After a string of box office disappointments — “Black Adam,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash” — Warner Bros/DC superhero films have become like production Kryptonite and have suffered as a result. The DC production team has now turned to a young Hispanic character — who isn’t accustomed to seeing his reflection in Hollywood comic book spectacles — until now with “Blue Beetle,” their latest offering. Compared to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle is a lesser known thus a less finely defined character leaving it open to adaptation. So the company hopes that Blue Beetle is going to save the day.
The story of Blue Beetle is built around a close-knit Mexican-American family which is scraping by in a shiny fictional place, Palmera City. Son Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), a fresh-faced college graduate with big dreams, naïvely believes that with his new degree he’s going to save his family. Father Alberto (Damián Alcázar) has had a heart attack and his family is about to be kicked out of their cosy barrio home by a colossal tech company called Kord Industries, led by cutthroat Victoria (Susan Sarandon), who intends to create an privatized robotic army.
The film opens with Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), a mysterious, hulking man, and Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) on screen. Feeling slighted by her family, who have taken control of Kord Industries through its male members even though she shared in its formation, Victoria pulled the company out from under her nephew Ted Kord, the previous Blue Beetle, who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. Now, Victoria and Carapax seek “the scarab,” an ancient piece of alien biotechnology that was lost when Ted was no longer active.
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Given what his family has sacrificed, Jaime is still stuck cleaning hotel rooms with his sister and is saddled with guilt. So after a chance encounter with Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), Victoria’s niece, Jaime jumps at a chance job opportunity.
He turns up at Kord headquarters just as Jenny hands him a stolen blue metallic scarab from the company’s laboratory which was hidden in a fast-food box. Soon, Jaime discovers the beetle a sentient, ancient alien technology which has a mind of its own. It fuses with Jaime, protecting him and granting him the ability to fly, heal wounds quickly and create any weapon he imagines in his mind all through a creepy-crawly super-suit with a female AI voice (Becky G).
Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, Blue Beetle,” has a light tone, and is lively and sincere due to the tenacity and indomitability of the Reyes family. Their chaotic ensemble scenes are some of the movie’s most delightful moments which are truly unexpected. Everyone in the Reyes family is a hero in some way. Reyes resolves the problems that come up in the film in ways that feel real and true to the characters, particularly in the case of George Lopez as Uncle Rudy, an anti-government, anti-establishment, and technology whiz who provides most of the film’s cynical humor and delivers them with perfect comic timing. There are running gags throughout the film. Wherever Jaime goes, his entire family is never far behind. This both makes him feel loved and embarrasses the hell out of him at the same time.
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“Blue Beetle” embrace of Mexican American culture gives the film its most interesting, sometimes dark texture. It also leans towards such themes as class, Issues of immigration, gentrification and economic inequality. Several members of the Reyes family are undocumented, so that heightens suspicions of government involvement. It shows this Latino family having to claw their way into a so often inhospitable society, while respecting the authenticity of the characters and their lived experience.
And you can understand Jenny’s connection with the Reyes family after her mother’s death and father’s disappearance. The main reason she’s drawn to Jaime is that she admires his close-knit relationship with his family and wishes she had something like that for herself. Actor Maridueña has already done amazing work as an actor in the series “Cobra Kai.” Even though he and Jenny lack some chemistry, Maridueña comes into his own as a superhero in “Blue Beetle.”
Though “Blue Beetle” doesn’t necessarily break the mold of superhero movies, it’s good enough to entertain and relate to a family oriented crowd, especially those who have sacrificed so much to stay in this country.
Grade : B+
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