Supergirl (2026) Movie Review

Supergirl is a 2026 superhero sci-fi movie directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira. It's based on the DC comic book Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and stars Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, and Jason Momoa as Lobo. It's the second film in the second attempt by DC at creating an extended universe, this time held by James Gunn, who is also a producer for the film.

Kara Zor-El is a dead beat kryptonian, she celebrates her birthday by getting drunk on a planet with a red sun and has very little going on in her life. A teen named Ruthye enters the bar she is in, the young girl is looking for revenge as her parents were murdered by a group of evil ravagers led by a man named Krem. Supergirl takes the girl under her mantle and helps her defeat the attackers when Krem injects her dog, Krypto, with a poisonous dart.

Without anything particularly new to offer, this latest Supergirl movie seems to be an amalgamation of the typical pop culture hodgepodge with their borrowed arcs, stereotypes and ways of creating stories based on recurring themes like redemption, vengeance and learning how to overcome your trauma that you usually see in these movies. The result is a derivative version of the template already established by most of the comedic comic book movies that were released around the 2010's and 2020's. The script itself is cobbled together from scenes from other movies put in the right place for maximum impact or at least to fit accordingly. The scene that introduces the villain, from example, has echoes from both The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Inglourious Basterds (2009) but without any of the suspense due to the lack of time and skill to create tension, instead opting for the most hurried tricks to gain a cheap sense of intensity.

The villain himself seems to be a tired attempt at making a Mad Max goon mixed with a dull MCU bad guy that's meant to be disposable. His actions are horrid but never in any effective way and his puny personality can't even be glimpsed when the actor tries to give him some sort of quirk or attitude. The world this film creates fares better as the variety of exotic creatures and factions is slightly interesting. And finally, Lobo is fun when he is on the screen but he seems superfluous. As some have mentioned the needle drops are gratuitous and empty, no energy or any sense of relevance to the scene but it only happens once or twice, so it's not any worse or any better than any other blockbuster with music of this kind. I also have trouble with how modern movies use lighting, a lot of scenes are dark and devoid of strong colors in favor of a murky CGI lighting and post-production modification that makes everything look fake.

Getting the negative out of the way I can now move onto the best parts of the movie, the main shining light being Milly Alcock as Supergirl, who delivers a wonderful performance. Always believable and managing to deliver the otherwise routine lines of dialogue with conviction and honest emotion. The character herself is interesting because it shows us another facet of the Superman lore with her personal ties to Kryptonian culture and life in some very solid flashbacks. Kara's disheveled and drunken state is a refreshing sight when it comes to superheroines in media and opens up a new path female heroes can go to as they no longer have to be the sexy badasses or the idealized superwomen that are spotless, this interpretation of Kara is both funny and engaging with enough flaws to make her feel relatable to the average audience member but who knows how to do the right thing. Some people don't like how this wasn't faithful to the comic but one can easily set the two apart and enjoy this movie for what it is.

I gotta say, I wish the movie had more to say other than "revenge is bad" because it kind of feels flimsy and undecided when it comes to its message. A message that never gains any weight and feels like an afterthought, only somewhat aided by the emotional connection Kara has with Ruthye, which could have been deeper and more concrete as far as I am concerned but that still existed in a technically functioning manner nonetheless. 

I can recommend the movie for superhero film fans because it is a good step forward considering my lack of excitement over Gunn's Superman but I have some reservations. The storytelling is flawed and the lesser moments do stick out, however, the core of the film works quite nicely and is above the average MCU or DCEU experience, even if by a limited margin. 

Gall Force: The Revolution (1996-1997) Anime OVA Series Review

Gall Force: The Revolution was an anime OVA series released from 1996 to 1997 and directed by Yukihiro Matsushita (Star Ocean EX, Hunter x Hunter, Rave Master) with a screenplay by franchise creator Hideki Kakinuma. The cast includes Kotono Mitsuishi, Kikuko Inoue, Ai Orikasa, Michiko Neya, Urara Takano, Chisa Yokoyama, Kyôko Hikami, Tomo Sakurai, Fumie Kusachi and Chiharu Taira. It 's the eighth and final installment in the Gall Force media franchise, lacking the usual direction by Katsuhito Akiyama.

In this version we don't find any Paranoids, instead we see a galactic civil war between West and East forces of the all-female Solnoids. An anti-matter gun is believed to be what will end this war once and for all with total destruction of both sides. The Starleaf (Rabby, Patty, Rumy and Eluza), along with enemy pilot Lufy, this time encounters an organization trying to go back to the way life used to flourish, because of this they have created children as well, attempting to save their race and leave war behind.

Remember when I said that New Era could be enjoyed by people who had problems with the first Gall Force movie since it was a new version of the story? I think that applies more towards this OVA series because it is quite literally a remake of Eternal Story, touching upon very similar plot beats and points (not only are the characters and the setting pretty much the same but we also have the monster on the ship and the garden of eden location with human children), however, is more akin to the sensibilities of a late nineties science fiction series instead of an eighties feature film. This means that the interactions weigh in a little bit more on the story and the focus is on the plot rather than on the visual treatment and expression, which creates slightly more rounded characters to a degree.

My way of thinking when it comes to remakes and reboots is simple: make changes that are worthwhile but keep the essence intact. This one takes some components that had some relevance and importance in the original plot but expands upon them with more elements and adds more things on top of what we knew already to give it a new spin, such as the internal conflicts between the Solnoids, which have far more impact and change the course of the narrative to a new area, with more memorable villains as well.

The animation is nothing really astounding but it's competent enough to never really feel cheap or defective. There's a variety of action, with shootouts, laser-sword encounters and spaceship battles. None of it looks bad and the direction and the storyboarding reach the level of satisfying. With the limitations that an average OVA product can have, the team did a good job.

While a somewhat more standard sci-fi adventure with space cruisers and space ship combat, the last entry in the Gall Force series still takes advantage of the same premise to come up with some fun scenarios and enjoyable cackling villains. This is also the first and only Gall Force piece of media to explicitly touch upon lesbianism, which is odd considering the concept. 

A recommended mini-series for any Gall Force completist and even for those who had some issues with the other shows and movies.

Gall Force 2: Destruction (1987) Anime OVA Review

Gall Force 2: Destruction is a 1987 science fiction OVA directed by Katsuhito Akiyama and written by Hideki Kakinuma, featuring the voices of Hiromi Tsuru, Naoko Watanabe, Yûko Mizutani, Waka Kanda and Chieko Honda. It’s a sequel to Gall Force Eternal Story (1986) and the second in the Gall Force original trilogy, made by a lot of the same creative team.

The seemingly eternal war between the Paranoids and the Solnoids it's still strong ten years after the Star Leaf incident. Fierce pilot Lufy is found and revived, long after being left floating in deep space during the last film. She is picked up by a Solnoid cruiser and after her recovery remembers very little outside of recognizing Catty, or at least someone who resembles her. She is then informed that the home planet for both factions at war has been destroyed and that they now plan to go to the 9th system and put an end to their conflict.

This time taking one of the more unique and stand out characters from the first movie, Lufy, this OVA follows her trying to cope with the events that took place in Eternal Story, with human life developing in Terra while Lufy and her new allies try to battle the Paranoids on their way to the planet where the unification of their species took place as the war practically destroys everything it touches. A lot of the epicness and fluid starship encounters are still awesome and breathtaking but you can tell this one went direct to video just by noticing the length of the film.

Once again, the collectivist attitude permeates the whole movie. Simply trading the colorful main group from the original with some similar-but-not-really new girls who, while not being badly designed, are not as particularly striking and visually arresting as the first crew. Most of them are not as remarkable and the color coding does very little compared to the rainbow rule that gave the original crew their iconic look. Another issue is that because the length of the OVA's from here on becomes so short you don't really have time to warm up to many of them and we end up with stories that end just before the conflict could get any more juicy and reach a greater climax. It's not like what we have seen seems bad, but it simply can't leave some space to develop even further, which I guess it's a compliment to want more of something.

The action is again quite wonderful and inventive. We don't get as much variety due to the short duration of the OVA but the spacecraft battles with so many laser beams, missiles and explosions to dazzle you are more than enough to entertain. Makes sense that this type of combat would be the primary focus since Lufy is known for being an expert pilot and now that we follow her she can show off her talent in extended space action sequences.

Very recommended if you enjoyed the first one, even people who disliked that they got rid of Lufy in the first movie might like this sequel.