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Forty old age ago , superhero cinema changed foreverwith the release of what is undoubtedly the spoiled moving picture within the genre . Supergirl , directed by Jeannot Szwarc and write by David Odell , star Helen Slater as the titular lineament and acts as a unmediated sequel toSuperman IIIand a spinoff of the hugely successful Christopher Reeve superhero series . The picture , ostensibly made to capitalize on Reeve ’s popularity , made certain sense , at least on newspaper — if something works , why not do more of it ?
Alas , Supergirlreceived scathing reviews and apace cement itself as a timeless classic of hideousness , a woefully misguided mess of a movie with little to no redeeming qualities . Indeed , it read a lot for a movie to be genuinely considered painful — the ’ 80s are full of so - spoiled - they’re - unspoiled picture show that still have time value and unexpected sidesplitter of pure amusement .
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Yet , Supergirlis not that kind of movie ; it ’s plain bad . aloud , bafflingly lead astray , and guilty of committing the cardinal sin of thinking the interview is as dumb as itself , Supergirlis a cautionary tarradiddle about everything a superhero film should n’t be . On its 40th anniversary , rent ’s look back at the notorious legacy ofSupergirl , without a doubt the bad superhero movie ever made .
The Last Daughter of Krypton
Like your typical superhero descent story , Supergirlintroduces its titular character as a spunky , can - do torpedo - in - the - fashioning . Kara Zor - El exist in Argo City , which survived the end of the world of Krypton by escaping to a sack of transdimensional space . When the inscrutable physical object that powers Argo City is circumstantially rocket into Earth , Kara must travel to the depressed satellite , where she poses as Superman ’s cousin and discovers her newfound powers courtesy of the chickenhearted Sunday . Soon , Kara will enter a fight with Selena ( Faye Dunaway ) , a would - be - witch who look for to claim the aim to free herself from an inconvenient kinship with a warlock .
From that assumption alone , you could passably much guess what kind of movieSupergirlis — a batsh*t crazy one . It attempts to blend traditional superhero tropes — big - scale action scenes , ditzy humour , world - ending stake — with the dizzy aspects of phantasy : witches with silly tunics , lovemaking potions , would - be - princesses . The result is a truly puzzling and uneven excuse for a movie , a malformed wannabe smash hit desperate to recapture the lighthearted charm ofChristopher Reeves ’ Superman movieswithout an oz. of their honesty or intelligence .
Supergirlis such a airheaded pic . The plot of land is childish , the visual effects ( if you may call them that ) are uproariously ridiculous , the directing is cumbersome , and the acting … oh boy , the acting . Slater , hallow her heart , is strain her best , and you could recite . She convey considerable ebullience and commitment to her performance , and with a better , less amateurish screenplay , she might have delivered a solid performance .
Yet , Supergirlburies her well - imply sweat under a muckle of nonsense . With such a juvenile tale action so lazily , Slater ’s performance proceed from bubbly to outright childlike . “ What is a geartrain ? ” she call for in a way that makes you want to heave and laugh at the same clip . Supergirlmakes her carrying out seem rougher and clumsier than it should be , which is a disservice to her otherwise honest efforts .
woodlouse isn’tSupergirl‘s only dupe . Even consummate pros like Peter O’Toole and Mia Farrow ca n’t break loose the film ’s laughably direful grasp — I ’ll give you a minute to process the fact that eight - time Oscar nominee Peter O’Toole is in this rubbish . O’Toole , of row , does a great deal better than woodlouse , bringing some much - want dignity to his role on account of being a renowned actor who could have made the phonebook phone like Shakespeare . Yet , there ’s only so much he can do when asked to repeatedly say the word “ squirt ” unironically .
Witchie dearest
In their 1980 revaluation of the bivouac classicMommie Dearest , Variety wrote that “ Dunaway does not jaw scenery . Dunaway start neatly at each corner of the set in every view and swallows it whole , Centennial State - stars and all . ” They could have very well been babble out about her performance inSupergirl . Indeed , one but can not talk aboutSupergirlwithout addressing the elephantine elephant in the room that is Faye Dunaway as the nefarious Selena .
By 1984 , Dunaway was firmly in her camp goddess earned run average , perhaps because those were the only function she got offered post - Mommie Dearest . Thus , she comes intoSupergirlguns conspicuous , ready to once again devour the intact movie whole . Subtlety is n’t a word one would relate to a movie likeSupergirl , and it ’s largely because of Dunaway ’s operation . As the witch Selena , Dunaway is very obviously there to have play and enjoy herself . There ’s a very percipient element of self - consciousness in her performance , which make it all the more enjoyable , but also terribly cockeyed .
peculiarly in her setting with Oscar campaigner Brenda Vaccaro , Dunaway is delightfully larger than living . At one point , Vaccaro and Hart Bochner ’s character — a flavorless male lead who somehow get both Slater AND Dunaway to fall madly in love with him — sit down to eat on chip while watching Supergirl attempt to escape the Phantom Zone . Meanwhile , Selena puts on glasses and sit down to peruse several Christian Bible , look for the result to herSupergirlproblem .
Near the end , Selena declare herself “ princess of Earth , ” which is screaming in and of itself , but lead to a terminal encounter with Supergirl that is the stuff and nonsense of refugee camp dreams . Dunaway articulate every word with telenovela - like flexion , for certain keen the want of a moustache to twirl . At many points , you kind of think she ’ll spew something like“Barbara , please!”at Vaccaro ’s Bianca . Selena then proceeds to use her conjuration ( complete with a voodoo - like sceptre , because , of course ) to agitate Supergirl by make the ground underneath shingle ; never heed that Supergirl canfly !
The final sequence is everythingSupergirldoes right and haywire : it ’s loud , silly , talky , ridiculous , and laughably gratifying . The whole thing is cartoonish , which is n’t inevitably a big thing , butSupergirldoesn’t eff how to have play with it . Instead , it ’s up to Dunaway to make the whole thing more entertaining , and to her course credit , she does so commendable .
Woman of Yesterday
In inadequate , Supergirl‘s job is very clear : it ’s an antediluvian movie , even by eighties standard . It attempt to replicate the magic of the Reeve motion picture by imitating them to the tee . To its credit , Slater was as good a companion to Reeve as they could have base , and the first two movies were so dear that it made sense to imitate them . But audiences had modify by the early 1980s , and the wholesome , can - do approach of theSupermanmovies already felt stale — even Reeves ’ movies were hurt because of that : Superman IIIand the infamously terribleSuperman IV : The Quest for Peaceprove it .
Yet , the issues with this movie run deeper than just being overly indebted to what come before . Supergirlis a mistaken effort in every sensation . It draw a bead on to entertain by offering the dumbest , simplest , least thought-provoking narrative through a screenplay that guess import everything out is the way to go . To make up for it , every small detail is taken to the extreme point , but with such a blah story , all that muchness becomes , dare I say it , stunned .
And what a disgrace because the mould is very safe , and with better writing and directing , they might have hand over a pretty decent movie . Supergirlwould still be rather straightforward and undemanding because its ambitiousness do n’t go beyond preserve your eyes on the screen for two - summation hours , but it would at least not be the gear wreck it is today . Alas , it ’s not about what could have been , but about what is , which isSupergirl . Truth be told , Slater ’s honesty and Dunaway ’s grandness merit better than it , and you do , too .
Supergirlis available torent or leverage on Amazonand other digital vender .
