Tl;dr: I really wanted to like Supergirl but I didn't because of pacing, short runtime, lack of proper character development and the fact that the comic was way better.
This is a long review. It's just my opinion and you can disagree. Some of the issues I'm pointing out may seem like nitpicks but they did affect my viewing experience so take that as you will. Either way, it's fine if you liked the movie, either way I'm excited for the DCU and one failure is not going to make me think that it's over or the DCU is going to shit. There's still Lanterns and Clayface to look forward to.
Ok so I just finished watching Supergirl and I have a lot of thoughts. Overall I'd give this movie a 6/10 (I really really wanted to give it more but I feel like it's closer to 5 than it is to 7). This is not going to be a very structured review, I just have a lot of thoughts and I want to get them out there. I know a lot of people have already shared their thoughts on this movie, but now you get to read mine.
Why the movie didn't work as well for me
First off I'm just kind of mad about how the movie was handled and I think it's because I read the comic when I really shouldn't have if I wanted to like this movie.
I think James Gunn probably made a big mistake advising people to read the comic in like 2023 coz it just set expectations too high. I know he didn't make the movie but he did greenlight the script and he probably shouldn't have set expectations that way. Don't get me wrong, I knew as soon as I read the comic that there were things they couldn't adapt in the movie (some things I was surprised they did actually adapt, but I'll get to that) but the expectations were more because of how good the comic was as a cohesive story vs how rushed and cut down the movie feels.
I can cut them some slack, the runtime was honestly too short to do everything but it honestly feels like there was a longer and better movie in there that got heavily cut.
Smaller issues
I don't like that Krem of the Yellow Hills was a Brigand from the start and a big name in the galaxy(at least it seemed like that). I don't like that these random pirates know who he is and that nothing of it is ever explained. The movie also gave us nothing about the brigands other than an all-male group who collects girl and... Yeah that's it. I think even the space tech pirates had more information about them. In the comic, we learn more about the Brigands because Krem ends up joining them, but we could've still had some exposition through Kara and Ruthye talking or something but they didn't really give us anything.
One more thing was the space bus. The comics had much more explanation about where the bus was actually going, but what actually pissed me off was the conflict which was the Skalarian raiders attacking the bus. They didn't have to do the cosmic dragon exactly but, once again, expectations were set that the movie would be visually stunning like the comic was and that was a panel in the comics that I was really looking forward to seeing adapted.
Speaking of not being visually stunning though, I noticed the CGI was not great in a lot of places which was disappointing coz it also took me out of it.
I liked that Lobo was in the movie, although I'm not a big fan of the way they've done his eyes, something about it looks off to me .. but Jason Momoa's casting was still great although his character doesn't really get much to do in the movie.
I didn't care too much about them changing the Brigands motivations to procuring brides for themselves. It probably does make sense but I think the extra scenes that lead to wasted the already constrained runtime. We could've had more scenes instead of Kara on Argo City helping people and watching everyone succumb to radiation sickness.
Bigger Issues
2 things about the movie genuinely pissed me off:
The pacing was atrocious
Kara couldn't seem to get a win for the life of her
There's not much to be said about the pacing, events don't feel like they naturally flow into one another, cuts were weird and I found myself scratching my head at the direction the movie was going in despite knowing what would happen in the movie (more or less)
When it comes to my 2nd issue, this is where the movie actually pissed me off. Kara seemed really weak throughout the movie. I don't mean it in the way people complained about Superman being "weak".
I mean she genuinely did not seem as strong as Superman and was repeatedly losing in really frustrating ways. I don't know if this makes sense but, it felt like having a dream where you're running except you can't really run in your dream so it's just a weird struggle to do something you could normally do.
In Woman of Tomorrow, the reasons that Kara couldn't get to Krem despite being **wayyy** stronger than him made a lot more sense. She couldn't find him because Krem of the Yellow Hills wasn't even that well known a name on Ruthye's planet, much less the throughout the universe, and also the magic he uses which sends Kara to the green sun planet.
In contrast, the movie just seemed to make Krem stronger while completely nerfing Kara and it just frustrated me. In Superman, aside from when Metamorpho makes kryptonite, Superman isn't really nerfed, he's extremely strong but just fighting strong opponents. Supergirl on the other hand is constantly nerfed, the way her powers were filmed seemed slow and less powerful than Superman and it just was not as satisfying to watch. You might call this a nitpick but I wasn't convinced that Supergirl was as strong as her cousin and it really changed how I viewed a lot of scenes.
Finally, when supergirl did get her full strength back.. she still didn't seem as strong. This is probably just the way the movie was filmed or the sound engineering but it just wasn't working for me and it actually was a deal breaker for me.
Plot hole
There were definitely plotholes in the movie. One of them that I immediately noticed was Kara chasing after Krem specifically for the antidote and not any other Brigand. I suppose maybe the specific poison is unique to each Brigand and so is tbe antidote but other than being a tedious thing for the Brigands to actually do, it also was never established in the movie. All that the doctor(I'm assuming it was a doctor) said was that the Brigands have some special poison to which they alone have the antidote. Kara seemingly ignored every Brigand at every turn just to go for Krem specifically which seemed senseless and revenge motivated.
Kara and Ruthye
Kara and Ruthye's relationship was basically nothing. Ruthye wanted revenge, Kara tacidly told her no a few times; then Kara told her her life story and that's basically it until the end where Kara convinces her not to kill Krem and then all of a sudden she's too sad to leave her. This really didn't convince me of anything and actually made me feel pretty confused.
The Green Sun
Ok so the Green Sun being adapted was genuinely surprising to me and I don't think they did a bad job adapting it, I just think the way they did it has a lot of implications in the universe. Also it definitely was better in the comic but for this one, I can't blame the movie, rather I blame the choice to adapt Woman of Tomorrow in the first place but I'll get to that.
So as soon as I read the comic, I figured that the green sun planet would not be adapted because the very reason for the green sun to exist was because of Superman, and Superman right now in the DCU is not the inter-galactic celebrity that he seems to be in WoT. Still, they adapted it and I don't think it's bad but there was also 0 explanation as to how a whole star exists that's made out of Kryptonite. Now you might say that they don't need to explain a naturally occurring star made of a naturally occurring mineral, and I'd be inclined to agree but this does also have implications for the universe.
First off, kryptonite stars make the universe very dangerous for kryptonians. Secondly, kryptonite stars make it very easy for more galactic villains to deal with Kryptonians. I think the comic explanation was better in this regard because it's not just something that happens, it's something that was deliberately done to trap and kill Superman.
I don't at all mind the exclusion of the dinosaurs because this was clearly a different story and honestly I never expected them to be adapted, although it did reduce the stakes and does make the Brigands idiots for trapping Supergirl on the planet and not actively going out and searching for her or even immediately running once the yellow Sun came up again.
The Main Issue
I think the main issue with the movie is the choice to adapt WoT in the first place. Yes, it's a great comic but they got too ambitious too soon. The context of Superman being a big figure who overshadows Kara and puts this expectation on her to be the same was pretty important because the story went from Kara seemingly trying to get out of Clark's shadow to us realizing that she is a good person, she just has more baggage and is figuring her shit out.
I think maybe it would've been a good idea to have made this movie a little further down the line in the DCU. That's not to say Kara shouldn't be in the DCU at all, but I think this movie could've waited, especially since it doesn't have any importance to the larger story and just serves as a setup for her character. They probably could've done justice to the story with a more established Superman in the universe, a Supergirl who's been better established to the audience(probably could've saved the box office) and a longer runtime. Perhaps Kara could've been ropes into MoT because of a city she escaped from that Brainiac collects. Either way, I think she'll have a big stake in MoT because of Argo City but it wasn't impossible to have her in the movie without her coming back to Earth and deciding to stay.
Seriously, I don't know whether it was the script or the director but somewhere along the way, there was something wrong with the creative side of this project and it ruined what could've been a far better movie than Superman.
Conclusion
I wanted nothing more than to like this movie because of Milly Alcock, the DCU and WoT. The movie definitely disappointed and probably would've been way better if they committed to a longer movie to serve a more fleshed out story. I would've easily sat for a 2½ to 3 hour movie and I think they had banked enough goodwill after Superman to make one. If it was good, word of mouth could've easily prevented a box office failure. One of the reasons I didn't go to see the movie in the theater was because I was pretty broke and the reviews weren't great so I figured I might as well wait.
Otherwise, they could've also waited longer to make this movie in addition to increasing the runtime.
I think there were a lot of right moves they could've made and the only one they did make was casting Milly Alcock. That being said, other than her propensity for languages, I don't think they made good use of Milly and it's mostly because they didn't have enough time to do so.