I was already getting a little tired of superhero movies because every few months there was another hero getting powers, another villain trying to take over the world and another giant CGI fight at the end.
So when Blue Beetle came along, I was thinking, okay, let's see what this one has and surprisingly, I really enjoyed it... I even asked myself why I took this long to see it..
The movie follows Jaime Reyes, played by Xolo Maridueña, a young guy who has just finished college and comes back home hoping to figure out what he's going to do with his life Instead, he ends up getting connected to an alien scarab called Khaji-Da, which basically attaches itself to him and gives him a powerful suit of armor and from that point, Jaime's normal life is completely finished.
What I really liked about Blue Beetle is that the movie doesn't make Jaime's superhero journey feel like something he's doing alone because his family is basically part of the superhero team and that was probably my favorite thing about the whole movie because usually superheroes spend half the movie hiding their powers from their families but Here, Jaime's family finds out pretty quickly, and instead of running away from him, they basically say, "Okay, you're a superhero now. How do we help?".. It sounds simple, but it gives the movie a lot of heart...
The Reyes family feels like an actual family too. They're loud, funny, supportive and sometimes completely chaotic but The chemistry between them is one of the reasons the movie works so well...
Xolo Maridueña is also really good as Jaime because He's nervous, confused and clearly not prepared for what is happening to him. He doesn't immediately become this confident superhero who knows exactly what he's doing... He's just a young guy trying to protect the people he loves and that made him easy to relate.
The suit itself is also pretty cool... The Scarab can basically create weapons, wings, shields and all kinds of crazy technology around Jaime's body... Some of the action scenes are genuinely fun, especially when Jaime starts getting more comfortable with his abilities.
The family stuff makes the whole movie feel different because there's also more going on underneath the superhero story... The movie touches on family, identity, immigration, gentrification and the way powerful people can take advantage of communities... It's not always subtle, but I appreciated that the movie had something to say beyond the regular good guy fights bad guy...
Susan Sarandon plays Victoria Kord, the main villain, and she's... okay... I didn't hate her, but I also didn't find her particularly memorable... She's one of those villains where you understand what she's doing, but you don't necessarily care about her as a character...
Raoul Max Trujillo's Carapax was more interesting to me because there's an actual tragedy behind his character and then there's Uncle Rudy, played by George Lopez....This man was absolutely ridiculous... Sometimes I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be funny or serious but then I enjoyed him anyway because he brings a lot of energy to the movie.
The action is pretty good too. It's not Avengers: Endgame level or anything, but there are some really entertaining fights, and the Blue Beetle suit looks great when it's actually being used...
The movie also has a very warm feeling that I wasn't expecting.
The CGI can be a little inconsistent...
The villain could have been better....
But in the end, I mostly cared about Jaime and his family.
I finished it thinking, "I actually wouldn't mind watching these characters again."...
Blue Beetle isn't trying to completely reinvent superhero movies... Instead, i see it takes a familiar origin story and gives it a lot of personality through its family, culture and characters...
Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.
