Supergirl
Originally uploaded by Mishaone.

When I was around ten or eleven, my grandmother, may her soul rest in peace, would buy us weekly videos to watch when we came over for the weekend. One weekend, she gave me a movie released in 1984 called Supergirl, probably figuring a strong female role model would probably be healthy for us. Back then, as I watched the movie, I was entranced by the girl who could fly and while I didn't really get the many references to Superman, Supergirl's cousin, I did thoroughly enjoy the movie as one can only do when one is ten and unjaded by having witnessed horrors such as White Chicks. Alright, I'm joking, I wouldn't be caught dead watching White Chicks. ;)

Fast forward more than a decade later and the blessed uploaders of the Worldcall FTP server decided to rip and upload a DVD of the now Cult Classic, Supergirl. With great glee, but the voice of caution warning me that to get ones hopes up about still enjoying a movie you thought was brilliant at ten was to set yourself up for disappointment. I'm pleased to tell you that I still love this movie as much as I did then.

From the opening credits, which seemed pretty impressive for the early 1980's, I was hooked. I later read that the opening sequence cost the studio a cool million dollars, which was a pretty penny back then. Futuristic is how I would describe the opening credits, much more than what one would expect from the special effects of that time period.

Kara aka Supergirl, is a flighty young girl living in a part of the exploded Krypton that survived the destruction that followed Superman's own hasty send off from the planet. Their little haven is powered by four power supplies, one of which is accidentally lost to the deep reaches of space by young Kara. She then decided that it is her responsibility to go retrieve the energy source because the lack of it would mean a slow death for all the surviving Kryptonians. Once she reaches Earth and finds how her Krytonian DNA makes her able to crush rocks with a bit of pressure and defy gravity, she takes off on what is almost literally a gorgeously choreograophed flight of fancy. This is the criminally unknown Flying Ballet sequence which ranks very high on my personal favorite on screen moments.

Next, I must rave about the score, just about every other prson who's seen it probably has. Had the movie not been chopped up by the studio that eventually released it, the soundtrack would be properly apprciated as John Williams' score for Superman was and still is.

Casting, as always, is essential and here the entire cast is almost picture perfect. Helen Slater as Supergirl, however, is absolutely spot on. Most blondes playing innocent get on my nerves because when you think of a blonde actress, innocent isn't exactly your first impression. Miss Slater, however, is the absolute personification of childlike purity and innocence and I defy anyone who has seen this movie to not like her. I only wonder why she disappeared from hollywood. Someone who can turn in a performance like that at nineteen should surely have stuck around and saved us from the likes of Tara Reid and Brook Sheilds. Plus, as pointed out by a friend, "she's just so hot!".

What I liked most about this movie, however, was that both on both sides of the equation, good and evil, there are strong, intelligent women. There is no male to turn to and the difference in the way Kara and Selena, the power hungry sorceress, differ with regard to men is how they treat them. The most prolific male character is Ethan, a rather dim but dishy carpenter who becomes a bone of contention between the two women. One of my favorite scenes for pure, delicious wickedness is when Selena has Ethan under her spell and torments the captured Kara by having a fine old makeout session with Ethan before sending her off to rot for eternity in the Phantom Zone with that horrible image of betrayal to haunt her for all eternity, bwahahaha!

It seems I've rambled on quite a bit, but that's only because I'm so happy to have found a childhood favorite that turnes out to be an adulthood faviorite as well. Don't believe me? Check out other reviews by people who have seen the movie at IMDB.