Blue Beetle

I found Blue Beetle as the most basic teenage superhero origins story that are no longer special, and it leaves me no impress whatsoever because we all already way too familiar with this type of story, it's predictable and literally nothing new, it's bland and the action was boring, my face was literally straight the whole time, and the villain was also meh, what i like about Blue Beetle was the family dynamic that's definitely there, and the family itself as their own was good enough, Bruna Markuezine was good, including Xolo Maridueña himself was good and just if his story wasn't the same like most of teenage superhero origins story, Blue Beetle would've been something else because what i do like again was some of the cinematography, editing, the Blue Beetle suit was amazing and i really love it, and the special effects for the most part was good, but again overall i just can't found something new in terms of story, and it would've been just an ok movie but it's too bad that the action was boring and the comedy also didn't work, the villain wasn't that good, so it is what it is unfortunately, Blue Beetle is not a bad movie, it's a basic teenage superhero origins that fills with ok performances but a predictable and unoriginal story and also boring action and uninteresting villain.

Everyone knows this is yet another dud by dc by now. But after hearing some positive buzz i thought i'd give it a chance. But nope. Its just another superhero movie.

What it really is is just Ironman meets Spiderman. No one really cares about this character so they would have had to do something special to make the movie great. But they haven't. Cobra Kai's Xolo Maridueña is likeable enough as the hero. But everyone in this (except Susan Sarandon) is the hero. Either that or they're an annoying "comedy" sidekick.

At least the action starts overshadowing the lame jokes at the half way mark. As before that its just the character getting thrown around as he discovers his powers. But even later its just robots fighting. This is something we've seen a hundred times at this point. But at least the hero doesn't fight Susan Sarandon in the finale.

So i guess it could have been worse. Its not completely awful. There's just too many superheros now to care about this familiar feeling one.

Anyone who follows DC or even comics as a whole, knows how promising of a character Blue Beetle is in the comics-verse. Guy has been a featuring member of Teen Titans for decades, holding his own as one of the coolest drawn characters that has a very interesting backstory regarding an alien symbiote. The character had immense potential to be turned into a promising live-action film-series out of it. And frankly speaking, I think the cast choice was good as well - they could've pulled off the hype. The only thing that ruined this film, however, is the writing. It's terrible - felt so rushed and low-depth at some points that you'd feel like pausing to not continue watching anymore. CGI was bad for some parts too, but that can still be overlooked as most of it gets the job done quite well. But the writing, man, it's awful. DCU won't have much to build on if they continue doing such pathetic job at writing stories like this.

"Blue Beetle" is simply B or even C grade super hero movie with some charm along the way. I don't think it will be realistic to expect something else to be honest. The trailers showed that pretty well in my opinion.

The tone of the movie is close to that of "Shazam!", given the fact that the family got bigger role in it again, that said the story is not all that good. Not that "Shazam!" got some epic story, but I think it was one idea better.

The cast is fine, maybe the best part of the movie is the family dynamic, except when they lean too much to the melodrama side. Xolo Maridueña as Jaime/Blue Beetle and George Lopez are the standouts no doubt.

The villain is everything you ca expect from B grade super hero movie, from the introduction, through his motivation, the fights and the conclusion is nothing particularly memorable.

I must say the suit looks great when is practical and not CGI all over the place. There are some cool fight scenes with our protagonist, most of which are shown in the trailers, which is kinda of a shame.

There are plenty of jokes in the movie, but for me, most of them doesn't land. I mean they are too childish. I guess the younger auditory will laugh out hard, but me and my cinema crowd were silent most of the time. Of course there were funny moments, but don't expect "Deadpool" level laughs if you are a bit older.

The movie is not bad, but it's kinda cringe, predictable and given the fact that the audience know this genre already, they expect something more clever, which sadly to report "Blue Beetle" is not.

There are already enough talks about the future of this character, is it part of the DCEU or DCU, will there be a sequel, or the character will transfer in the newly formed universe? If you ask me, there will not be a second movie, because this one will bomb hard, also, I'm not sure how you can do clean slate without the bagage of the previous universe, when you always lean to what was, not what it can be. In other words there is always a chance to see Blue Beetle again, but who will portray it and will the origin story be 1:1 identical is something I'm not sure about and I don't hold my breath for it.

In conclusion the movie is "okay", got its moments, but there is nothing really memorable, also there are two credit scenes, which are fine I guess.

DCEU's 2023 has been at a dipping point. With the disappointment of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in which the first one I really loved, and the somewhat decent of a Flash movie, it seems like the way the franchise is ending doesn't seem like a bang. Fortunately, Blue Beetle has already come out oh boy did it not disappoint.

Now let me preface this: it is by no means a classic nor is it groundbreaking in the superhero genre. At the end of the day, I just want to have a good time in the theaters and, for the most part, it succeeds in what I'm aiming for: a fun time.

Xolo Maridueña as the titular young Iron Man-like superhero, alter-ego Jaime Reyes, was really good. He brings a lot of energy to his performance filled with charisma, awkwardness and relatability because of his love for his family.

Speaking of family, everyone was really good playing in their respective roles but George Lopez was easily the standout because of how funny his lines and reactions are towards Jaime.

And the theme of the family is really at the center of Blue Beetle, it's really hard not to ignore it which is similar to Shazam. But as the film moves on, it does feel like everything that was done to make this possible was filled with heart by the filmmakers and knew just to be simply entertaining, hitting at all the right beats to make you laugh and cry.

The pacing was surprisingly good as to how they were able to fill in the runtime which doesn't make it feel like two hours at all as you are watching it. It's like it took two to three days in the story, if you look at the second to the third act. That was really impressive.

Visuals are great and the action sequences are really good to look at. Props to the director of photography, who by the way did Hereditary and Midsommar - yeah, let that sink in.

Of course, the film is not without its faults. It is cheesy at times, does feel generic and doesn't seem like it wants to outshine the rest of the films not just in DC but everything superhero in general. But my personal issue would have to be how they handled Susan Sarandoncs character and the nemesis of Jaime. While I get where they are going, it felt like it needed to be more compelling and not just some cartoony villains.

But by the end, I walked out of Blue Beetle thinking how good it was to see an enjoyable film with the message of family that hit me emotionally. Would I recommend the movie? Yes.