Let's Talk About Supergirl

Okay not too much on my girl now...

I give the most intellectual and nuanced take on the DCU's Supergirl film and the future of James Gunn's DCU without using the word "um" even once!

Transcript

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Hi, I'm Colton. Welcome back to Cold Classic. Today I'm going to be talking about James Gunn's uh DC Universe, my Supergirl review, and the future of whatever they have planned. Um, starting off, I definitely would rate Supergirl maybe a 6.5 if I'm being friendly. Um talking about prose, I loved uh Millie Alcock. She was incredible. I really liked her at the end of the Superman movie. Um, I think throughout this one, she was her acting was always incredible. She was great in House of the Dragon and uh Sirens, the show she was in. Um, I do believe that she was held back by the script, which is definitely an opinion I've heard from other people as well. Any emotional scenes she did incredible in. Um, and what I'm conflicted about is that a lot of this movie was focused on her. When you had Superman, there were a lot of other side characters that had a lot of screen time and that had a lot of focus on them. For this movie, it was mostly her. Uh, the side character Ruthie wasn't very dynamic, didn't really connect with that character at all. But the main focus was on Kara, and that's why I feel a little conflicted because I do feel like she was incredible throughout, but everything around her just wasn't there. I think the movie should have been moved up a month. I should have I do think it should have came out in May. Um, and it just sucks because I really I really had high hopes for this movie. Um, and I did find a like some parts enjoyable. Um that's why I feel so conflicted about it. Uh and I I do think it's a bad look for the the DC universe moving forward. I think the second movie that they had should have been as well received as Superman. Um and I don't think that having this hiccup is is helping their case at all. And speaking of the visuals of the movie, I feel like the director, Craig Gillespie, took the ugly visuals from Guardians of the Galaxy, every ugly visual, and just placed it into one movie. I think the over design of the villain is just hard to look at. He's not pleasing to the eye. And if you know anything about the comic this is based on, he's very he looks like just like an archer from Earth. Like he's very simply designed. And when I think about space in the DC universe, it doesn't in any other media or comics, it's it's never been too messy. I mean, certain pl every planet's different, but I do think that in like animation or other adaptations of the DC universe, space has always been a little more like clean or streamlined almost. And with the the visuals from Superman and like the set design and the costumes, um, and the Peacemaker show, which is also in this universe, I feel like it's had like this retro vibe to it. And I think if nothing else, the movie could have been very visually appealing and it wasn't. Uh, it it could have had the retro futuristic vibe in space, which is in the comic as well. And the artwork in the Woman of Tomorrow comic that this movie is based on is incredible. It's very unique, it's not super common to see something like this in a comic book or a graphic novel. I think a better representation of the visuals that the comic had were in Project Hail Mary. That movie like mogged Supergirl. Um, the this and even Guardians of the Galaxy, like there are some very like beautiful, colorful, like space aspects to this film uh that just weren't in Supergirl, and it should have been at least as colorful as Superman was. And I guess what I'm a little frustrated with is that James Gunn has said that unlike Marvel, he wasn't going to just green light a movie or a TV show based on a certain character because they are popular or they or they want to have him. I do think that they should focus on certain characters, which they haven't really said much about Batman. They haven't much said much about Wonder Woman or like a Justice League. And if you want to set up a DC universe the way that Marvel has, their universe, you have to have a Justice League. And if you have a Justice League, you have to have a Wonder Woman and a Batman. And I'm just a little frustrated that they haven't said much or moved forward or pressed on those as much as they have. And maybe there is a little merit to green lighting something before it's complete before a script is completely done, at least to a point. Yeah, I I think visually it wasn't there. If anything else, it if nothing else, it could have been a beautiful film and it and it wasn't. Um you have the opportunity to take to make a movie that at least looks good. And my also my my other thing with James Gunn is that while I do think that Supergirl is a character who can have a movie, and when you get into the conversation of so many female-led superhero movies like not doing so well, I I don't think it's as fair. I I don't think for one, there's just not as many. Um and I think Wonder Woman was a huge success for the first Wonder Woman was a huge success for DC. Um I do think that they can succeed. Uh, I think people love these characters in movies. I think people were so excited to see Supergirl moving forward after the the Superman cameo. Um but I it's almost like not as much work goes into making sure that they're good movies. Um I think Craig Gillespie's other work, like I Tanya and Cruella, were pretty well received. I Tanya was incredible, at least to me. So I don't think it has anything to do with whether or not he can make a movie with a female lead. I I don't necessarily think the the the takes that nobody wants to see like a female lead superhero movie is is accurate. I just think it was kind of doomed from the start with its release date, and I just don't think there was a lot of oversight in this movie. Um, I think a lot of people were a little disappointed in James Gunn with how this turned out. I did see that the co the DC Studios like co-CEO Peter Saffron had already made comments about how the movie wasn't as much of a success as they wanted. So hopefully they just learned from this in the future. Because before James Gunn took over, DC, the DC universe was always a mess. It they never had a like a there was never like a DC studios, it was always Warner Brothers, and it was always being bought and sold. So the CEO or whoever was in charge of that division was constantly changing. And they didn't care about, you could tell that they just didn't care about like the lore or like adapting these things correctly, and they had no vision. And I do think that James Gunn does have a vision, and I would hate to see this universe end without seeing what that could be, because I do think he's probably on to something, at least with the projects that he's directing and taking care of. And I do hope to see more Supergirl. I know she's supposed to have like a larger role in that movie, and I kind of feel bad for Millie Alcock. I mean, I think she did incredible, and and I know that you don't always know how a movie's gonna turn out or how a series is gonna turn out when you're filming. Um I I hope to see more of her. I even if the movie had done good, I don't necessarily think Supergirl is a character who needs a sequel. She doesn't have that many famous stories in the comics to adapt. I mean, they could always do like an original story. Um, but with as many changes as they made to this movie from the comic, this was pretty much an original story. Um for the most part, it it it I think it followed like a decent outline of the comic, but there were so many unnecessary changes to the source material. And like this comic is like loved. Like, this is probably one of DC's best graphic novels they put out in probably like 10 years, and it's definitely the most famous supergirl story. And with comics, with modern comics, it's just not something you see. But overall, you just don't really see like modern stories being what somebody wants to make a uh a movie about. She's not necessarily had like a lot of other stories that they could pull from to do a sequel with in the future. I think she works best as a supporting character um in like a Superman film or a Justice League film. I don't necessarily think she ever needed a sequel. Um, and I definitely don't think she's gonna get one now, but I I would hope to see more of her in the future. I think she was incredible. They basically just gender bent Clark Kent. Like she had all his mannerisms, she had the same vibe as Superman. You could tell they just wanted to make a Superman show, but couldn't at the time. But as far as Melissa Benoit's uh Supergirl, I think she was kind of popular. Um, but she she wasn't as like gritty and edgy as she has been in the comics or she should be. Um but I also saw elements in her portrayal in Millie Alcock's portrayal in Supergirl that are that are like a little similar to like the more light-hearted takes uh she had. Like she had her funny moments, um, you know, she had her silly her silly little scenes as well, which was nice because it it kind of creates a through line through all these different portrayals of Supergirl that you see. Um so that was nice. That's all like a little, you know, when the character has been adapted a certain way for so long, it's not necessarily how they're portrayed in comics uh all the time. It was just nice to see like a little through line through all of those. So I do think she had elements of of how we've seen Supergirl adapted before. But overall it was incredible. I think she had like a very layered performance, she had a deep understanding of the character, she just jumped right in, and I just hate to see it because everything else around her was just not there. Um and I hope in the future James Gunn learns from this. Maybe they're a little more picky as far as like visuals go. Um, I did hear that he was very protective of Clark Kent's lines in the movie. And anytime Superman was on screen, everyone in the audience was happy. I could tell. And I did have a pretty reactive audience uh when I saw the movie, which surprised me from what I had heard other people say. So it was a decent experience in the movie, but I don't know. There were just times the movie just drug along, and it just kind of seemed like a little repetitive. The action seemed a little repetitive, I guess. But thank you for joining me today. My name's Colton. This is Colt Classic. Uh, if you're listening on Spotify, please follow my podcast. If you're listening on YouTube or watching, uh subscribe, please like if you can. Um follow me on Instagram, follow me on TikTok. Uh, I make uh content about media, movies, TV, books, entertainment that I'm uh partaking in. Um so thank you for joining.