David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Milly Alcock’

Supergirl

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Milly Alcock, David Corenswet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, Ferdinand Kingsley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, Jason Momoa

Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Cruella and I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie returns to the big screen with an origin story about Superman’s kryptonite cousin Supergirl brilliantly played by Milly Alcock who briefly appeared in last year’s film Superman.

Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl appears at the beginning of the story to be an intergalactic party animal celebrating her birthday in a very debauched fashion with Clark Kent aka Superman checking in on her via video link from Earth. Kara hasn’t come to terms with her Supergirl status, her powers as a superhero or her inherent responsibility to fend off evil.

Evil in this form comes from the villain Krem wonderfully played by Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl, Rust and Bone, Far from the Madding Crowd) who displays his nastiness when he shoots Krypto, Supergirl’s adorable dog with a poison dart after Ruthiye played by Eve Ridley comes to Supergirl for assistance after her family are brutally murdered by Krem.

Krem leads a violent band of misogynistic men who capture young girls all across the galaxy as brides for this evil tribe of maniacs. A storyline which scriptwriter Ana Nogueira lifts straight out of Furoisa: A Mad Max Saga. Supergirl and Ruthiye kick start some serious girl power as they go up against Krem and his band of miscreants. They do have some help from the cigar smoking biker Lobo played by Jason Momoa last seen as Aquaman who seems to relish this role.

Supergirl does appear to possess a script that is all over the show and appears as a pastiche of several film franchises in one: Star Wars, Mad Max and even Dune. There are more aliens in this film than is necessary.

The best scenes in the film are the back story of Kara Zor-El as a young girl on the dying planet of Krypton whereby her parents Zor-El played by David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) and Alura Zor-El played by British actress Emily Beecham (Cruella, Hail, Caesar!) who was so brilliant in the historical series King and Conqueror, put young Supergirl in a capsule and send her to earth with specific instructions that her tall handsome cousin will look after her. Those scenes are beautifully done with clear inspiration from the Dune franchise.

Schoenaerts is brilliant as Krem, all studded in black leather and speaking in a harsh accent with crazy eyes and enough virility to keep the Manosphere going into the next century. The juxtaposition between him as the uber-male villain and Supergirl as the blond and blue eyed saviour of the world is revealing. For a good superhero film to work, you have to have a truly evil villain that feels nothing at killing innocent people, slave trading and darting adorable dogs.

The first half of Supergirl is a bit unsteady although the world building is brilliant and filled with imaginative detail. The second half gets better with Milly Alcock holding her own and showing an inspiring character development as Supergirl embraces her powers and helps Ruthiye rid the galaxy of megalomaniacs like Krem. The end scene is wonderful as Superman appears in his full suit and bonds with his Kryptonite cousin in an apartment in Metropolis.

There will definitely be a Supergirl sequel and I enjoyed this stand alone superhero film.

Supergirl gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and although it lacks an original narrative, the film is entertaining and visually astounding. Recommended viewing for a good popcorn film.  

Superman

Director: James Gunn

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Alan Tudyk, Nicholas Hoult, Bradley Cooper, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Rooker, Wendell Pierce, Nathan Fillion, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Frank Grillo, Skyler Gisondo, Edi Gathegi, William Reeve, Milly Alcock

Running Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

If it wasn’t for clever casting of the two main leads for Superman this film would have collapsed. In actual fact at some point the narrative caved in on itself in a horrific pastiche of social media, aliens, technology and monkeys on keyboards that for a moment I thought I wasn’t watching a superhero film.

Director James Gunn went from Guardians of the Galaxy to bringing his bizarre off beat style to Superman which in some parts of this film were just terrible and in other scenes just like a CGI car crash overtaken by malevolent artificial intelligence.

Fortunately James Gunn had two superb lead actors to take on the iconic role of Superman and Lois Lane in the form of the highly talented duo David Corenswet (Twisters) and Rachel Brosnhan (The Amateur). The towering and smouldering David Corenswet was brilliant as Superman and his journalist alter ego Clark Kent as he tries to save Metropolis from the evil grip of the megalomaniac and lethal Lex Luthor this time underplayed by Nicholas Hoult whose villain was just not villainous enough. In the scenes between Superman and Lex Luthor, it just comes off as two grown men fighting over a dog.

That’s the other good thing about the film which kids will absolutely adore. Krypto the dog steals the show as Superman’s canine companion. Who doesn’t love a hunk in a cape with a misbehaving dog?

Superman as a storyline was all over the charts, with strange allegorical conflicts happening elsewhere along with additional superheroes arriving as a back up army to assist the Man of Steel. The action at some point just reveal a vortex of chaos, saved only by some really beautiful scenes between Lois and Superman.

The onscreen chemistry between David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan is exact and endearing however the rest of the storyline is a chaotic mess. If they do a sequel to this film, please employ a decent scriptwriter.

The backstory of Superman as Clark Kent growing up in rural Kansas is only briefly touched upon in one sparkling pastoral scene between Clark and his adopted father Pa Kent played by Pruitt Taylor Vince (Constantine, Monster).  

Nicholas Hoult who was so brilliant in such art house films as Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar winning The Favourite is slightly lacklustre as a frustrated tech billionaire who will stop at nothing to destroy Metropolis and take over the world. Hoult must have got his villain inspiration from a younger version of Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill, except that Walken made audiences believe he was a psychopath. It’s all in the eyes.

Superman is going to make lots of money at the box office and while it is not a bad film, it is not brilliant either and with expectations so high, unfortunately the chaotic scenes outweigh the shining moments.

See Superman for David Corenswet and his dog. The cinema experience rests shakily on a shambolic screenplay which will appeal to some but not many. Audiences should look out for former Superman star Christopher Reeve’s son William Reeve as a TV reporter.

Superman gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and has its moments and it’s definitely not as good as Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. The best part about this cloaked drama is the ending.