BLUE BEETLE

'Blue Beetle' is a fun venture in the superhero genre. With its family focus it adds a really fresh energy to the film, with Nana particularly being a favourite. The love and humour from their dynamic does make this a standout from the rest of DC's offerings, but at the end of the day this is a superhero film and those parts weigh it down. The action is pretty bland and forgettable, there are chunks that are just CGI suits fighting each other which I found very unengaging. Every time the superhero tropes would come in, I just wanted to spend time with the Reyes family but the film never really balances the two. It was really exciting to see them have as much weight as they did - especially in the final battle - but the superhero elements of the film and what the film is about just don't live up to those other parts.

The film is very early 2000s in its superhero approach; it's an evil corporation wanting to make a weapon and only a suited hero can stop it... which has its charm, but it never really rises above it. DC has roped Susan Sarandon in to play the villain and she can be campy and fun which is delightful, but most of the time it's just a bland villain cut-out. How has DC gotten Helen Mirren in 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods', Dame Julie Andrews in 'Aquaman' and now Sarandon... leave these icons alone!

'Blue Beetle' is the fun reset DC needed - it's not tied down by franchise-building but still suffers from superhero fatigue. The family alone is reason to see this but everything else is not bad nor good; they are the heart and soul of the film and save it from falling into a more forgettable category.