August 11, 2026 – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: I have heard some strange things about this movie.

Vampire Bat: The trailer itself was rather strange for a superhero movie.

Vampire Owl: I was wondering if this was really a superhero or a girl calling herself super.

Vampire Bat: There is nothing super about humans or their alien friends.

Vampire Owl: Yes, you are talking about chaos and destruction caused by them.

Vampire Bat: Devastation, explosion, annihilation, end of the world, everything awaits.

Vampire Owl: It is great that they have remained without their immortality.

Vampire Bat: Still, there is no shortage of infinite hopelessness in them.

Vampire Owl: I see no point in any alien trying save the humans.

Vampire Bat: You should know that vampire elders voted for human extinction three million nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven times in history.

[Gets a sambar vada and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Zor-El (David Krumholtz) who was a leading scientist in the planet of Krypton along with his wife Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham) and a number of people who had chosen to follow him, had moved to Argo City in the centre of the planet, during an event which destabilized the core of the planet leading to its destruction. A forcefield around city and its surroundings, going some distance down, had saved it from the explosion of the core. But it is discovered that the separation of Argo City from the planet had exposed a mineral known as Kryptonite which is slowly killing the citizens through a certain kind of radiation which affected their cells. After Alura dies due toto Kryptonite poisoning, Zor-El decides to send their daughter Kara (Milly Alcock) to Earth with their pet dog. As she reaches Earth, she meets her cousin Kal-El (David Corenswet) who was sent to the planet before the explosion of their planet’s core. After a series of events, Kara decides to go on with her life partying on planets with red suns where she can get drunk unlike Earth with yellow sun which heals her and takes her dog Krypto with her.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As she parties in celebration of her twenty third birthday, she stops at the planet Holzherr. There she finds Ruthye (Eve Ridley) who is the last survivor of her family who were murdered by Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), the leader of a merciless bandit group known as the Brigands who haunts the galaxy as space pirates and human traffickers. Ruthye who is assisted by Kara to retrieve her family sword follows her and requests her assistance so that she can kill the man responsible and have her vengeance, but the Kryptonian is not interested at all. Krem who follows them takes Kara’s ship to escape from the planet as his spacecraft was destroyed by Ruthye’s parents. He shoots Krypto with a poisonous dart when he tries to stop them and the dog is left with only three days to live. Kara decides to go after Krem to get the antidote which only their race possesses, and is forced to keep Ruthye as her companion in the journey. They find an alien mercenary and bounty hunter named Lobo (Jason Momoa) who is also chasing the bandits – can they complete their mission in time?

The defence of Supergirl :: There is always something about a superhero movie which has a vulnerable superhero, whether it is with the psychological side and physical side as the person tries to get through different kinds of trouble in life. The idea of having the superhuman go on a journey of self-discovery surely works, and the funny side also comes effective at times. The action is surely interesting, even though not on that huge a scale – the fight in the flight and the final battle do have the power to keep things interesting though. But the interplanetary journeys work well, like it did in Thor: Ragnarok, and does not make her feel like the miserable Captain Marvel who gets more irritating and is more alien than anyone from another planet could be. The fact that there is not that much of the irritating dog in this movie keeps things better. The movie moving from Metropolis cityscapes to an intergalactic revenge quest across alien worlds has the divergence that we have been looking for, but has been missing in this particular universe. The world-building surely has taken some skill, and we see that the same has been given a lot of attention. Then we feel that a new movie with both the super people is going to be grand.

The claws of flaw :: The movie struggles to keep the superhero model alive on a lot of occasions as there might be an identity crisis coming in here and there. One keep wondering if the main character had that much of a trauma to be irritating to the people around her, and the dog even becomes another name for irritation. If it had any more screen-time in a superhero movie about humans, aliens and different plants, that would be seriously disturbing, but this one escapes the same by a few minutes. The struggle related to balancing the dark themes of vengeance, trauma and heavy drinking) which comes against the silliness and the comic book action can be seen around. Some of the settings of the movie also shows some weaker designs of not much of an interest. A number of characters are not seen like having much of a development to think about. Then there are the first few minutes of the movie which does seem to make it interesting at all; this was another one of those films which we wonder if we can finish or have a positive opinion about, after we watch the beginning with the girl and the dog.

The performers of the soul :: Milly Alcock, seems to handle a different kind of Supergirl really well, even though never the kind we wanted or expected in this universe – we had a feeling what to expect from the Superman movie for sure. She is surely fun, even when the character does not walk the path needed for such a character as we would think about. But it is still a lot better than having a too-powerful and no physical or psychological weakness psycho-hero in the form of Captain Marvel. There is surely some fine development of her character despite that dumb beginning to the flick. She surely fits in as this version of Supergirl, and we see her doing so well in the middle part of the movie. The world’s most super irritating dog is also there, and as it is not there for the full run after that character being paralyzed, we can safely go with the humans now. Jason Momoa also makes a fine impact here even though we would have always loved him more as the Aquaman ruling the oceans with Amber Heard by his side as Mera. Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll also brings some additional fun around here. Matthias Schoenaerts as the villain remains effective too.

How it finishes :: Despite the movie not becoming a success, and going rather too low with the box-office collections, one has to feel that it is not of such low level. It might not have that superheroic quality as one would expect and there is no doubt about it. But it is still better than Superman which released earlier, and seems to have more work done around here. This one is indeed ambitious, non-traditional comic book adaptation that gets into a darker sci-fi territory, and the feeling of danger is surely more and realistic than in Marvel, which used too much of the funny side as it made its superheroes, especially Thor, feel like a buffoon. This movie here might not be a universal crowd-pleaser and has surely fallen a long way from the status of a commercial blockbuster, But Milly Alcock’s performance in the second half of the movie and the central dynamic with the new-found partner traveler offer a fresh look here. Yet, one would think that if the earlier universe had continued with its existing strength, the world would have survived better, or at least if a parallel universe was unlocked before this one.

Release date: 26 June 2026
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa