Supergirl, the second movie in the DCU, disappointed at the box office, and it has received polarizing reviews from critics and audience members, but there is one thing that most fans have agreed on. The needle drop during the last fight scene made almost no sense and was completely out of place in the movie. This is surprising since James Gunn is almost always perfect when it comes to the songs that pop up in his movies, and they typically fit the mood of the scenes. However, in this specific scene, just as Supergirl is about to start slaughtering the bad guys in the final fight, a slow melodic cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” by Kelty Greye and KidMotel plays over the devastation.
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While that needle drop decision made almost no sense in the context of what was happening on the screen, the other option that James Gunn had was even worse. In a Hollywood Reporter story about creative differences behind the scenes, it was revealed that Gunn had used Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at the February test screening, but it was changed to the Jimmy Eat World cover.
James Gunn’s Choice Would Have Been Worse for Supergirl
“The Middle” was a bad choice for a number of reasons. Mainly, it was a slow melodic cover of the Jimmy Eat World song, and it played during a scene of slow-motion devastation. While it might have seemed like it could work based on the slow motion, it just failed to deliver what the filmmakers might have expected. The tonal shift pulled people out of the intense fight scene, and the biggest problem was its on-the-nose lyrics. Interestingly enough, director Craig Gillespie told Rolling Stone that he had 45 songs to choose from, and Gunn chose “The Middle.”
Honestly, it was still a better choice than “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” One X user made a good point about how the lyrics of “The Middle” at least fit the scene. He wrote, “Although that whole sequence mostly just twisted my face into a cringe, thematically what they actually used fits infinitely better given the whole perpetual teen angst angle of Supergirl’s story.”
The lyrics of “The Middle” do fit the scene, with the opening being “Hey, don’t write yourself off yet / It’s only in your head, you feel left out / Or looked down on.” As this is Ruthye and Kara’s moment, the lyrics work, although the slowed-down tempo didn’t work, and it was a little too on the nose. That said, Cyndi Lauper’s hit, even though it is a beloved classic pop song, would have been a little too tongue-in-cheek.
Another X user said they liked “The Middle” and felt it worked better, writing, “Am I the only one who actually likes ‘The Middle’ during that scene?? Sure, a Lauper cover sounds fun on paper, but Gunn choosing both tells me they were trying everything to get the energy right.”
Other X users mentioned how there were so many other songs that could have worked, with one mentioning that they could have used Kara’s theme like they used Superman’s theme in Superman. However, both Gunn and Gillespie are known for their needle drops, and that is just part of their style. This was going to happen no matter what, and while “The Middle” didn’t work, it was still better than the previous choice of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
What are your thoughts on the needle drop during the fight scene in Supergirl? Would “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” have changed it at all? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
