Supergirl soars into the DCU, but does Brookings need to care three months later?

By the time the State Fair wraps up and the first real cold front rolls through Brookings, the summer blockbuster conversation has usually moved on to pumpkin patches and football. But “Supergirl,” which opened back in June, is exactly the kind of movie that has a second life once the leaves turn: it's the title that shows up on streaming services and digital rental menus right about now, long after the opening-weekend noise has died down, and it's worth a second look for anyone who skipped it the first time around or is just now catching up on where James Gunn's rebuilt DC Universe is headed. For South Dakota moviegoers, this is also the kind of film that belongs at a place like Brookings Cinema 8, the sort of mid-size multiplex built for exactly this genre of popcorn-and-cape entertainment, even if nobody can promise it's still on a marquee anywhere this particular week.

The real story here isn't Kara Zor-El's road trip through the galaxy. It's the bet James Gunn and Peter Safran are making with the entire new DC Universe. “Supergirl” is only the second film built inside their rebooted continuity, following last year's “Superman,” and the pressure on it to prove the DCU isn't a one-hit fluke is real. What makes it an interesting swing is the choice of Craig Gillespie as director. This is the guy who made “I, Tonya” and “Cruella,” films built on prickly, off-kilter women who don't apologize for themselves. Pairing that sensibility with a comic book tentpole, and handing the script to Ana Nogueira, is a deliberate attempt to make a Supergirl movie that doesn't feel like a Superman movie with a skirt. Whether that gamble pays off is really what this review is about.

As for what actually happens: Kara leaves Earth to track down the person responsible for hurting her dog, Krypto. It's a deceptively small, almost revenge-thriller premise dropped into a story that otherwise has the scale of a galaxy-hopping space opera, with Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham filling out the orbit, plus cameo-sized appearances from David Corenswet and Jason Momoa that signal just how connected this universe intends to be. That's the setup, and that's as far as this review will go on plot, since the fun of a film like this is watching the specifics unfold rather than reading them secondhand.

Here's where I land, honestly. The only hard number available for this one is IMDb's 6.1 out of 10, which is about as “shrug” as a score gets. That's not a disaster rating. It's a “decent, not essential” rating, and having sat with the film, I think that number is basically fair. Milly Alcock is genuinely good in the lead, with a looser, more sardonic energy than Superman movies usually allow, and that Krypto-revenge hook gives the film a sharper emotional spine than most DC origin stories bother with. But the galaxy-trotting structure gets baggy in the middle, there are stretches where the movie seems more interested in planting flags for future DCU installments than finishing its own story, and some of the supporting cast, despite the talent involved, feel underused. It's a film with a strong central performance wrapped around a script that hasn't quite figured out its own pacing.

If you're the kind of Brookings viewer who already loves this genre, I'd call it worth your time, flaws and all, especially for Alcock's performance. If you're lukewarm on superhero movies in general, this one probably won't convert you. Either way, it's the exact type of film Brookings Cinema 8 exists for, and with $5 Tuesdays there, it's a low-risk way to decide for yourself where you land.

Facts verified as of October 1, 2026.