‘Blue Beetle’ Review — A Movie Someone Wanted To Make
by Erik Amaya
If nothing else, Blue Beetle is a refreshing respite from the superhero doldrums of the last few months.
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet Alcocer, the film stars Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes — re-envisioned for the film as a recent college graduate — who comes home to find his family’s house and livelihood threaten by the ever-increasing reach of Kord Industries. Jaime’s attempts to help his family soon lead him to meeting Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), a altruistic scion of the company who, in turn, trusts Jaime to keep a mysterious scarab safe. The artifact turns out to be a piece of alien technology that fuses itself to Jaime, causes plenty of chaos, and is of special interest to Jenny’s aunt, Kord CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon).
The plot synopsis should give you some indication that the stakes in Blue Beetle are not as, well, earth-shattering as The Flash or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but that’s to the movie’s benefit. While Victoria’s aims for the scarab have some global implications, the film is firmly focused on how encountering all of this effects Jaime and his tight-knit Mexican-American family.
And, boy, does La Familia Reyes wear its culture proudly. The language flips from English to Spanish on the fly, key moments are spoken in the family’s native tongue, and thanks to the fact some censors still don’t know Spanish curse words, the film’s dialogue is a little more azul than you might expect. Of course, as Mexican-American families are not a monoculture, not every touchstone in the film will land with the specificity Soto and Alcocer might like — although the Vicks VapoRub shout-out is pretty universal in Hispanic and Latine homes — the details of the Reyeses and their struggles gives the film a very unique setting for one could be a pretty by-the-numbers superhero origin story. It also leads to some emotionally charged scenes. Yes, the flavor is the key thing here.
But we surmise opening a window into that specific culture was the real reason Soto and Alcocer wanted to make Blue Beetle after Soto’s reported desire to make a Bane movie was shot down by Warner Bros. Pictures. Jaime Reyes is the most prominent DC superhero with a Latin background (all apologies to Yolanda Montez, Jessica Cruz, Yara Flor, and, of course, Cisco Ramon), and his combination of Iron Man and Green Lantern powersets makes him a more visually appealing protagonist than Santa Prisca’s favorite son. Indeed, the film absolutely delights in the way the scarab suit can make just about any weapon or protective device. Stabbing weapons, big electric shields, and even Jaime’s preference for non-lethal solutions end up creative and dazzling.
All of which adds up to a sensation within Blue Beetle we’ve been missing for the last few superhero release: the feeling that someone wanted to make the film. That genuine passion suffuses every aspect of the film, from its synthwave score, its standouts performances from Madurena as Jaime and Damián Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Belissa Escobedo, Adriana Barraza, and George Lopez as his family, to on-the-whole good special effects. The film even makes Jenny, who could be easily dismissed as the love interest, a valuable member of the narrative. Sarandon’s antagonist is a worthy foe while her chief henchman, Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), ends up surprisingly complex. And, for those who grew up with Ted Kord or even distant memories of Dan Garrett, Blue Beetle honors the legacy of those other characters who once wore blue tights and fought crime.
Oh, but there are also so many other wonderful references, too — from DC deep pulls to another famous insect-inspired TV personality.
We’ll admit the other key DC detail woven into the plot, which we won’t spoil here, took awhile to appreciate as it is a heavy re-contextualization of a comic book concept. But since it has historic ties to Blue Beetle, we eventually accepted its presence here. That said, it is redesigned to lose its main iconic visual feature, and that may leave some purists cold. Another issue: the movie takes some time to get going as it has to set up Jaime and the Reyeses a little more extensively than characters in other superhero films. Nevertheless, that initial pace pays off as you ultimately care about every member of the Reyes family by the end.
Blue Beetle proves you can launch a superhero in 2023 without relying on crossover cameos or a Crisis on Infinite Earths scale event. That it followed The Flash into theaters may be the biggest strike against it, but the results of the film, by itself, are largely positive. As we said earlier, it feels like a project its makers wanted to see through to the end, unlike some other superhero movies and TV of late, and that’s worth celebrating.
Blue Beetle is out in theaters now.
