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Despite a fairly strong start, “Supergirl” stalls out midway through and is ultimately only saved by an engaging performance by Milly Alcock in the title role. I have not read the comic that this film is based on, but it does seem to follow the basic concept. As in that series and from this film’s trailers, Supergirl reluctantly teams up with Ruthye to track down the big bad that wronged them both. While Eve Ridley is fine in the costar role, we spend too little time with her character at the start of the film, and we never really get to know her outside of her motivation for revenge. The villain, Krem, is relativity one-note and his abilities are so vaguely defined it’s hard to know how much of an actual threat he’s supposed to be. Most surprisingly, despite being a role he was born to play, Jason Momoa’s Lobo doesn’t make much of an impression. He’s supposed to be one of DC’s most iconic and badass characters, but here he talks the talk but doesn’t really back it up convincingly. Thankfully, Alcock’s as Supergirl is perfect for this version of the character and she runs through a wide range of emotions throughout the film. On the negative side, the pacing is bad and drags so much in the middle that it derails a decent third act. Also, the lead characters have no real chemistry, the effects are okay but often use heavy CG, and the needle-drops are straight from the B-side of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” except here they rarely compliment what’s happening on screen.
**1/2 out of *****