A One Mann’s Movies review of “Blue Beetle” (2023).
In my BBC Radio Solent film review slot with Lucy Ambache I dismissed this with a “who needs another superhero movie” comment. But at the start of this one, I was wondering if I’d need to eat my words. Because it did deliver something a bit different.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) returns from a US college to find life in his home town of Palmera City, Texas to be very different from when he left. His father Alberto (Damián Alcázar) has been seriously ill and they have had to sell their auto-repair business. The family is struggling to make ends meet. Jaime is determined to help, but when he applies for a job at Kord industries and runs into the rebellious Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezin) he gets more than he bargained for.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate violence, threat, bloody images, infrequent strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring:
Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezin, Damián Alcázar, George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Belissa Escobedo, Elpidia Carrillo, Susan Sarandon, Raoul Max Trujillo.
Directed by: Angel Manuel Soto.
Written by: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.
Twitter Handle: #BlueBeetle.
Xolo Maridueña stars as Jaime. (Source: DC Studios).
“Blue Beetle” Review:
Positives:
- The first 30 minutes of the film does nothing but build backstory and character for Jaime and the Reyes family. What?? In a superhero film??! It was great. We meet his teasing but loving little sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), his loving father (Damián Alcázar), his loud but clever Uncle Rudy (George Lopez), his ‘clearly-stressed-but-hiding-it-well’ mum Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo) and his hilarious Nana with a past (Adriana Barraza). What is nicely built by the end of this 30 minutes is a picture of a poor but loving family struggling to survive in the poorer area of the sparkling and opulent metropolis. I was reminded of what a live-action remake of “Encanto” (please Disney, no!) might look like.
- The leads are particularly attractive. Xolo Maridueña (from TV’s Cobra Kai) is eye-candy for the ladies (etc), having great screen charisma too. And to balance the books, Brazilian beauty Bruna Marquezin is drop-dead gorgeous, with the cool grace and elegance of an Audrey Hepburn. In terms of acting style, she also reminded me of a young Ally Sheedy.
- As the Rev Andy Godfrey, my illustrious colleague from our “Flickering Dreams” podcast, pointed out, this is different from many superhero films in that the family is “in on” the secret. He actually first transforms into the titular superhero directly in front of them! There’s none of the Spider-Man “let’s keep it from Aunt May” stuff going on here. That’s quite refreshing: the family become a bunch of Robin’s to his Batman.
- Susan Sarandon chews the scenery wonderfully as the villain of the piece, with a suitable wry twinkle in her eye.
- Nana turning into Arnold Schwarzenegger with a machine gun twice her size is hilarious.
Negatives:
- While the film starts really strongly, we descend in the last half of the film into traditional crashy-bangy CGI superhero stuff. Sigh.
- I’ve seen comment that some found Uncle Rudi (George Lopez) to be rather grating. I didn’t necessarily find that. But I just didn’t get where all his technology smarts came from. This had that old trope of him sitting in front of a bunch of alien computer screens and saying “Hang on a minute while I log into this. And then he is able to pilot strange craft without a single lesson! It’s all eye-rollingly unbelievable. Indeed the whole back-story of Ed Kord NOT being able to make the scarab work, but then having (magically) replicated all the technology he thinks it WOULD HAVE HAD to become a (pre-film) Blue Beetle superhero is just a huge great WTF sandwich of nonsense.
- The denouement with the semi-cyborg Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo) ‘doing a Jaws in “Moonraker”’ (if you know what I mean) feels rather weak and feeble in the storytelling.
Monkeys?
Yes, there are both mid-credit and post-credit monkeys. I predicted, correctly, what the mid-credit one would be, setting up for a sequel that – now James Gunn is at the DC helm – will probably never happen. The post-credit scene is random and not really worth staying for.
Summary Thoughts on ”Blue Beetle”
This is a better superhero movie than many, since it takes time to build an interesting set of characters. But, for me, it managed to lose its way during the execution so I tucked my 4* rating back in my pocket again.
By the way, due to some quite upsetting (and well done) scenes of grief, and with more violence than usual, this is one that I think earns its ‘12’ certificate. Probably not suitable for pre-10 superhero fans. (This warning is off the back of me recommending “Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves” to my daughter as a ‘family watch’ and then inflicting emotional damage on two of my grandkids!)
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Trailer for “Blue Beetle”:
The trailer is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vS3_72Gb-bI.
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