Sometimes, it is hard for us to remember what it was like seeing a superhero movie where we knew very little about them going into it.
When this happens, it makes the film more intriguing, such as the original Iron Man (2008) and first Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), films that were massive successes regardless if you knew the source material or not. It also helped that (at the time of release) the characters were not entirely in the first class for their creator’s. In the case of Blue Beetle, the DC character is barely in the third class of characters, but that is not entirely a bad thing.
Even if the Blue Beetle was in a higher class, that would not stop it from getting it’s own origin story. After an ancient scarab is found by Kord industries and it’s CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), it is brought back to Palmera City. At the same time, coming back to his home of Palmera City (from Gotham City, no less) is recent college grad Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña of Cobra Kai), only to discover his family is facing eviction. He eventually gets a job with his sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo) that gets him connected to Victoria’s rebellious niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine). Eventually (as you can guess), the scarab finds its way into Jaime’s hands, and transforms his life in every way imaginable.
The Blue Beetle, in a nutshell (or beetle shell? I don’t know), has powers that are reminiscent of the aforementioned Iron Man (he has an AI voice he can talk to, voiced by Becky G), while the character of Jaime has shades of Spider-Man. One thing Jaime has that many other super heroes lack (and is the main strength of the movie) is his family. This is due mainly to the cast, which includes Damián Alcázar as Jaime’s father Alberto, Elpidia Carrillo as Jaime’s mother Rocio, George Lopez as Uncle Rudy (who is somewhat of a conspiracy theorist) and Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza (2006’s Babel) as Nana, one of the more unforgettable grandmother characters in recent years.
As for the CGI, the results are pretty standard. There is nothing new to praise about the inevitable battle scenes with Victoria’s bodyguard (Raoul Trujillo), but that does not make them less affecting. However, there is one brief moment where we see some of the worst CGI flamingos I can remember in a film. Nevertheless, the CGI of the film still passes The Flash (which is not saying much at all).
Parents, the film has nothing sexual in it (minus one line near the end that would go over a kids head). The swearing is consistent, but nothing a middle schooler would not have heard nowadays (the F word is not said, but is hinted at.) The violence is nothing too graphic either (save for one scene with blood being splattered on a window. Middle school and above.
This is only the third film by director Ángel Manuel Soto (the first I have seen) and is easily his biggest project to date. He has, for the most part, delivered a product that had many a hill to climb. The film is in the midst of a reset for films set in the DC universe, it is being released at the end of the summer (and weeks after the juggernaut that was Barbenheimer), and stars a cast of Latinos.
Even so, the result is one of the few live action superhero flicks of the year so far that truly has it’s own shine (it’s only true competition at this point would be Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3). Whether we like it or not.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 