Courtesy Warner Bros. Picture
Despite hitting lower numbers in its opening week than the bigwigs at DC Studios would have liked, Blue Beetle has toppled the long-running number-one revenue streak claimed by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie this week with roughly $25 million in earnings—even if the very epitome of only OK. Sadly, however, Blue Beetle might fall prey to fewer production and marketing machinations due to its Chicano-heavy cast despite its being full of winners like George Lopez (because somehow studios still think audiences are more interested in white-heavy flicks; remember the bad CGI from the first Black Panther?).
Here we join Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña, Cobra Kai), fresh out of college and returned to his Miami-like fictional home town of Palmera City. He’s not off the plane two seconds before learning his dad (Damián Alcázar) had a heart attack and lost his auto shop business, but nobody wanted to worry him with that stuff while he was at school. Also terrible, the family (including mom Rocio, Elpidia Carrillo; sister Milagro, Belissa Escobedo; grandma Nana, Adriana Barraza; and uncle, Lopez) is about to lose their home to the local mega-corp Kord, which is run by the cartoonishly evil Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). Jaime somehow comes into contact with Vicky’s niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine), who has stolen some kind of space beetle (voiced by Becky G) from the company. The thing turns out to be space armor, and so begins Jaime’s Spider-Man-meets-Iron Man thing, all while a movie from a corporation tells us how evil corporations can be.
Maridueña is effortlessly charismatic between his wide-eyed “family forever!” thing and the pains of a young guy coming to terms with the way the world works while in possession of space armor. Escobedo steals the show as his sister, though, and most scenes are better with her—ditto the rest of the Reyes clan, who collectively find a believable familial dynamic crammed with broad and in-jokes about Mexican family. These are the best parts of Blue Beetle, especially Lopez’s paranoid Uncle Rudy, whose delusions turn out to be warranted.
Sarandon’s evil business lady character is terrible, however. She literally says stuff like, “As you know, our plan is to have the beetle so we can make better weapons!” What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén lands on the receiving end of much of this janky exposition, and it’s only sad he doesn’t have a bigger role as he’s proven one of the more interesting actors working today. The rest is exactly what you think it is, though it might be important to see this one so we can prove to Hollywood that we’re ready for fewer Captain Americas and more varied representation. Besides, we want to see what more Maridueña can do with a less formulaic script, and maybe the sequel could go nuts.
5
+Maridueña is awesome; bright lights and silly fun
-Clunky writing; feels run-of-the-mill
Blue Beetle
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto
With Maridueña, Lopez, Escobedo, Alcazár, Carrillo, Barraza, Guillén and Sarandon
Violet Crown, Regal, PG-13, 127 min.
