‘It signals the demise of superhero movies’ – Blue Beetle review | Films | Entertainment

Are superhero movies finally losing their grip on the box office? We’ll have a better idea next week when we see how many seats this new DC flick takes from Barbie.

But, after failures like The Flash, and recent Ant-Man and Shazam! sequels, it feels like Blue Beetle’s nemesis will be spandex fatigue.

At least director Angel Manuel Soto had a slightly unusual character to play with.

Blue Beetle is DC’s first Latin-American superhero, possibly the most skint, and definitely the most family-centred.

After college graduate Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) is given ­superpowers by an alien “symbiote”, he invites all his Mexican-American relatives on his adventures.

There are some mildly amusing moments but I’m not sure if Jaime’s eccentric uncle (George Lopez) and gun-toting granny (Adriana Barraza) freshen it up enough.

Susan Sarandon plays Victoria Kord, another villainous tech magnate intent on developing yet another superweapon.

For that, she needs to harness the powers of a bug-shaped amulet which somehow contains an alien and is hidden in the company’s HQ.

But her niece (Bruna Marquezine) steals it, hides it in a burger box and hands it to Jaime, a young graduate who’s in reception touting for a job.

He is told to keep the greasy box safe and not open it. But when his anarchic family start mucking around with it, the amulet attaches itself to Jamie’s spine, surrounds him in an Iron Man-like supersuit and starts talking to him inside his head.

If you’ve seen Tom Hardy’s Venom, this will feel familiar. And if you’ve seen any superhero movie from the last couple of decades, you won’t be surprised by the mid-air CGI punch-up that serves as the exciting finale.

I’ve incorrectly forecast the demise of superhero movie before. But here’s another prediction – this weekend, the beetle will be squashed by the doll.

Blue Beetle, Cert 12A, In cinemas now