BAD WRITING = BAD MOVIE
I should have walked out on this movie, but I didn’t. I stayed because I wanted to review this movie, and of course, you can’t review a flick you didn’t see – right?
To sum it up, the script sucked. Ana Nogueira, the screenwriter who was hired to write Supergirl, was a greenhorn. She never wrote a feature-length 120-page script before, never sat in a writer’s room, didn’t spend time as a script doctor, or a rewriter. Ana was just an actor who wrote a few stage plays, a script for an 11-minute short, and then was handed the keys to Supergirl. Honestly, what the hell was James Gunn thinking? There are no other credited writers on this screenplay so it looks as though James Gunn decided to just hand the keys to her. Usually, you’ll want a few experts to make sure a working screenplay is at least polished to Hollywood standards, but nope. None of those standards are being met.
James Gunn told fans that Supergirl was going to be heavily based on the DC Comics limited series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Fans were really excited. All Ana Nogueira had to do was take that critically acclaimed comic series and adapt it for the screen. She could have talked to fans, asked them what their favorite scenes and lines were. Asked fans what they loved about Supergirl. You know, do a little – fan service? You know, do what’s right? Then adapt that comic book for the screen, which really isn’t that hard to do.
But no. Ana took the series and turned it on its head to forward her girl power agenda.
In the original series, Kara travels to a planet with a red sun for her 21st birthday so she can experience getting drunk on her birthday. It’s a one-time drinking experience, not a lifestyle. Ana made movie Supergirl a drunk. In the book, Comic Supergirl was feeling depressed living in Superman’s shadow, and she just wanted to escape those feelings for one night. Comic Krypto did get hurt by Krem, but Krypto was treated and recovering. Supergirl lied to Ruthye about Krypto’s health to just keep Ruthye on track beacuse she wanted to teach her to choose justice over vengeance. At the end of the comic series, Krem is imprisoned, lives, changes his life, is imprisoned for centuries, and eventually Ruthye forgives him.
Ana turned that beautiful narrative created by Tom King – into a woke narrative, and Krem became an example of toxic masculinity on steroids. And of course, Ana had to kill Krem because he represented all that was wrong in her personal world.
SIGH
Why…just why.
Why did James Gunn greenlight this script?
The acting in this movie was good. Directing, well, it was good as it could get, given the screenplay sucked. Even though James Gunn didn’t direct it, I couldn’t help but see his influence in here. The stupid mis-timed jokes and the comical music video fight scenes.
The DCU is dead. I want a continuation of Snyder’s Justice League, please.
GRADE: F
Steve Young
