the movie could have been good, which made its bad execution all the more frustrating. There were themes of grief that if explored with care could have propelled the movie towards a decent watch, but it spends most of the time worrying about negating Supergirl’s power and getting her in the vicinity of kryptonite or a red sun. As if they were only interested in making the fight scenes look cool, and for that they needed a nerfed Supergirl. In this struggle for mindless entertainment, the interesting bit got lost.
So I went looking for another Supergirl story to wash away the bad taste. And found out that the movie was based on a comic. Little did I know that it was going to become one of my favourite stories ever.

Supergirl: woman of tomorrow - synopsis

The story is told from the perspective of an alien girl, Ruthye, seeking revenge for the brutal murder of her father by the space pirate Krem. Supergirl, spending her 21st birthday drinking on the planet where the red sun strips her of her power, is reluctant to help at first but agrees to go along when Krem shoots her dog with a poison arrow and takes off in her spaceship. Thus begins an odyssey across the galaxy. The journey has to be called an odyssey even when the things they are confronted with are of a passive nature.

Every planet Kara and Ruthye visit, they see the results of mindless violence, the graves left behind by Krem and bandits. Death and destruction had already taken place, and they were chasing the phantom of violence. In this way, Krem feels more like an embodiment of mindless violence, much like the antagonist in No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

Themes - Days of kindness

Supergirl can fly faster than a bullet, but she can’t stand in front of all the bullets firing off in the universe. She can’t be everywhere all at once. Her powers can’t help find what is already gone, like the planet Kara remembers, one that died an agonizing death. And yet she puts up her hand gently, holding back evil. Whether it is feeding an injured alien; letting a grieving giant punch her feelings out on her; or helping someone dig graves for his fallen family.

It began, as Ruthye states, as everything began with Supergirl: an act of kindness. With each act Kara searches for an answer to her survivor’s guilt. In a universe that is too big and she too small.

Conclusion

People often think standing up would be the easiest thing for someone like Superman or Supergirl, for beings who are indestructible and have the power of gods. Yes, standing up once would be easy, but remaining there day after day when you are confronted by sadism and viciousness and not giving in to anger shows character: someone worthy of the mantle of hero.
Standing up once is easy for anyone with power, but remaining there day after day shows the true character. Someone worthy of being called a hero.