Written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto
Rudy (to Jaime): "The world sent you a gift and you have to figure out what to do with it."
I have to be honest. Of the remaining DCEU movies that were coming out in 2023, this was the one that I had the least excitement for. I'm not as versed with the character compared to other DC characters, I've never watched Cobra Kai and the trailers didn't really sell the movie as well as it should.
I bring this up because this movie fell into the category of being far better than I actually thought it was going to be. It's so good that it's creeped into my DCEU Top 5 and I really hope regardless of its box office outcome that James Gunn remains faithful to his word surrounding the character's future.
Anyways the movie started off with villains of the piece Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and her bodyguard Ignacio Carapax/OMAC (Raoul Max Trujillo) in a frozen tundra getting their hands on an alien scarab that will change everything for the world. Notably for a young man named Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena).
Jaime's graduated from college and upon learning that his family are about to lose their home managed to get a menial job at Kord Industries with his snarky sister, Milagro (Belissa Escobedo). It didn't take long for Jaime to attract the attention of Victoria's niece, Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) and nor did it take Jenny long to get Jaime to smuggle the alien scarab away from Victoria's grasp as well.
It also didn't take long for either Jaime to show his family the scarab or for the latter to bond itself to Jaime and transform him into the Blue Beetle. With Jaime forming a connection with the scarab also known as Khaji-Da (Becky G), Jenny and Jaime's uncle Rudy (George Lopez) learn more about the origins of the scarab and previous Blue Beetles while Victoria and Ignacio go to aggressive lengths to ensnare Jaime.
The lengths resulting in the death of Jaime's father, Alberto (Damian Alcazar) while Jaime's mother, Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo) and Nana (Adriana Barraza) basically led everyone else into rescuing Jaime from Victoria and Ignacio from completing the former's OMAC mission. All the while an unwilling Dr Sanchez (Harvey Guillen) was forced to extract from Jaime and the scarab to do it.
The third act definitely represented one of the strongest ones we've had in the DCEU. As villains, both Victoria and Ignacio started off a little rough but while the former was willing to murder her only remaining family member left, the latter after a brutal smackdown with Jaime decided on another course of action instead.
For an introduction into this side of the DC Universe, this was some strong stuff. The family angle has been explored in other movies but here, it felt a bit different. Even the romance with Jaime and Jenny felt organic enough with believable chemistry between the actors.
- Batman, Superman and The Flash were referenced along with first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Ted Kord was the only Blue Beetle not bonded with Khaji-Da.
- Originally this was intended to be a HBO Max release before it became a theatrical release.
- The mid-credit scene had an uncredited voice actor for Ted Kord while the post credit scene was another look at that cartoon.
- We got to see some other Blue Beetle costumes in the Beetle cave as well as the big ship. Milagro and Nana had way too much fun with using Ted's gadgets as did Rudy.
- Standout music: There's a good use of All Out Of Love as well as a Spanish version of Be My Baby.
- Chronology: 2023, Palmero City. Jaime also mentioned being 22 years old.
It's always great when a movie actually exceeds your expectations. Blue Beetle certainly exceeded mine with a great lead performance from Xolo Mariduena, nice use of family dynamics and villains that got better as the movie progress. Some strong VFX, fight scenes, music choices, one liners, emotional bits and an ambiguous timeline all work in this movie's favour.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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