If you go and ask random people on the street if they know who Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Wonder Woman are, odds are the majority are going to know even if they aren’t fans of superhero movies. If you asked those same people who Blue Beetle was, I’d wager that almost all would be completely clueless. To be fair, if you asked that same group who the Guardians of the Galaxy were prior to 2014 they’d likely give the same confused look; however, that’s the importance of a strong first film to introduce these lesser-known heroes, as now the Guardians of the Galaxy are known worldwide, while Blue Beetle…well, he’s got a lot of work to do if he wants to become a relevant mainstay in the DC Cinematic Universe.
The DCCU is still in a state of flux, as the Snyder-verse is still slowly closing out (and will do so this holiday season with Aquaman 2), and the Gunn-verse doesn’t truly kickstart until Superman: Legacy in 2025. The release date for Blue Beetle didn’t really help its cause, landing between The Flash and Aquaman 2, which gives the vibe to audiences that it’s part of that no longer relevant Snyder-verse. But Blue Beetle is one of the handful of current DCCU superheroes that James Gunn has stated will carry over to the new universe. Sadly, the movie doesn’t do the character any justice, so my excitement for Blue Beetle moving forward is non-existent at this point.
As mentioned at the start, it’s vital to deliver a strong first outing for such a niche superhero in order to get newer fans who have no idea who Blue Beetle is on board for the long haul. Sadly, director Angel Manuel Soto and screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer just completely miss the mark here, as the film is an absolute mess tonally, having no clue if it wants to be a slapstick, goofy tale of a regular guy getting superpowers, or make a statement about social inequality with a minority superhero at the forefront, or be about the strength and bond of family overcoming adversity, so instead it tries to do all of them in the most cliché ways possible and completely fails to bring anything original or interesting to the table while doing so.
The hero of the story is Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), the first Reyes to graduate postsecondary school, doing so from Gotham Law University. When he returns home to his family he finds out that they’re in financial ruin, about to lose their house, and the family business has gone under. He wishes they would have told him sooner, but they say his education was more important and they’ll be fine. How? The power of positive thinking, I suppose, but it’s not really important, as we’ve got silly jokes to get to!
Not surprisingly Jaime can’t find work because of the economy, so his sister, Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), gets him a job where she works, cleaning the mansion of Kord Industries co-founder and CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). In the middle of their shift Milagro says she has to take a “huge dump” and wants to do so in luxury, so she tells Jaime to keep watch while she does so inside the mansion. In a bathroom, of course. This is stupid and crude comedy, but not uncivilized. Inside, Victoria is having an argument with her niece, Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the daughter of missing Kord co-founder Ted Kord. Jaime gets involved after things get heated, just as Milagro exits the bathroom bragging about the dump she just took. Both are fired by Victoria, but Jenny feels bad and tells Jaime to come to the Kord building the next day and she’ll find him a job.
There’s a ridiculous scene where Jaime is about to enter the building and as he does so it’s revealed that his family dropped him off and they’re all chanting for him as he goes inside. Again, there’s just so much randomness tonally that it’s hard to ever latch on to anything. As a viewer, there’s no frustration being felt when we discover the poor part of town that the Reyes family lives in is being overtaken by the rich because it’s brought up so nonchalantly and then coated over with jokes about taking a big poop in a mansion. The stakes just don’t ever feel real and neither do any of these characters.
That’s probably one of the biggest issues with the movie, in that none of these characters feel like they’re living in reality. Sure, they’re facing some of the same issues we’re facing, but they’re all so one-dimensional that it’s actually crazy that the movie got made as it is. We’re decades and dozens of massive blockbusters into the superhero craze, so at this point you can’t be dishing out the bare minimum and expecting audiences to latch on just because – especially with a character as minor as Blue Beetle.
I saw the movie and I actually still have little to no idea who Blue Beetle is, what he can do, or what purpose he serves in the bigger picture. When I spoke about cliches we’ve got things like Jaime going to the Kord building and being tasked with watching over an ancient alien scarab, even if he isn’t aware that he’s been tasked with that. He takes it home, his family chants him into opening the box the scarab is in (they really love chanting) and it instantly chooses Jaime as its host. It attaches itself to him, creates the Blue Beetle armor around him and then launches him out into the stratosphere, quite literally.
This is actually fine, as Jaime has to get his powers somehow; however, it’s everything that comes after that doesn’t work. We get a quick test drive of the suit, and then Jaime returns back home. Jaime is freaking out because the scarab has melded onto his spine, but his family just kind of go, “Ah, that’s gross,” and that’s pretty much their reaction as they rebuild the parts of the house Jaime destroyed earlier. Jaime then goes to find Jenny at Kord so he can get the scarab removed, but she’s being shot at in the street by Kord soldiers when he arrives because that’s what you do out in the open when you’re a massive company.
As mentioned prior, everyone is one-dimensional, especially our villain Victoria. I have to believe that Sarandon owed someone a huge favour and they cashed it in here, as she’s a great actress who phones it in on all fronts, checking off every box in the generic bad guy guide book throughout the movie. She has a Latino assistant or…lab guy who works for her? His name is Dr. Sanchez (Harvey Guillén) and I’m not sure what his job is, but he pops up a few times and she never remembers his name, which upsets him even though he never mentions it. That’s the extent of his depth as a character, so when he finally stands up for himself the moment falls so incredibly flat and seems so out of place because the scene is shot like they’ve built up this relationship between the audience and this character when in reality there’s absolutely nothing there. He’s just a generic nobody played by a recognizable actor that they’ve done nothing with and expect audiences to care because it’s a cliché “stand up for yourself” moment.
That’s just Blue Beetle as a whole though, as he’s not a hero properly built up so that audiences could rally behind him. Is Jaime a good guy? Of course. Is he the type of character that could take these powers and use them for good? Yes. Do they deliver on any of that here? No. In fact, Jaime is captured partway through the film and it’s up to his family to go rescue him. Yes, for a solid 30-minutes of a two-hour movie Jaime is detained and it’s up to Jenny, Jaime’s sister, his mom, his uncle and 80-something year-old Nana Reyes (Adriana Barraza) to rescue him.
Again, it’s the tone issue here, as a terrible (albeit again, very cliché) thing has happened prior to Jaime’s capture, and it’s a moment where the audience has a chance to feel bad for Jaime and his family, but instead his Nana says the time to cry is later, now is a time for action…and she throws a giant, futuristic looking gatling gun over her shoulder and prepares for war, as people her age do. Then her family all fly off in the Blue Beetle ship (which belonged to Jenny’s father) because somehow they are all trained pilots as well. It’s just such a mess, and they keep attempting to build up tension or stakes and then they knock down any progress with Nana Reyes taking down a dozen guards with her gatling gun as she cackles and yells “Viva la revolución,” or something close to it, referring to her time as a resistance fighter earlier in life.
Blue Beetle just hits all the notes of a paint-by-numbers, completely cliché superhero movie while attempting to be – or at least wishing it was – something more. And it could have been! That’s the sad part. This was the first time a Latino lead superhero film was created and it deserved better than this. The one thing that’s clear is that Maridueña is a great choice for the lead role, and he and Marquezine have solid chemistry. With the proper story and character development there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been a stronger movie all around that left audiences hoping that Blue Beetle would return in the upcoming Gunn-verse.
As it stands, I don’t know where Blue Beetle fits because even after spending two plus hours with the Reyes clan, I still don’t know much about what this scarab is, how powerful it is, or what it really wants. At one point in a battle Jaime takes a solid blow, but it’s nothing crazy and his symbiotic suit tells him it can no longer protect him. What? This alien suit that has chosen you takes one stabbing blow to the midsection and it taps out? That doesn’t sound overly impressive. Gunn has stated that he does plan to have Jaime Reyes be a big player in the DCCU moving forward, and with that being the case he’ll have to work some of his niche character magic when it comes to lining up the right creative team to deliver on a sequel (which I’d almost make a soft-reboot), because as it stands there’s sadly nothing about this movie that has left me excited or wanting to see more of these characters as they are ever again.
4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
If the movie was as good as it looks then DC would have a winner, because the 4K transfer of Blue Beetle looks fantastic. Warner Bros. has done a top tier job here, so if you are looking to add the movie to your collection then know it’s going to look incredible when showcased on your home theater setup. There are plenty of night scenes or darker scenes and all pop beautifully, with no muddy, hard to see areas and a strong amount of detail across the board be it night or day. The suit also looks great and unique, which is why it’s unfortunate that we both see so little of it, and also learn so little about it.
On the audio side of things we’ve got a superb Dolby Atmos track which just surrounds the viewer during the action scenes. If you’re wondering what it’s like to be an elderly woman in the middle of an attack on the base of an evil CEO, well look no further! Jokes aside, they’ve also done a fantastic job here, really bringing the film and world of Blue Beetle to life from an audio and visual standpoint.
Special Features:
Blue Beetle Generations – This feature is broken up into four pieces, which are as follows:
Origins – This part comes in at seven-and-a-half minutes and focuses on the legacy of the character from the comics, and modernizing him for the movie.
Production Begins – This second part is a heftier 16-minutes in length and we step behind-the-scenes to when the crew first came together, costume design, and various other topics with the cast and crew.
In Full Flight – This part comes in at just over 9-minutes in length and we see Maridueña training for the part, as well as the action sequences that took place in Puerto Rico.
A Hero’s World – Lastly, we’ve got this 13-and-a-half minute which focuses mostly on the Reyes family, and their compassion for one another.
Scarab Vision – This featurette is broken down into two episodes, one called Initiation, and the second called Mastery. Episode one is six-and-a-half minutes long, and episode two is just under 7-minutes. The first part touches on Jaime trying to understand the powers of his suit, and the second part focuses on the climactic battle where he kind of understands them better somehow by that point?
Blue Beetle’s Nana Knows Best – This is a featurette that’s just over 4-minutes long and focuses on Nana Reyes. I’m sure there’s a way where the character could’ve been endearing, and I’m sure some found her funny, but again, personally, the constant tonal shifts just caused her scenes in the latter half of the film to feel ridiculous.
Disclaimer: A review copy of this Blu-ray was sent to me to cover in honest and truthful fashion.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents Blue Beetle. Directed by: Angel Manuel Soto. Written by: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Starring: Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Becky G, George Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Guillén, Adriana Barraza, Belissa Escobedo, Elpidia Carrillo, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo. Running time: 127 Minutes. Rating: PG. Released on 4K Blu-ray: Oct. 31, 2023.
