Supergirl (1984)

A ludicrous mess. Kara Zor-El, the cousin of Superman, comes to Earth in pursuit of the Omegahedron – an orb with remarkable powers. This mystical ball falls into the hands of an evil witch called Selena who, for some reason, lives in a disused fairground with her annoying friend Bianca. It’s difficult to say whose acting is worse: Peter O’Toole, Peter Cook or Faye Dunaway all ham it up like mad, wrestling with a fundamentally flawed script. Unsure whether to play it for laughs or kitsch kicks, they flail around like pantomime actors who failed their am-dram audition. Helen Slater is actually quite appealing as Supergirl/Linda Lee. There’s a vulnerability and naivety that is endearing. And the sections in which she starts at school and befriends a girl called Lucy Lane – Lois Lane’s sister, amazingly enough – hint at another, more charming film with human-interest elements you can relate to. More of this would have been welcome. But it’s wildly uneven in tone and there are colossal holes in the plot logic. For example, when Selena first acquires her sinister powers she inexplicably puts aside the thoughts of world domination she has already shared with Peter Cook. Instead, she decides to kidnap a gardener, drug him with a love potion and then – when he wanders off – uses telekinesis to steer a construction vehicle through the streets to return him to her. Why? This is one of the few action sequences, but it’s still a small-scale affair involving a few cars, some burning tyres, a water tower and some hay blowing around the street. It certainly doesn’t have the epic scale of the first two Superman films, which seemed to use the whole Earth as their set. In fact, Supergirl seems relatively low-budget despite being made for $35 million by the same production team. Despite all the woeful elements, it was just about entertaining enough for me to make it through to the end. The flying sequences are a thrill, just as they always were with Christopher Reeve, and the rare moments in which Supergirl displays her powers are enjoyable. But the film could have been so much better.