Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
After losing a powerful orb, Kara, Superman's cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it and instead finds herself up against a wicked witch.
Supergirl (1984) is a somewhat campy superhero adventure that gains modest points for being one of the earliest female-led superhero films and for its fantastical blend of Phantom Zone villains, witchcraft, and school-girl romance subplots. The plot is thin and frequently illogical, stringing together loosely connected set pieces without satisfying dramatic tension. Acting ranges from Helen Slater's earnest but inexperienced debut to Faye Dunaway's wildly over-the-top villainy and Peter O'Toole's wasted cameo — enjoyable in a guilty-pleasure way but objectively uneven. Cinematography is competent with decent practical effects and some striking widescreen compositions for its era, though it rarely rises to memorable visual artistry. Novelty gets a slight boost for its pioneering female superhero premise and the odd tonal cocktail of Superman mythology meets occult fantasy, but it's still largely derivative of the Superman franchise formula. The ending is rushed and anticlimactic, resolving the conflict without meaningful emotional payoff.