Blue Beetle Review: Heart-Warming Origin Story

DC has had a rough year with recent releases like The Flash and Shazam: Fury Of The Gods underperforming at the box office. Audiences themselves have been pretty mixed with the films and the universe as a whole. It doesn’t help that there is still some confusion about the direction of the DC brand as a whole. Which characters are canon? Which are not? This confusion and general mixed reception has harmed the DC brand.

James Gunn has recently stated out that Blue Beetle will be the first new DC character. Of course, that potentially change depending on whether or not audience members show up to support the film. Nothing seems set in stone. And while it’s still a bit too early to tell how Blue Beetle will fare at the box office, quality-wise at least, it’s a good film. It does fall into some cliches and unoriginality, but it has a big heart at its center. This Blue Beetle review will be spoiler-free.

Blue Beetle is now in theaters.

Story – Humble Beginnings

Blue Beetle sees Jaime Reyes returning to his home after finishing college. To his surprise, his family has been going through a rough time so he stays to help them by finding a job. His search for a job finds him with the Scarab, a world-destroying relic that merges with Jaime. By merging, he gains a suit of armor with superhero abilities. Unfortunately for him, this also brings a lot of trouble his way. 

The story is a bit hit-and-miss for the most part. What holds Blue Beetle back the most is how vanilla it is. It follows a lot of familiar superhero story beats. There are tons of boring clichés and uninspired ideas. For example, the people that want this Scarab only want it to mine for data so that they can manufacture military suits. And who he fights is basically just an evil version of himself. We’ve seen that a thousand times. Characters also appear at the perfect time throughout the film to easily progress the plot.

That suit is pretty incredible

It’s also seemingly missing information about the actual relic. It seems to have a history, but it’s not something that was really explained. It’s just eluded to. There is also a shift in how something works later in the story. At the start of the film, this thing doesn’t work at all. And then it randomly does. You could probably theorize why that is, but it just felt like it was done because the story needed to progress.

Characters and Performances – Solid Foundation

The story does well by setting up the Reyes family right from the start. Quickly, you see how much the family cares for one another and how good of people they are. They’re unapologetically Mexican and it was such a delight to see that level of representation on screen. Blue Beetle is also different from a lot of other superhero films in the way it chooses to deal with Jaime’s identity. The family knows about it immediately and they’re in that ride from the start. As a result, despite cookie-cutter scenes in the film, the characters elevated a ton of it. 

Two siblings catching up

The standouts in the family are Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena), the crazy uncle Rudy, (George Lopez), and Granma Nana, (Adriana Barraza), while the villains Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and her henchman, Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), brought nothing of substance to the film. They were one note, with development only hastily included at the end. It’s a shame because things are eluded to have happened to them to change them, but it’s not something we see except for a quick flashback for Carapax.

Red Beetle

Xolo, most known for his role in Cobra Kai on Netflix, did a great job here. He did a great job portraying a teenager who just wants to return to normal and help his family. But most coming out of the theater will likely be talking about George Lopez. He had the best jokes and lines in the film. His presence in general really helped bring a lot of heart to the film. Although George lands all of his jokes, there were some that felt flat at other moments.

Of course these characters would struggle without the actors portraying them. There is one scene in particular where the jokes stop to have a serious powerful heart-wrenching moment. Each actor delivered in spades here and took this movie from mediocre to good. It was tension-filled due to how director Angel Manuel Soto navigated through this world. 

Family

Mexican culture and the theme of family are present at practically all moments in this film. Early on, Jaime meets a woman named Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) who essentially gets Jaime into the trouble he is in. Through her and Jaime’s relationship, we see differences in culture and the importance of family. Jenny’s family is broken through deaths, disappearance, and selfishness, a trait shown to be absent from Jaime’s family throughout the film. Right from the start Jaime pauses his study to help with his family’s financial struggles while Jenny fights with her aunt, Victoria about the future of Kord Industries.

The great Reyes family

Mexican culture is also something prevalent throughout the film. It’s shown in the way the Reyes family speaks to each other, the food they eat, and the real world struggles they might face such as deportation and the gentrification of their neighborhood. Although not immediately present, these issues that the family face are looming as a potential threat. It elevates the tension for certain scenes. It’s just a damn shame that the film didn’t focus more on this family dynamic rather than some of the superhero stuff.

Pacing and Editing – Wingless Beetle

Sitting at just above two hours, Blue Beetle moves quickly compared to recent superhero films, but it flows best when with the Reyes family. This is mostly because we haven’t really seen this type of family in superhero films. When we get into the bland superhero stuff however, the pacing suffers. Blue Beetle has a great costume and cool powers, essentially being able to create anything the host can imagine. So why isn’t the action exciting?

These heroes always causing a mess

Unfortunately, these superhero scenes have been done a thousand times before. There is the classic comedic scene where the protagonist gets used to their powers. Then there is the stale corporate villain. And if you think the action might rectify these issues, you’re going to be disappointed. A superhero which can create anything they imagine has the most unimaginative fight sequences. Most of it is just one character hitting the other and sending them flying. Then they get up and do the same. I never felt like there was a back and forth nor did I feel tension. 

The way these scenes were shot and the choreography was partially to blame of course. Movies that have scenes where characters are destroying each other can still bring enjoyment. But there just isn’t any momentum here. There wasn’t an impact with much of it. You’d see someone throw one punch and knock someone out. Then they throw a kick at another person and knock them out. There wasn’t much variety. It also felt like the way the camera moved and how the scenes were edited in most action sequences were the same ones used for dramatic moments. They lagged behind with little variation in shots and editing. This straightforward monotonous camera work could have potentially done fine had this movie come out 10 years prior. 

That sword he makes is pretty cool

Cinematography and Sound – Blue and Red

Technically, Blue Beetle is successful. There aren’t many action sequences so the budget was better spread throughout the film. Choosing not to CGI the suit also helped during those action sequences. CGI was only really weak in one particular scene and one could argue that was purposeful due to what was happening. My particular favorite shot was one early on in the film where we see the difference in where the Reyes family lives and the larger city. 

I wish we explored Jaime’s neighborhood more

Shots like the one mentioned above do a lot for world-building. It also adds this tension and threat looming in the background. I do wish they went a bit further with this and showed more of where Jaime and his family currently live. Most of the time, we only see them in their house or right outside of it. We don’t actually see the neighborhood. It’s a missed opportunity to further develop and immerse viewers in this world. It probably would have made the film more interesting in general if we explored this poor neighborhood and how having a superhero there would change things. Instead, we end up seeing the same copy and pasted big city in superhero films.

The soundtrack did well to elevate particular key moments in the film, including the otherwise stale action sequences. The Latin music used throughout was welcomed and added more authenticity to the Mexican culture on display. Although technically competent, there is still some missed opportunities that could have strengthened the film.

Have you seen the film? Do you agree or disagree with our Blue Beetle review? Let us know in the comments!