Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Starring Xolo Mariduena, Bruna Marquezine, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto
Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) is a recent college graduate who's struggling to find a job in Palmera City, where he lives in the poor section with his family, including his mother, father, sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), uncle Rudy (George Lopez), and Nana (Adriana Barraza). As he dreams of success, he finds himself working as a cleaner for wealthy businesswoman Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who's in possession of an alien Scarab that she's trying to manipulate to create her own breed of super soldiers. Her niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) - the daughter of the last Blue Beetle Ted Kord - wants to protect the Scarab and use it for good, and one day she steals the Scarab from her aunt and gives it to Jaime, who is there looking for a better job.
Jaime returns home and the Scarab fuses itself to him, creating an exoskeleton around his body that gives him the ability of flight, as well as create any weapon that he thinks of. The Scarab talks to him and tells him that its objective is to protect the host, and Jenny then tells them that the only way to get the Scarab off Jaime is to kill him - otherwise it'll fuse with his mind. Victoria learns Jaime has the Scarab and sets out to get it back at any cost, including killing Jaime and his family to get to it.
The Good:
"Blue Beetle" is the first Latino superhero movie from DC, and more specifically the first Mexican superhero movie, introducing us to mild-mannered Jaime Reyes and his loving, tight-knit family. The political undertones in today's society run rampant throughout the film, and really serves to highlight the disparity between not just the have and the have-nots, but the ethnic minority and the white majority. While Victoria lives in the wealthy side of town, the Reyes' family lives in the slums, where their small barely-there house is on the verge of bankruptcy after Jaime's father loses his business. Jaime - a recent college graduate with a law degree - is forced to find work as a cleaner as opposed to something in his field: something that undoubtedly a man named Jamie would've found. People look down on him and purposefully mispronounce his name (including calling him Jamie), and yet these aren't force-fed down our throats: that's just the day in the life for many Mexican Americans. What's more is when Victoria targets Jaime after he gets the Scarab, and does this by attacking his family. She sends her army on the home, and even tells them to "round them up," which is a violent term that any Mexican American has probably heard at one point or another. Much more than another superhero origin story, it's a story of the melting pot of America and how sadly your color still dictates how you're treated in the supposed land of the free.
Taking this into consideration, you'd be forgiven if you think Blue Beetle exists to save Mexican Americans from unfair laws, but that's not the case. Here, Jaime is not just trying to understand what's happening to him, but protect that which is closest to him: his family. It made me groan during the trailer when Victoria's henchman tells Jaime that his love for his family makes him weak, because that's a trope that also weaves its way through any superhero origin narrative. But here, you feel the heart of the family and you know exactly what Jaime is fighting for, and he's right: it makes him stronger. Unlike the "Shazam!" nuclear family, the Reyes' family feels more connected and more grounded, and all the performers feel like they've been family forever. You feel their connection, you feel their bond, you laugh with them, and, deeply, you cry with them as well. This is a highly emotional movie that I wasn't expecting, and I found my eyes watering a few times throughout. It makes this more than a generic origin story, but a story of hope, perseverance, love, loss, unity, strength, power...and family (somewhere Dom Toretto is smiling).
Xolo Mariduena is a relative newcomer to the scene, most famously appearing in the Netflix series "Cobra Kai," and there was no better young actor to portray Jaime Reyes. He's the Latino Peter Parker: a shy, exuberant, life-loving youth who wants to do the best for his family, including save the world they live in. Xolo's infectious personality makes Jaime a likeable character and, more importantly, a fresh breath of humorous air that the DC needed. He's not brooding like Batman, annoying like The Flash, or perfect like Superman: he's the kid that no one paid attention to, the one who values family over everything, and who's heart is so pure that he foregoes anything that gives him pleasure to help those he cares most for. James Gunn has hinted that he wants to keep Xolo in his new DCU, and I hope that he does: the new DCU needs Blue Beetle.
The performances of the family are the heart of the film, and you feel a deep, personal connection with each one of them. Though I'm not Mexican, I appreciated the way director Angel Manuel Soto incorporated the Mexican heritage and community in the film. While the Reyes' aren't the richest monetarily, their love makes them truly rich. Then there's the powerhouse that's Adriana Barraza who plays the matriarch Nana, a character that's equal parts humorous, tough, and emotional. I'd say we need to protect Nana at all costs, but Nana proves that she can take care of herself.
The Bad:
The moments where the film delves back into the traditional superhero origin story is the weak points of the film. Jaime learns how to work with the Scarab, gets into some altercations that slowly builds his confidence and strength, ultimately leading to a final showdown in the film's final minutes. Through the process he learns to use his new powers, be a hero, and save the world. There's humorous mishaps and secrets revealed, and along the way he learns about being the hero he needs to be.
The effects aren't top-notch, but they're better than recent Marvel films like "Quantumania" and "Love & Thunder." The film was originally supposed to be a streaming-only movie for Max, but test audiences loved the film so much they put it on the big screen. In doing so they didn't change much in the way of production values, and it does feel like an elongated episode of "The Flash" or "Green Arrow" from the CW. The action is rather lackluster as well, apart from Jaime learning that he can craft any weapon he thinks of thanks to the Scarab.
Susan Sarandon is wasted in the role of Victoria Kord, who plays your generic villain who wants to control the world and will stop at nothing to do so, but thankfully she elevates herself a bit above the bland script and gives it a bit of zest that other actresses couldn't do. George Lopez's Uncle Rudy is either annoying or endearing depending on your love for Lopez's comedy - for me I found him a bit grating at times. Bruna Marquezine over-performs as Jenny, making her feel like a Telenova actress as opposed to playing an ordinary character.
The story (apart from focusing on the family and the Mexican heritage) is about as bland as they come, skipping to the beats of other origin movies, but thankfully that's not the brunt of the message.
The Verdict:
Elevating itself above the generic superhero origin movie by focusing on the Mexican heritage and giving us an actual family worth valuing, "Blue Beetle" serves as a surprisingly decent DC outing and introducing us to the infectious performer that is Xolo Mariduena.
The Score: B+
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