Supergirl reviews are almost ready to be released, as viewers wait for the results. Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, Supergirl will be DC Studios’ second theatrical release after kicking the franchise off last summer with Superman. After that movie earned largely positive reviews from critics, the question is whether the DCU’s next big-screen release can match that hype.

As revealed by @EmbargoLiftsFor on X, the review embargo for DC Studios’ Supergirl will lift on Wednesday, June 24. This comes only two days before Milly Alcock’s solo movie for Kara Zor-El is released in theaters worldwide on Friday, June 26. 

The review embargo being lifted only two days before the movie’s release could be seen as a concern, as this usually happens when studios lack confidence in a movie’s success. Reportedly budgeting over $200 million, Supergirl has work to do to become a financial success for Warner Bros., even with plenty to look forward to in the titular character’s first big-screen appearance in well over 40 years.

Ahead is what fans can potentially expect from those reviews, based on what has been reported in rumors and from test screenings for Supergirl.

Early Teases for Supergirl Critic Reviews & Reactions

Milly Alcock Shines as Supergirl

According to @Cryptic4kQual, after test screenings, Milly Alcock was “praised for her acting in the role” as the film’s leading star. This should help motivate fans to head to theaters to see Alcock as Kara Zor-El.

This film will give Alcock her second appearance in the DCU, following a short cameo at the end of 2025’s Superman, in which she arrived at the Fortress of Solitude to retrieve Krypto. Now, she will get her own adventure away from the Man of Steel, giving Alcock the chance to fully flesh out the role.

Jason Momoa Is Fun as Lobo

Following a long run in the former DCEU as Aquaman, Jason Momoa will join James Gunn’s DCU as Lobo, which he has described as his dream comic book role. While reports have gone back and forth about how big his role in the movie is, he appears to be a highlight.

As reported by @AxelTalksFilm, “Lobo has a substantial role in the film, and is crucial to the ending.” Other reports suggest he’s in 10-20% of the movie, but the time he spends on screen is sure to be memorable.

Shaky Visuals

One of the most notable critical talking points for any movie, especially modern superhero movies, is the visuals and VFX. For Supergirl, early rumors hint that this may not be the most positive talking point for the DCU’s second theatrical release.

Reported by BobaTalks on YouTube, the movie does not seem to use many of the exciting psychedelic visuals fans know from the Woman of Tomorrow source comic, even with unfinished VFX. While this could be adjusted before the film is released, it is certainly a point of concern from a visual perspective.

A Mixed Villain

After Lex Luthor served as the main villain in Superman, Supergirl will move on to another classic comic book villain, Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts. While he is the same antagonist used in the original comic the movie is based on, the results of his inclusion are mixed.

@Cryptic4KQual called Krem “underwhelming” as a villain, while @AxelTalksFilm noted that he was “described as extremely ‘menacing’ and a tremendous villian.” Additionally, BobaTalks reported that Krem was “underdeveloped” and looked similar to the rest of his goons, sparking concern that he was fairly generic.

Balanced Tone

One major lingering question about the DCU is its tone, especially with new movies like Clayface introducing horror elements. With Supergirl set to come before that movie and after Superman, its tone will be another major talking point upon its release.

Reported by @AxeTalksFilm, the “cinematography is an upgrade” to what fans saw in Superman, including one specific scene in a hallway that can be compared “to the action sequences of those in Daredevil and Guardians 3.” Additionally, it is much “darker and [more] serious in tone” than Superman, suggesting a more grounded story behind Milly Alcock’s heroine.

Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.

We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.

Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.

The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.

This time around, it’s June 6, 1986, and we’re off to see Invaders from Mars, Raw Deal, and SpaceCamp.

Invaders from Mars

While everyone complains about how there are no original ideas in today’s films, welcome to the same issue in 1986.

12-year-old David Gardner dreams of space, and after staying up to watch a meteor shower, he sees what he believes is a UFO landing over the hill behind his house. The next morning his dad goes to investigate, but comes back not acting like himself. It seems the Martians have come to town and they’re going to start taking over the world by controlling one person at a time. With the help of his teacher, David starts to fight back and hopefully drive the Martians off the planet.

Other than some very goofy looking designs for the Martians, the film was a bit of fun, I felt. It certainly didn’t break any new ground, but I also definitely didn’t hate it. Throw it on for a mindless watch.

Where to watch: Available to stream.

Raw Deal

Even for a Schwarzenegger movie, this one was pretty bad.

Mark Kaminski (Schwarzenegger), was thrown out of the FBI on trumped up charges, but when his old boss, FBI Agent Harry Shannon, (Darren McGavin) finds his son killed while protecting a mafia informant, there’s only one man he trusts. Kaminski goes undercover in the mafia and tries to bring it down from the inside, ending up in a lengthy shootout with all of the members of two different mafia families.

I’m not sure how a movie with such a basic plot can be this boring, but it somehow succeeds. Not once was I engaged with the story. The only saving grace was I would watch McGavin in anything.

Where to watch: Available to stream.

SpaceCamp

Apparently, we’re all going to try to forget this movie existed.

When a group of teens attends Space Camp, they find themselves in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit inside a Space Shuttle while it’s on the launch pad. Following an ‘accident’ orchestrated by a friendly robot, they end up having to launch with their adult supervisor and trying to find their way back home with limited resources.

As of this writing (June 6, 2026), this film is out of print physically, not streaming (legally), and is not available for digital purchase. YOU may be able to find it on a TUBE somewhere, however, if you look around.

Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it. It’s silly, but it pretty much knew what it was. Lets put it this way, I enjoyed it more than Raw Deal.

1986 Movie Reviews will continue on June 6, 2026, with Invaders From Mars, Raw Deal, and SpaceCamp.

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 5th, 2026 / 09:01 PM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Alice Eve, Eric Michael Cole, Elle Haymond, Sarah Siadat, Johnny Gaffney, Lisa Yaro, Jim Klock, Vince Jolivette, Stephen Oliver
Writers: Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone, story by Dick Grunert and Ryan R. Johnson and James Kondelik
Director: Jonathan Zuck
Distributor: IFC
Release Date: June 5, 2026

CHUM is the latest entry in the shark-obsessed-psycho-with-a-boat subgenre. It also meshes, perhaps coincidentally, with the 2024 sharks-but-no-psycho-ruin-a-Mediterranean-destination-wedding SOMETHING IN THE WATER.

Our narrator is Roy (Jim Klock) who, in the opening sequence, loses his wife to an enormous Great White in the sea off Malta. He begins by saying in voiceover, “You took her from me.” This is followed by a monologue about how much Roy loves his wife and includes the line, “Her scream lost in the roar of the sea.”

There isn’t anything particularly wrong with the line, except that we see the whole incident and then some – CHUM is very gore-friendly in all its shark attacks – and the woman is already underwater when the attack occurs. There’s no scream.

So, are we supposed to think that Roy’s imagination is playing tricks, or that director Jonathan Zuck and his co-writer Joe Leone, working from a story by Dick Grunert and Ryan R. Johnson and James Kondelik, aren’t paying close attention to what they’re doing? 

Roy says he spent his life on the ocean, but “when you took her, I learned something new.”

Then we cut to a wedding banquet, where proud father Reginald (Stephen Oliver) is toasting his daughter the bride Tina (Alice Eve) and her groom Tom (Eric Michael Cole). Also in attendance are Tina’s irritable younger sister Sadie (Elle Haymond), bridesmaids Rachinda (Sarah Siadat) and Britney (Lisa Yaro), and Eric’s bro-ish best man Rick (Johnny Gaffney).

It’s a beautiful setting and a good-looking group, but it doesn’t take long for us to realize this union may not last. Tina and Tom have had a bitter fight about something that they seem unable to resolve. Tom winds up sleeping on the beach near the tide line, while Tina passes out on their hotel room bed in her wedding gown.

The nature of the dispute turns out to be one of the best aspects of CHUM. It’s real, it’s not the clichés that we too often get about onscreen marital disputes, and it’s wholly plausible that the timing is such that the couple haven’t had to confront it earlier.

Unaware of trouble in paradise, Rick has arranged a boat outing for the wedding party (sans Dad). Tina and Tom don’t want to go, but Rick guilts them into it – renting the boat for the day cost him a fortune.

The proprietor of The Tipsy Mermaid, Captain Mackey (Vince Jolivette), welcomes the six passengers aboard. He assures shark-averse Britney that there have never been attacks in these waters.

This again makes us wonder what’s happening on a meta level. We can see that The Tipsy Mermaid is out by the same coastline that we saw in the opening, so we know there’s been at least one shark attack here. Is Captain Mackey uninformed or lying?

A little later, we see that the microphone on the communications panel is severed. Our minds leap toward sabotage, but – spoiler alert – no, it’s just shoddy upkeep on The Tipsy Mermaid.

In reality (and easy to Google for Mackey or anyone in the group to who knew they’d be going out to sea that day), while they are rare, there have been shark attacks off Malta.

Furthermore, Tom, who is meant to be an expert on these matters, asserts that Great Whites are strangers to these waters, but are being driven north by climate change. It’s laudable that CHUM makes climate change part of the plot (and not just because of where the shark is), but again, there is a whole actual (albeit declining) subspecies of Great Whites in the Mediterranean.

We’re trying to figure out how all this will link up with Roy and what he’s learned, and we get to that, although perhaps not the way we expect, which is another CHUM asset.

Except for when the shark needs to interact with humans and/or vessels, the animal looks realistic, like footage of a genuine Great White. We also get a variety of fish in the underwater shots, which is a nice touch.

But there are the common-to-the-subgenre tropes of the shark looking way too big every time she breaches and eating way too much. Also, sharks do not growl.

One key aspect of this subgenre is how intrigued we are by the human villain. Here, the link between motivation and action doesn’t stack up well against that of comparable characters (e.g., Quint in JAWS or Bruce Tucker in DANGEROUS ANIMALS).

As these kinds of movies go, CHUM is moderately diverting, but it’s easy to see where it could have been better.

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