It had been many years since I had seen the Helen Slater Supergirl movie.
Probably too many years.
At some point in the recent past, a blu-ray edition was released and as an early Christmas gift I bought it for myself. This is a pretty slick package with a blu-ray of the 'International Cut' with a 'Making of' documentary. It also had a DVD with the Director's Cut. (So many versions! What is this? Blade Runner?)
Now I remembered seeing this movie and not being overwhelmingly impressed. And I know that it has faced some wrath from people for the campiness and nonsensical plot. So I went in with almost no expectations.
You know what.
It isn't *that* bad.
I don't think I have it in me to give this a blow by blow synopsis/review. Instead, I think I'll hit on some of the high points, comment on some of the low points, and shine a light on some of the crazy things that I liked.
So expect this to be a sort of glossing over of the movie.
And expect a lot of compliments to be heading Helen Slater's way.
Okay, let's start off with Slater.
She's wonderful.
Supergirl is a difficult mix of character. There is supposed to be this innocence about her. She is new to Earth but from an advanced planet, so she is both naive and incredibly smart. She is learning about her abilities but incredibly powerful. She is optimistic and sees the best in people but will fight against injustice with tenacity. That is pretty hard to pull off.
Somehow Slater does.
Perhaps the biggest thing about her is this complete aura of grace. Whether it is in Argo City, or as buttoned up Linda Lee, or as Supergirl, she is angelic.
Despite that, she pulls off the action and stunt sequences very well. She flies as good if not better than Christopher Reeve. She shows the super-athleticism when she needs to get someplace and throw down. But she also has an almost balletic manner when she is just having fun.
Despite all of that innocence (even with nonsense like falling immediately in love with Ethan the hunk gardener, or kissing herself in the mirror to practice), she can show us that Kara Zor-El fierceness when she needs to.
Whether it is the iconic 'I am Kara Zor-El and I don't scare easily!' or 'You've had your fun Selena. The game is finished!' she is tremendous in her dedication to fighting evil.
She really shines.
Superman:The Movie had Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman.
Supergirl has Peter O'Toole, Faye Dunaway, and Mia Farrow.
Now I freely admit that those legends are all either trying to get a quick paycheck (Farrow) or chewing the scenery (Dunaway in particular and O'Toole a bit).
Somehow, despite that mega-wattage, Slater still shows up in her scenes with these actors. In particular, when thrust into the Phantom Zone, she stands up to O'Toole's Zaltar, chiding him into action.
Her speech to him, angrily saying that his inaction endangers people is pretty eye-opening for such a young professional.
Okay, so Slater shines the entire movie. Like dazzles.
It is the stuff that happens around her, some call it 'the plot', that let's her down.
All that said, the movie has a fair amount of DC and Supergirl/Superman specific stuff.
Argo City survived in 'Inner Space' ... maybe some version of the Survival Zone? We meet Zor-El and Alura.
Kara becomes Linda Lee, student at Midvale High.
She meets Lucy Lane and Jimmy Olsen.
She gets tossed into the Donner Phantom Zone (in a way).
And there a fun things like her using her powers to protect Lucy from a (field hockey) shot, sort of like Clark saving Lois. She does quick changes into and out of her costume, whether running behind trees or flying through construction pipes.
Still, this is a movie based on an all powerful energy source being foolishly lost and then turned into the engine for witchcraft. The main plot is about a nearly omnipotent sorceress wasting her time on trying to seduce a lawn boy. She even slips him a mickey in a malty liquor.
I can't believe that Ethan is played by the slick, superficial Ellis from Die Hard. In my head canon, same guy. Ethan went to school, changed his name, and became a 'villain'.
One of the things Supergirl has to fight is a possessed front loader. Is that a nod to Killdozer?
I don't think I can talk more about the Selena/Nigel plot. It is pretty nutty. Kudos to Mart Gray for pointing out how much Dunaway's look is quite similar to that of 70s Supergirl character Morgana, a sorceress herself!
There is other strange stuff tossed in. There is a shower scene. There is a drunk dorm matron. Matt (Max Headroom) Frewer plays a creepy, rapey truck driver. There is the word dingleberry. These all seemed weird for a family movie. Yeesh!
And how about this? Lucy Lane is seen reading a comic book.
Okay, I didn't mean to make curse the nonsense.
Really I want to light a candle. If you are a Supergirl fan, you need to see this. Trust me, you will be amazed at Helen Slater's performance. She is tremendous.
14 comments:
Thanks so much for spurring me on to see this film, I don't know why I missed it when it came out; in the years since, I avoided it because I didn't want to watch a Supergirl film that was bad.
And you know what? I really enjoyed it? Luthor and Otis were a lot worse as villains, I thought Dunaway and Cook controlled the camp better, and Vaccaro and O'Toole, in his love Kryptonian knitwear, were great. The Jerry Goldsmith theme was wonderful. The story was daft fun, but enjoyable. And while the Argo City Kara was a bit of a drip, as the film went on, she became Supergirl - it really is a fine performance from Helen Slater.
It also has very decent effects, with the only rubbish one being when Kara turned into a tiny cartoon to spin around Selena at the end. Random thoughts.
Top line: ‘Er Lucy, it’s not a good time to express yourself’ from the underused Jimmy Olsen.
The Phantom Zone here reminded me a bit of the witches’ forest from last year’s Supergirl, but moreso of Gerber and Colan’s version of the Zone.
The cages Jimmy and co were trapped in were a nice callback to Silver Age Superman, when Brainiac and Luthor trapper Superman... sounds like the excellent Nigel has read those comics, given his comment about cages.
We got a Red Tornado!
I want Prince Ethan’s velvet suit!
So they dyed Slater’s natural hair blonde and made her wear a brown wig! I know see what Carmine Infantino was going for in Daring New Adventures of Supergirl.
At last! Your movie review!
I watched "Supergirl" for the first -and as far as I can recall, only- time back in the 80's. Back then I was a little kid obsessed with Superman's movies, so when I found a "Supergirl" tape in a rental shop I said myself I had to watch it. Why? Because I was intrigued. "Supergirl? It must be Superman-related. I HAVE to see it."
How naive and ignorant of me. Nobody had informed me at that time that a REAL Superman's fan PROPER reaction MUST be: "Supergirl? That crappy, redundant, glory-stealing rip-off can go to H***l!"
Sarcasm aside, I barely remember the plot, other than that scene where two stereotypical dumb, horny truckers try to harass Supergirl, even though she has warned them that she is Superman's cousin... Ironically, Supergirl being Superman's cousin stuck with me even though the rest of the movie faded from my memory, so Kara was always the "real" Supergirl to me. Thus, when I first found Matrix my reaction was "Who is that? Supergirl is supposed to be Superman's cousin!"
But although I've forgotten the story, I remember I really liked Helen Slater's performance. She was innocent and childlike and clumsy and fierce and determined and powerful. I loved her. And her costume is perfect!
A pity she and her character were stuck in a bad movie. Still, SG's detractors don't like remembering that Superman III wasn't a success, either, and Superman IV flopped nearly so bad like Supergirl. Nonetheless, when several Superman movies flop they blame the movie, but when a SG movie flops they blame the character who is bad and unprofitable and must be eliminated so Superman can be popular again.
I'm sorry for the off-topic, but... Anj, have you heard about "DC Super Hero Girls: Super Shorts"? It's another youtube web series which will introduce the new version of DCSHG in anticipation of the new cartoon. It premieres with "Super Sleeper" -a short featuring Supergirl and Batgirl- on January 17th... Tomorrow!
Here's the short's preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwUd8didLUs
Ready for another Supergirl to scrutinize and geek over?
I last watched the Limited Edition DVD years ago, bought this Blu-Ray and also watched it just 2 weeks ago.
Also, I played it again with the Director's Commentary track. Well -- this tells you a lot about what he thought worked, what didn't work, and how much effort was put into various sequences (like the very difficult bulldozer sequence). And you get to decide what you think of the director when considering things he singles out for praise that you might not think particularly merits it.
While he tries to put a slightly positive "spin" on it, they had difficulties with the Phantom Zone vortex effect - yeah, no kidding.
He does point out times when Helen is doing stunts (vs. a stunt double or even a scaled model). She worked out to get in great shape and did a lot of her own stuntwork.
Much is left unexplained in the movie because they simply never had any explanations, and don't care. Seems like they needed to scramble when Christopher Reeve pulled out of the film, and didn't have time to do more than triage the script.
Anyway, I was also going to watch the (low-def) Director's Cut if it had its own commentary track, but it doesn't, so instead I did some sleuthing and found a web site that lists the ways in which the International Cut differs from the Director's Cut:
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1539
I have no idea what the site has to do with the "censorship"in the domain name - this is just a page of time codes, sequence lengths, and some text describing what was different (scene length, filters, cropping).
I don't know if the longer cut would play better or worse, and it's an unfair comparison when one version is remastered in HD, but in a few cases I think some useful content was cut. It's an interesting list - and a lot faster than trying to catch all of these yourself. You can pick and choose what scenes might be worth revisiting.
So apparently Inner Space is located under some lake. And apparently Kara needed the craft to escape safely from Argo to get to Earth, a craft conveniently stocked with a costume that would fit any person of any size and shape; but then she can fly all the way back under her own steam. That's Argo she's approaching off in the distance in the final scene, not her craft. I guess her parents are going to wonder where her clothes are. (Sigh! I swore to myself I wasn't going to start shredding the logic of this movie. Its charm cannot be found in logic.)
I used to fault Dunaway's performance, but upon this viewing my thought was that she did the over-the-top performance the script actually called for. And she does have great comic chemistry with Brenda Vaccaro.
Simon Ward and Mia Farrow were not impressive as Zor-El and Alura, and Hart Bochner was a poor choice as the love interest. I think as with Dunaway, Peter Cook did what he could with his character's material.
T.N.
I love this movie with all my heart and soul. Is it objectively a good film? No. Do I care, even a little? Also no. I get to spend two hours with Slater's Kara, so all is bliss.
Oh - all that being said, I do like the movie. Probably most of all for the graceful wire work - the "ballet" when Supergirl first arrives is for me the high point of the film.
T.N.
I've always maintained that the "Slater-Supergirl" was basically a wonderful audition for a TV series, Helen's particular mix of brain, looks,grit and charm would've worn very well on the small screen. One wishes the Salkinds had pursued this route with Supergirl, we'd have gotten more of Helen Slater at the very least, and who knows maybe DC would've reconsidered the COIE Death List. That the movie's script is otherwise meshugginah isn't her fault, she was pushing back against the howling furies of destiny itself, only at the box office did she fall short. Chris Reeve had no more luck with Superman III & IV...
JF
I missed this when it first came out. The godawful Superman III put me off Superman family movies after seeing Richard Pryor's talent and Annette O'Toole's great work as Lana Lang wasted. This film was so dismal that Robert Vaughn-who had one of the best sneers in film history-couldn't make the villain interesting. Fortunately, inspired by talk of Supergirl on this blog, I ordered the last reasonably priced dvd of the international cut from Amazon and watched it. Helen Slater is a much better actress today, but she understood the character. It isn't the most three dimensional performance I've ever seen, but she nails Supergirl's goodness and determination. She deserved a better script. So did Faye Dunaway who hams it up in the best possible way. Her performance is colorful and fun. Peter O'Toole deserves credit for bringing color and a hint of nuance, not to mention sheer star presence, to a standard eccentric scientist part. He wasn't nominated for eight Oscars-and should have won for My Favorite Year-for nothing.
Somewhere in a perfect universe Robert Vaughn played Brainiac and his attempt to "bottle up" Metropolis lead to a super beatdown from the "Super Cousins United"...with Richard Pryor as the embattled Mayor of the imprisoned city, Fay Dunaway as Brainiac's "new toy" MetallA....in my imagination, I can always fix these things nicely.
:)
JF
Anj...a comment...Supergirl the movie with Helen Slater's high point was the aerial ballet by Helen.
And a question...if this film was not made would there have been Supergirl the TV Show?
"I've always maintained that the 'Slater-Supergirl' was basically a wonderful audition for a TV series..."
The syndicated Superboy series ran for a successful 100 episodes from 1988 to 1992. With the right kind of promotion, there's no reason a Salkind produced Supergirl series with Helen Slater couldn't have done just as well.
As to whether it could have saved the comic book Kara Zor-El...we'll never know for sure, but I've got a feeling that DC, at the time, was determined to get rid of her no matter what.
"And a question...if this film was not made would there have been Supergirl the TV Show?"
On the one hand, the fact that the film flopped and DC canned the planned Supergirl/Superboy book and killed the character off one year later tells me the existence (or lack thereof) of the film is irrelevant to the existence of the show. On the other hand, this film marked Kara Zor-El's first appearance in mainstream media, making non-comic geeks aware of the existence of Superman's cousin, so maybe it paradoxically ensured that Kara Zor-El wasn't forgotten during the long, dark Kara-less years.
"As to whether it could have saved the comic book Kara Zor-El...we'll never know for sure, but I've got a feeling that DC, at the time, was determined to get rid of her no matter what."
I agree.
"And a question...if this film was not made would there have been Supergirl the TV Show?"
Concur with the response above: the 1984 movie is pretty much irrelevant to the creation of the TV series, with the exception being that Slater was cast as Eliza Danvers. At the time, the Supergirl movie played out like WB's tax write-off for the year; the film hit the black market months before it premiered in the US. IIRC, only in Japan and Germany did the film open well in its opening week.
"The syndicated Superboy series ran for a successful 100 episodes from 1988 to 1992. With the right kind of promotion, there's no reason a Salkind produced Supergirl series with Helen Slater couldn't have done just as well."
Actually, the idea is a non-starter. The Salkinds pretty much abandoned their film claims to the 'Super' characters after Supergirl flopped, selling their film license to Cannon Films (which made Superman IV: The Quest For Peace) . Only their involvement with the Superboy TV show remained active. However, Warner Bros. decided to go to court to attempt to repossess the remaining media rights to the Superman franchise that they had not already regained, and the Salkinds were served with notice that they would not be able to produce any further episodes of Superboy, including telefilms, beyond the 1991–92 season. That was because the Lois and Clark TV series was already in development with an entirely different producing team in place.
KET
Great you finally got to review this Anj :) It's a helluva way to start 2019 off! And understandable
you didn't want to to do a blow by blow, still though, nice to hear yours and other people's thoughts,
especially when viewed thru the "older and wiser" lens.
TOTALLY agree, Helen Slater was the highlight of this movie, and how she pulls of the various facets of
Kara / Supergirl, from the "slow learner" / outsider in Argo city, to brashly wanting to do what's right
when she loses the Omegahedron, to her discovering her powers by the lakeside -- I LOVE and can't praise
the aerial ballet scene enough, accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith's score! -- to her first encounter with
the seedier side of humanity, to her innate fierceness in dealing with Selena and motivating and broken
Zaltar in the phantom zone. As you mention in your essay about Supergirl, she is a very complex character
with multiple facets and it's a balancing act maintaining it all ... AND HELEN SLATER JUST KILLS IT!!
I can give no higher praise to Helen Slater in managing that, even after all these years after this movie's
initial release!
> There is other strange stuff tossed in. There is a shower scene. There is a drunk dorm matron. Matt
> (Max Headroom) Frewer plays a creepy, rapey truck driver. There is the word dingleberry. These all
> seemed weird for a family movie. Yeesh!
IIRC, the drunk dorm matron scene was not part of the movie or TV cut of it, though that did put a smile
on my face the first time I saw it. Kind of a light hearted humor with Supergirl that broke the tension
after she faced off against Selena's invisible creature.
@Martin Grey
> The cages Jimmy and co were trapped in were a nice callback to Silver Age Superman, when Brainiac and
> Luthor trapper Superman... sounds like the excellent Nigel has read those comics, given his comment
> about cages.
I'd always wondered about Nigel's comment there, thanks for that tidbit
> Ready for another Supergirl to scrutinize and geek over?
Ahh yes, the "rebooted" DCSHG, aka Super Best Friends Pt 2. I have to admit the first look at that trailer,
I'm interested in seeing, and we do get kinda a Kara / Babs friends bit about it. Supergirl sleep flying?
And Babs has to stop her? Hmm...
> Its charm cannot be found in logic.
+9000 to that! As I recall, the director wanted a Wizard of Oz "there's no place like home sense to it all.
But the minute you apply logic to things, yeah your brain and the movie just breaks.
> I used to fault Dunaway's performance, but upon this viewing my thought was that she did the over-the-top
> performance the script actually called for. And she does have great comic chemistry with Brenda Vaccaro.
Totally agree, and the expanded scenes gave the two more depth as villans in that Selena wants everything and
Selena wants is YESTERDAY! Everyone else is just a means to the end.
> I love this movie with all my heart and soul. Is it objectively a good film? No. Do I care, even a little?
> Also no. I get to spend two hours with Slater's Kara, so all is bliss.
:D :D
> I've always maintained that the "Slater-Supergirl" was basically a wonderful audition for a TV series
The road not traveled... next to them not being able to secure Chris Reeve's participation on this movie.
There's quite a few organs and extremities I'd've given to have seen this scene onscreen -- https://goo.gl/images/MMyrQG
Alas...
Again Anj, thanks for taking the time to view this and share your thoughts :) Greatly Appreciated!
Regards
Post a Comment