Time: 127 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence, offensive language & content that may disturb
Cast:
Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle
Bruna Marquezine as Jenny Kord
Adriana Barraza as Nana
Damián Alcázar as Alberto Reyes
Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio Reyes
George Lopez as Rudy Reyes
Belissa Escobedo as Milagro Reyes
Raoul Max Trujillo as Ignacio Carapax/OMAC
Susan Sarandon as Victoria Kord
Director: Ángel Manuel Soto

Jaime Reyes suddenly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology called the Scarab. When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he’s bestowed with an incredible suit of armor that’s capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.

I admit that I wasn’t very excited for Blue Beetle, mainly due to the marketing. It was originally a made for HBO MAX movie and that certainty showed in the average looking trailers. However, after witnessing the absolute mess that was The Flash, I started coming around on Blue Beetle and started looking forward to it. There are better movies within the DCEU, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Blue Beetle is a very standard and predictable superhero origin story. That said, it generally gets things right. It has plenty of humour, and while most of it don’t really hit, it doesn’t detract from the movie too much. It’s also just a refreshingly straightforward story. The first act is a little rough, but it really picks up once the protagonist gets the scarab and then his powers. From that point, its pretty consistently entertaining. I appreciated that the movie was standalone. It definitely takes place in a DC Universe (not clear if the DCEU or the upcoming DCU). However, it doesn’t seem like it’s aiming to set up for future movies beyond its own sequel, nor is it relying on other recognisable superhero names in order to boost its popularity. While it goes through familiar beats, much of the emotion especially the heartfelt family stuff was genuine and endearing, and that definitely took the movie far. There are even some surprisingly darker moments which do feel earned.

The movie benefits from a pretty strong cast. Xolo Mariduena is perfectly cast as protagonist Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle, making for a likable, charismatic and relatable lead. The rest of the cast including Bruna Marquezine, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Belissa Escobedo, Elpidia Carillo and George Lopez are good too. The family dynamic between the Reyes family is genuine, and its largely convincing because of the great chemistry between the actors. One flaw is that the villains are pretty weak. Susan Sarandon’s character is incredibly flatly written, but she at least play this role up, even if its far from her best performances. Raoul Max Trujillo as the main henchman fares slightly better, with the writing giving him a little more to work with.

Āngel Manuel Soto’s direction is also solid. Based off the trailers, the visuals looked very unimpressive, bordering on looking like a DC CW show rather than an actual movie. However, in the actual movie, the visuals look much better. It even looks better than The Flash, another DC 2023 film with a considerably larger budget. The CGI can be a little iffy here and there, but otherwise its pretty good, as is the cinematography. It helps that they clearly tried to film on actual sets and locations as much as possible. I particularly really liked the practical Blue Beetle suit that was used, and it especially helped during the action scenes. The action scenes are really good, well captured and with some good choreography. The final battle in the third act is particularly satisfying. There are even some surprising small bits of body horror, most notably with the scene where the scarab bonds with Jaime and turns him into the Blue Beetle. The movie is also accompanied but a solid synth score from Bobby Krlic.

Blue Beetle is a very familiar and straightforward, yet well made and entertaining comic book movie, with some good action, and a great cast. It’s a pretty solid watch, and if Blue Beetle really is the first character in the coming DCU, I would be interested in seeing him appear in more movies.