Max Steel

Maria Bello and Andy Garcia waste their talents in this bland and flimsy sci-fi origins tale, inspired by a children's action figure and its animation spin-offs. Aimed at tweenies, but likely to be too boring and uneventful for most of today's discerning youngsters, the aspiring franchise-starter sees angsty teen Max (forgettable Ben Winchell) evolve into an underwhelming, Iron Man-style superhero when he joins forces with a lamely wisecracking alien parasite linked to his dead dad's mysterious scientific research. Repetitive effects and excessively dark visuals do nothing to liven up the overly padded mix of adolescent clichés, confusing plot details and a surfeit of clumsy flashbacks, amazingly all scripted by the co-writer of Thor: the Dark World and Thor Ragnarok. A screamingly obvious villain removes any element of surprise, and there's not even a decent climax to reward viewers for sticking with such a low-calibre story.