It’s always good to see the Legion of Superheroes getting some screen time. The 2 season cartoon was short lived but it was a blast and since then you only see these guys occasionally in movies and shows. Well with a full movie to themselves this is another winner even if you will probably end up missing most of the big legionnaires. For plot reasons we’re mainly stuck with the B team.

The story starts with showing us Supergirl’s origin story of Krypton blowing up and after that she was taken to Earth where she has had a really difficult time fitting in. Unlike Superman who arrived here as a baby, she was fully grown which meant that it was a much steeper adjustment period. Batman wants her gone and so Superman comes up with a strategy to train her. He’ll drop her off in the future with the legion and she agrees although the tricky thing is that we don’t see a way for her to get back until Superman decides to check in. Although based on the final scene we can assume she has a communicator. The future is fun enough but Supergirl is still having a hard time fitting in and a mysterious cult is around to make things more complicated.

First up on the positives, Supergirl makes for a good main character as always. I like how aggressive she is and how she’s always ready to fight at a moment’s notice. That’s what you always want to see from the main character. Additionally she trusts her own judgement and doesn’t just follow the crowd. She may not be as good at fighting yet as you would expect but that should come in time. So far I tend to enjoy each portrayal of Supergirl and this one’s no exception.

The animation is also pretty smooth here. Only thing I’m not a big fan of is the style almost uses a bit of a blush effect on the characters which you don’t really see much of outside of some anime. For the most part this style has been good though. Not as good as the New 52 style but it works well enough for the fight scenes and everything. On the whole it’s still good here as well.

The film’s pacing is quick and so the movie goes by very fast. It’s a fairly basic kind of adventure even with some twists thrown in but the writing is strong enough where this will have a lot of replay value. I can definitely watch it at any time. The battles are also good and the film even has a very hype ending to lead off into the next adventure. I’m always game for a film ending on a complete to be continued note since those endings definitely build up the most suspense. I was definitely not expecting the movie to end the way that it did.

Now the film does have some power level issues. For starters one of the villains in this film has abilities comparable to Supergirl’s. I would say they are still decisively weaker so it’s not like you’re wondering who would win but they are still on that level to the extent to which most other characters would lose instantly. Yet there is a scene near the end of the film where the villain is confronted by a group of the weakest Legionnaires in existence and instead of turning them all to paste with a quick speed blitz, he orders a retreat. If you’re being charitable then you can say that he was doing it to protect his foot soldiers but I kind of doubt that.

Part of the problem with having a villain this powerful is that you then have to be careful for scenes like this. The villain won’t have any trouble with the side characters so you can’t have a teamwork message delivered in that way. There are ways to pull it off but they will need a good plan and some prep time. It’s the only way to handle a character like this. You could also just buff the side characters a bit with cooler powers and that would have done the trick too.

This villain looks laughably bad in the intelligence department after all like when he is so busy monologuing that he doesn’t notice someone being freed right in front of him. Trust me that’s a really bad look. He also gets really whiny as the film ends to the point where you can’t take him seriously. Ultimately I don’t think this character was handled well and I would have done something different for the villain because it’s definitely more shock value than anything. I find it hard to believe that things would play out this way but I guess that’s why they call it a twist.

Brainiac 5 gets a pretty big role here as he’s trying to prove himself since the other Brainiacs have always been so evil. I definitely has to be rough growing up with your entire family being famously evil so nobody trusts you. It’s no wonder that he is so standoffish in the present since he doesn’t want to give anyone a chance to knock him down. He has some really good tech but while he looks super impressive in the first fight, I feel like he never quite matches up to that again. If he could have delivered with offensive weapons on the level of his barrier then he really would have been totally unstoppable. Instead he doesn’t always seem ready for the fights.

The film does have some romance but that’s definitely one of the weaker parts of the film here. Supergirl and Brainiac 5 barely even know each other after all. It may be a tribute to the TV show which may have been a tribute to the comics if that was ever a thing but this just doesn’t work out. Personally I could have kept them as rivals because their banter in those moments were so good. They made for really good rivals all the way through and you could have built upon that for several more films with a lot of great burns on both sides. Perhaps in a slightly more friendly way as per character development but don’t just get rid of it.

The Circle is actually an interesting group. They basically go through time and terrorize multiple place at once. The idea of a terrorist group that can chase you across time is absolutely terrifying because how do you even stop a group like that? They also mean business as they murder someone early on in the film to set the tone. Characters definitely do die in this movie so there is a real body count. I’d be up for the Circle returning at some point.

If we do get another Legion film at some point hopefully we do get to finally see the main legion members get some action this time. Particularly Lightning Lad has always been a lot of fun. He may be a founding member but he’s still a bit of a hotshot so you can count on him to have some hype moments. Nothing against Bouncing Boy and Arm-Fall off Boy (Name was something like that) since they’re okay…but they’re not starters for a reason. The film shows off what they can do and how every ability can be useful but I can also totally understand why they would not be on the front lines since their powers aren’t super strong. Go up against the wrong opponent and that would totally be game over. Since a lot of these characters still seem like teenagers or young adults at best, it’s a lot of risk.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. It really breezes by and the future makes for a good backdrop. The fights are on point and while the power levels may not all work, you won’t be taken out of the movie. The mystery is also good with a whole lot of suspense at all times. I will admit that at times I was more engaged with the current day plot with Batman and Superman but it’s hard to turn those plots down. Honestly if the whole film focused on Batman doing his detective work I’d be all for it but of course it would defeat the purpose of the future plot. I’m sure we’ll see more Batman moments before long so in the meantime definitely check this one out.

Overall 7/10