by Jeffery Rahming, Contributing Writer
In the past few years, you never know what you’ll get when it comes to DC movies. Their projects vary wildly in quality, from the disappointing mess that is Batman v Superman to instant classics like Joker. This year has been especially rough. Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash bombed, and Blue Beetle is on track to suffer the same financial fate. There’s no denying that Blue Beetle is a step up for DC compared to their other releases this year, but it still struggles to break out of its generic superhero box.
We follow Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), a recent college graduate who returns home to find his family in a challenging money situation. When he gets an opportunity for a job that could provide for his household, he ends up with more than he bargains for when an alien bio-weapon called the Scarab attaches itself to him. This brings him into the crosshairs of CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who wants to use the alien technology to produce an army of powerful mechanical soldiers.
From a story perspective, this movie is about as cookie-cutter as you could get. There’s a formula for superhero origins, and Blue Beetle follows it to the letter, but the supporting cast saves the film from being completely generic. The Reyes family feels remarkably authentic. It’s like the director just walked in and started filming in a random home. The sense of culture and love you get from the family scenes brings the heart to a plot that desperately needs some. Some standouts are Adriana Barraza as Jaime’s grandmother and Belissa Escobedo as his sister, Milargo. However, the surprise MVP is George Lopez as Jaime’s inventor uncle, Rudy. In fact, he is so good he kind of steals the show. Halfway through, I was wishing he was the main character.
The most underserved character is the one whose name is in the title. Ironically, even though the family dynamics are the best part, the film’s focus on them takes away from developing Jaime more as a lead character. He isn’t that interesting of a protagonist, especially compared to the other characters. Maridueña tries his best, but he just can’t manage to make him that compelling. The family gets all the charm and the comic relief, and Jaime gets a few action sequences, a very bland love story with Jenny Kord, Victoria’s rebellious niece, and a fair share of cheesy moments. The costume and how his powers are portrayed are enjoyable, but I wanted more of it. Especially since the suit can, in its own words, “make anything,” there was a lot of opportunity for the action scenes to be super creative. An opportunity that was rarely taken, unfortunately. Though there are a few fun moments, none of the action scenes stand out.
The villains are also incredibly boring. Sarandon does what I call a veteran phone-in. She’s clearly barely trying, but since this is an Oscar-winning actress, even while phoning it in, it’s still a somewhat entertaining performance. Even if she did put more effort in, she doesn’t have enough to work with. Victoria feels like a character straight out of a cheesy ’90s action movie. She has no personality traits besides being cartoonishly evil, and it’s hard to take her seriously. Even her henchman, Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), would’ve made for a better lead villain. He’s still a pretty dull bad guy, but compared to his boss, he might as well be Darth Vader.
Even with its flaws, Blue Beetle does have its fun parts. The action is entertaining enough, it’s got its funny moments, and it’s got a lot of heart. But with the avalanche of superhero stories we’ve seen in the last decade, it feels a bit same old, same old. There have been so many movies with this exact same story structure that it can’t escape how familiar and tired most audiences are with its clichés. Add in a bland main character and a few laughably corny moments, and what you get is a pretty mediocre experience, even though it tries its hardest not to be. If this came out 15 years ago, it would’ve been a pretty unique take on the genre, but in this era, Blue Beetle doesn’t do enough to break away from the pack.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Blue Beetle is currently playing in theaters
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