Blue Beetle (2023) Review

 "Is that the new Tamagotchi?"

-Rudy Reyes

While trying to get a job to help his struggling family, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) comes into contact with an alien scarab that attaches itself to him.  To the shock of Jaime and his family, the scarab gives Jaime superpowers.  Unfortunately, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) needs the scarab for her new weapons program and will do anything to get it back.

What Works:

I was really skeptical of Blue Beetle when I first saw the trailer.  This was a superhero that I had never heard of and the trailer made the movie look like a very generic superhero origin story.  Add on DC's track record as of late and I was considering skipping this movie until the reviews dropped.  While this is a fairly generic superhero origin story, it's a very well made one.  It has a lot of heart and a lot of craft.  If we're going to keep making this kind of movie, this is the way to do it.

This is a very family-oriented superhero movie.  It's not just Jaime vs. the world while trying to keep his powers secret from his family.  His entire family learns he has powers at the same time he does.  They all play an active role in the story and are critical in helping him save the day.  They're a fun group and the actors make you believe this a tight and loving family.  The emotional connection they have really makes the movie.

The best of the bunch is Adriana Barraza as Jaime's grandmother.  I don't want to give anything away, but Nana rules and is absolutely my favorite character in the movie. 

The MCU is pretty notorious for undercutting every emotional moment in their scripts with a joke.  That's great if you want to ease the tension, but the MCU does it way too much and DC has followed suit in recent years.  It's okay to let the audience feel sad.  We don't always need to be laughing.  While Blue Beetle certainly has the funny zingers, they let the emotional scenes play out and make you really feel it.  I felt myself tearing up at certain moments because the movie doesn't relieve the tension.  The characters go through sad and painful moments and take you with them.  You feel what they feel.  It was unbelievably refreshing to have this happen in a superhero movie especially because it's not just one scene where the movie gets serious.  This happens multiple times.

Blue Beetle has possibly my favorite score of they year.  I absolutely love this movie's music and I would totally listen to it on its own.  The synth pairs well with the old 80's tech they use a few times in the movie.

Finally, the villains are pretty one-note, but it actually works.  I think there are two ways to do a villain.  You can either have a complex character or a one-note, cartoonishly evil villain.  If you're going to take the second option, you have to make the character really evil so the audience just hates them with a passion.  That's the case here.  Victoria Kord is a very one-note, mustache-twirling villain, but man, is she easy to hate.  It works for the type of movie this is.

What Sucks:

In the first half of the movie, a good chunk of the humor falls flat for me.  In the early stages of the movie, you can really feel the generic quality of the story and the humor doesn't help.  As the movie goes on and becomes its own thing, this stops, but the movie doesn't have the most promising start.

The biggest complaint I have is that the alien scarab, Khaji-Da (Becky G), has almost no development.  This is a sentient character with a will of its own.  I would have loved to learn more about it.  All we know is that it's extraterrestrial.  We don't really know what it wants or how it got to Earth.  Maybe they're saving that story for a sequel, but I think we needed more of Khaji-Da and Jaime interacting, learning about each other, and bonding.

Verdict:

I went into this movie expecting very little and I was beyond impressed.  Sure, the movie has a generic story and a slow start, but it becomes a very impressive origin story movie with great characters, plenty of emotional moments, and fantastic music.  If we're going to have any more superhero origin story movies, this should be the blueprint.  In a word, I would call this movie refreshing.

 8/10: Really Good