Film review: ‘BLUE BEETLE’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

After the decidedly mixed critical reception for their last overblown superhero extravaganza, The Flash, those behind the DC Extended Comic Universe would have been very keen to resurrect the fortunes of their franchise with their latest effort Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, despite a few fresh and appealing touches, this is just another generically plotted, noisy, frenzied and juvenile superhero action comedy.

Xolo Mariduena, whom many will know as Miguel Diaz from the highly enjoyable Karate Kid spin-off Cobra Kai, stars as the good-natured and slightly goofy Jaime Reyes who’s just returned home after graduating from Gotham University. Discovering his hard-working family is in serious financial trouble, he takes a job at the estate of resident corporate meanie Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) who has recently gained control of tech giant Kord Industries.  Unbeknown to Jaime, Victoria is hatching a plan to create cyborg super soldiers using Kord’s technology and a mysterious ancient alien scarab discovered in Antarctica.  A chance encounter with Victoria’s niece and Kord exec Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) sees Jaime come into contact with the scarab which promptly attaches itself to him conferring on him a range of high-tech superpowers.  Desperate to regain the scarab to continue her nefarious plan, Victoria unleashes her evil henchman Ignacio (Raoul Max Trujillo) and an army of faceless goons on Jaime which places his much-loved family in the firing line.

After a fairly sedate start, the film, like so many superhero movies turns into a series messy and mostly silly CGI fight scenes with characters in elaborate exoskeleton costumes flying around blasting each other with energy beams or whacking each other with nano-tech weaponry.  Had we seen this film 20 years ago it would have been impressively slick but having been pummelled with this sort of thing for decades, it’s become tiresome.  Added to that is the erratic quality of special effects. The depiction of superpowers and mass destruction is at times impressive in its scale and realism but a few shots look a little rough.

The film does, however, have a few elements that at least partially distinguish it from the superhero film cookie cutter.  Impressively, it focuses on Jaime’s Mexican American heritage to convey his experiences good and bad including a strong sense of community and family but also economic exclusion and casual racism from rich arrogant whities like Victoria.

Also, unlike, for example Iron Man’s older, more confident Tony Stark, who built his high-tech suit from scratch, Jaime is at first bamboozled and terrified by his new powers.  This is, however, a blessing and a curse for the viewers. While this gives the lead character some believable human vulnerability, it also results in him spending much of the film squealing and whining in terror which becomes very grating.  Consequently, Mariduena doesn’t have the chance to establish himself as a charismatic franchise leader.

While we have to suspend disbelief alot of the time with these sorts of films, this one challenges credulity a little too often.  There are just too many gaping plot holes and flawed logic here, whether it’s the astonishingly lax security for the scarab at Kord industries or the remarkable ability of Jaime’s comic relief uncle Rudy (George Lopez) to instantly take command of any technology that he’s never seen before.

Overall, this is a slight step down from the shaky but occasionally stunning The Flash and not a film likely to launch multiple sequels.

Nick’s rating: **1/2

Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Superhero.

Classification: M.

Director(s): Ángel Manuel Soto.

Release date: 14th Sep 2023.

Running time: 128 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

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