#7 – “Turn It On Again”

The first movie I saw was Supergirl, the next film in the James Gunn-led DC Universe. I have been a huge fan of Gunn’s work since Guardians of the Galaxy, and I have been excited to see his transition to more of a production role, building a saga instead of films. This film is particularly important to this transition as last year’s Superman was was written and directed by Gunn, so this would be the first film solely with him having a production role.

Technicially, the film is done very well. The CGI that tends to dominate a modern superhero film, and often looks very ugly looks quite nice here. That may be due to the length of time between releases in this new DC Universe as compared to the previous DCEU and Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it is a strength of the film nonetheless. The cinematography is another technical strong point of the film: I found a lot of the shots very creative, and also felt that they complimented the personality of Supergirl and Milly Alcock’s performance very well. One technical aspect I will criticize, however, is the music choice. I felt the licensed music clashed, rather than complimented the film, and didn’t really mesh with Kara’s (Supergirl’s) character either.

Alcock’s performance is easily the highlight in this film. She manages wonderfully both the more comedic scenes of Kara, making up a plan as she goes along, with the more dramatic flashbacks showing the destruction of Krypton and Argo. Jason Momoa also gives a very strong performance as Lobo in this film, although I do think that while I enjoyed his presence, he really didn’t feel necessary to this film, but this is more of a problem with the film’s script, which I think is the weakest link here.

There are parts of this script, like the aforementioned scenes on Argo, that reach the brilliance of Superman. But these great moments, and the performances with them, are contrasted by the main plot of the film, which I found at times dull. While I think Ruthye’s quest for revenge and her collaboration with Kara’s quest to save Krypto is a good hook, the way in which it is written makes for the least interesting part of the film. The script just doesn’t expand enough on the relationship between Ruthye and Kara to really make you care. I saw this film with my friends, and that is a sentiment that they both shared, with one of them even going as far to say “I don’t remember the name of the sword girl.” Lobo, while being done by an incredibly fun performance by Momoa, is moreso a character that repeatedly pops up in the story, rather than a significant element, which I think is another huge letdown of the script. It really is a shame, as I think the first and second acts of this film are genuinely great, and that there are even moments of greatness in the film’s third act, but that said third act is too inconsistent, due to the aforementioned lack of expansion on the film’s characters.

While I was largely critical in this last paragraph, I do not want to confuse you. This is still a very enjoyable film! My critiques come from a place of enjoyment whereas in my opinion if that extra bit were to be added, this film would be great, to the extent where I would call it as good as Superman, a film which I adored. Milly Alcock’s performance alone is so much fun that I’d say this one is worth a trip to the theater to see.

Overall: Would Recommend

With this film, there is a huge strength and weakness to it: it is partially older content from the Jackass TV show and films of the past. This is a strength, as it’s hard to argue bits like the “Poo Cocktail Supreme” aren’t funny, even if you’ve seen them before. But, it is also a weakness, because you’ve seen it before. I would argue that a lot of the comedic value of the film comes from shock value, so knowing what will happen does partially spoil it.

Yet, even with that said, this is still a hilarious film. The older bits are not exactly the same, with extensions and changes to camera angles that I think do create for somewhat of a new experience. The best example of this is the “Magic Trick” bit, where you get to see both takes of Johnny Knoxville against a bull. To see him get demolished, and decide it just isn’t enough and do it again with a bigger bull, is funny, even if you may have already seen the bigger bull in Jackass Forever. The highlight of the extended old bits is Forever’s “Silence of the Lambs,” now featuring Bam Margera. Obviously, the bit was first designed for him, before later being used with other members of the crew, but Margera’s run-through of it was, in my opinion, the funniest of them all.

The new bits were also a very fun part of this film as well. Many of them play off of the fact that the guys are older now, and I think this led to some decent comedic potential. I will especially highlight the “Human Pretzel” stunt, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. I do think that the new cast members introduced in Forever really didn’t get much to do, and what they did get was rather one-note. There’s only so many times the joke can be about how fat Zackass’s ass is, and I think the film went one or two over that limit.

Regardless, when getting to the big ending of this film, I came to a realization. My chest had started to hurt from what had pretty much been 90 consecutive minutes of laughter. Bringing it all together with a callback to the first film’s opening, along with the credits montage, was, I think, a great ending to the film. It’s hard to say they could’ve had a much better ending, as even with the sidelining of the newer members, it is admittedly fun to see these idiots hurt themselves one last time.

Overall: Would Recommend