Blue Beetle Review: Heart, Head, Humour, Action, and Lore Put to Good Use
Cast: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Elpidia Carrillo, Belissa Escobedo, Bruna Marquezine, Harvey Guillén, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, Becky G
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Where to Watch: In theaters
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The Blue Beetle has been an integral part of the American superhero pantheon since 1939, first for Fox Comics and Charlton Comics and then, through the introduction of Charlton characters into the DC universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, for DC Comics. First, it was Dan Garret, then Ted Kord, and, since 2006, Jaime Reyes, with the latter who, net of appearances by his two predecessors, is currently the main incarnation of the hero, and therefore the logical choice for the film that marks the character’s cinematic debut, the penultimate piece of the DC Extended Universe before the reboot by James Gunn and Peter Safran scheduled for 2025.
Almost quietly, on a hot and improbable Thursday in August, Blue Beetle arrives in theaters. It is a pleasant, boisterous, fun, and rewarding surprise! Not only is the film directed by Angel Manuel Soto starring Xolo Maridueña (the Miguel of the TV series Cobra Kai – Netflix) hands down one of the best DC films, especially when compared to the latest releases, but more generally one of the best cinecomics in absolute managing to respond with intelligence and a big heart to the fatigue and drift that the genre is going through.
Blue Beetle Review: The Story Plot
Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) has just graduated from the University of Gotham with a law degree. He is ready to return home to Palmera City to his family in search of a well-paying job. However, the reality is quite different. Kord Industries is also gentrifying the outskirts of the city and the Reyes are in danger of losing their home. Jaime then accepts a job as a janitor with his sister Milagro right at the villa of Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). There, in a spirit of gallantry, Jaime takes the defense of Jennifer Kord, the daughter of Ted Kord, a deceased philanthropist and former CEO of Kord Industries, during an argument with Victoria. The girl shows sympathy for Jaime, who is fired for her gesture and offers to give him a job. Jaime takes the offer literally and the following day he shows up at the Kord Industries headquarters, ending up in the middle of the rivalry between Jennifer and Victoria.
The girl steals the Scarab, a mysterious artifact that Victoria wants to use to perfect her military technology called OMAC. Confronted by Jaime, Jennifer entrusts him with the Scarab. What looks like a tacky knick-knack however activates by choosing Jaime as its host by fusing with his spine and enveloping him in electric blue armor with abilities as extraordinary as they are unpredictable. While Jaime, helped by Jennifer and her family, tries to understand what the Scarab is and how it works, Victoria sets out on its trail by unleashing the unstoppable Carapax against it. It is precisely by hitting his family that Jaime falls dramatically and is captured but the Reyes are resilient and Jaime will have to enter into symbiosis with the Scarab to save his life and that of his family.
Blue Beetle Review and Analysis
Blue Beetle is above all an intelligent film. He knows he has to play with the topos of the hero’s origins, of not being able to free himself from certain stylistic elements, especially for a character who is almost unknown to the huge public, and therefore he plays with a humor that is never over the top and with a huge heart that sinks its roots in that Latinity that becomes the backbone of a film that manages to speak to everyone, adults, and children, without being redundant but on the contrary inclusive in the broadest sense of the term. Like another hugely successful franchise, Fast and Furious, Blue Beetle is also about identity and family.
With a truly varied supporting cast capable of carving out their moments, the film travels between the excellent performance of its protagonist Xolo Maridueña and the screenplay signed by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer that manages to balance important themes with the elements of the lore of a character like Blue Beetle who has lived, in comics terms, different incarnations all united by the same element which is the mainstay of the film or the Beetle. Maridueña perfectly plays the role of the underdog. First, as a young college graduate looking for a job where he can help his family and then as a reluctant hero who must learn to live with potentially lethal sentient technology. Her proof of him travels on the strings of a genuine emotionality, tough when it comes to fighting but also incredibly awkward in interpersonal relationships. His Jaime Reyes is a character that even younger viewers can easily relate to.
In the typical chaos of cinecomics, between fights, armor and explosions, the screenplay manages to insert relevant issues such as the aforementioned gentrification but also immigration and prejudice, economic disparity, and even the militarization suffered by certain South American countries. Compared to other cinecomics that have wanted to impose the concepts of identity and community, Blue Beetle shows that identity is something that must be embraced and cultivated to be understood and appreciated by all without false rhetoric.
In all of this, Blue Beetle is one of the few cinecomics of the latest wave that exploits the lore, the mythology, of the character not as a luxurious MacGuffin to be used when necessary but as a real narrative scaffolding which on the one hand supports the film in its less brilliant moments and on the other it makes DC fans jump from their seats who are not only overwhelmed by a series of references but also because, for the first time, they see the concept of legacy hero finally transposed worthily on the big screen. To corroborate the goodness of the operation there is not only a reinterpretation, compared to its comic counterpart, of the origins of Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle that works but if Jaime was not the first Blue Beetle why not exploit everything by leaving the door open for a possible sequel?
Blue Beetle convinces but, especially in the first act, it is a bit formulaic, so much so that some dialogues are stereotyped, and some passages of the plot are very predictable. The plot, as mentioned above, is linear, moving at times with personality but lacking particular flashes compared to the patterns of the more classic origin stories. Where there is a lack of a twist or a straw man capable of misleading the viewer sequences all devoted to emotion are opted for, perfect for the story being told but which have a very different function.
In this sense, the idea of dividing the villain into two distinct figures is good. The muscles of Carapax, which has the task of closing the film with the inevitable final battle in the third act, and the brain of Victoria Kord or a Machiavellian but perhaps too cartoonish Susan Sarandon. The result is a two-dimensionality of the antagonists that don’t help the hero to stand out. From a technical point of view, Soto’s directing solutions and Pawel Pogorzelski’s photography all point towards functional effectiveness for the type of story being told. No camera movements or particularly innovative solutions, and some passages are even a bit too televised to report, but nothing dramatic. Also in this sense, the first act is less personal, compared to a second where Palmera City is more chiseled with neon lights and more intriguing vaporwave atmospheres also thanks to the soundtrack by Bobby Krlic in which the orchestrations give way to more effective synths.
From a technical point of view, Soto’s directing solutions and Pawel Pogorzelski’s photography all point towards functional effectiveness for the type of story being told. No camera movements or particularly innovative solutions, and some passages are even a bit too televised to report, but nothing dramatic. Also in this sense, the first act is less personal, compared to a second where Palmera City is more chiseled with neon lights and more intriguing vaporwave atmospheres also thanks to the soundtrack by Bobby Krlic in which the orchestrations give way to more effective synths. The sore point of all the latest cinecomics: CGI and special effects. Thanks to the director’s willingness to use as many practical effects as possible, including a functional suit for Xolo Maridueña and the stunt team, Blue Beetle‘s CGI and special effects are absolutely convincing.
There is no big flaw and a couple of tricks, from the sequences in the dark to the fluorescence of the suit itself, help to camouflage some inaccuracies but the result is a feast for the eyes. Just take the last act as an example where there are two battles: the first indoors play on a beautiful practical choreography, and the second, flying, relies more on special effects ideally breaking the tension of a long sequence entrusted only to the typical CGI of third acts of cinecomics. Blue Beetle is a fun, family-friendly movie experience unlike any other in a while. The good balance between action, the interaction of the characters, themes, and humor makes the vision never boring for both newbies and fans of the DC universe in comics and otherwise.
Blue Beetle‘s formula is simple but effective and addictive. After the genre’s dangerous drift towards action comedies with vulgar or blockbuster humor that fail to hit the target, both emotionally and in terms of production, this film demonstrates that perhaps by taking a small step back and delving into the heart and the mythology of these characters it is still possible to make enjoyable and interesting films. Specks, at times, of which the need was not felt and which we hope – for the film – will meet the taste of the spectators to whom it is addressed, but also which will not prevent the Blue Beetle from returning in the next chapters of this extended universe.
Blue Beetle Review: The Last Words
Blue Beetle is a pleasant, boisterous, fun, and rewarding surprise! Not only is the film directed by Angel Manuel Soto starring Xolo Maridueña (the Miguel of the TV series Cobra Kai – Netflix) hands down one of the best DC films, especially when compared to the latest releases, but more generally one of the best cinecomics in absolute managing to respond with intelligence and a big heart to the fatigue and drift that the genre is going through. Without explicit ties to the macro-history of the DC Extended Universe, Jaime Reyes’ screen debut is a predictable but enjoyable tale of youth in a “super” sauce.
Blue Beetle Review: Heart, Head, Humour, Action, and Lore Put to Good Use - Filmyhype
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Date Created: 2023-08-18 14:05
3.5
Pros
- a classic origin story but with a huge heart
- funny but never vulgar
- the lore of the character is exploited in an intelligent way
- great special and visual effects
Cons
- plot and dialogues are in some situations predictable
- two-dimensional villains
- some naive passage in terms of photography and cinematography
