'Blue Beetle' Review: Superhero Family Drama Falls Flat
Blue Beetle represents an uncomfortable middle-ground for Warner Bros. and DC heroes on the big screen. The DCEU (DC Extended Universe) is officially dead, and with it the canon that those films have developed since Man of Steel kicked it off in 2013. Standing in its wake is the all-new DCU (DC Universe), led by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Blue Beetle is a part of both, and neither.
Gunn has noted that the film itself will not fall in his new DCU continuity, but the character itself will. He’s having his cake and eating it too, and that makes sense for him. But the result is this film being stranded between two universes; a story lost amongst the fray, meaning something only to itself and those involved. That’s a shame on the surface, but upon further thought, the idea of a self-contained (even if incidentally so) superhero movie in the age of tired connected universe fodder is a compelling one. But unfortunately, Blue Beetle squanders any significant potential with tired storytelling tendencies, from boring villains to basic writing.
Xolo Maridueña leads a strong cast with passion. His lead performance is versatile and painfully emotional, lofting the dramatic elements to new heights and serving as a conduit for the audience to the rest of his family. George Lopez does some heavy lifting too; his comedic prowess shines through in his role as the family’s lovable uncle, and in tandem with Xolo, he commits to a memorable family dynamic, one that is the core of all the best elements of this film.
The rest of the group is made-up of solid performances that bounce off of the aforementioned highlights. The kitchen suit-up scene featured in the trailer and another similar scene at the very end of the film are the film’s two best, and their featuring the family is no coincidence. Though in focusing so heavily on that aspect, the film not only falters on, but completely neglects its villains.
Susan Sarandon is unusually out of place as a hammy, improperly reserved evildoer who’s only motive, essentially, is to oppose good. Pair her with a brute side character who has a single-digits number of lines and you have the negative inverse of the Xolo/Lopez pairing. They’re both completely ineffective, and pale in comparison to the protagonist duo that makes this movie.
In the pits with the villains are their motives. Evil for the sake of evil can work, but in this scenario, we spend so little time with the evil that it never reaches a point of formidability. Even when the film is directly threatening danger, it never manages to actually create impact as a result. Usually, it opts for a sneaky contrivance that does nothing more than set our heroes and the one-note narrative back.
Despite the strong familial core, the overall storyline is a heaping pile of blatant influences and maimed translations. There are welcomed shades of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films here, as well as notes of Spy Kids and Power Rangers. A heart on the sleeve is better than no heart at all. Yet, the borrowing stops at style’s doorstep, leaving the story out to dry aside from a few similar moments in theming and delivery. Not only do the villains have no realistic motives, but the film is structured inconsistently.
It opens on a brisk first act, setting up a few basic conflicts and introducing our hero in full form, only to slam on the brakes in act two and tank the tone. The shift is narratively necessary, but simply isn’t well placed. Of course, an overlong second act leads to a crunched third, of which this film is also a victim.
Though Blue Beetle does manage to break things open a bit in the final act. Director Angel Manuel Soto, who truly does impress on the visual front, creates an impressively unique moment that capitalizes on the emotion towards the climax. The scene is a breath of air in a breathless final act; it’s exactly what the film needed at just the right time. If that level of creativity and precision were present throughout the rest of the film, this would be a much different story.
The action in the third act is at its best, too. There’s a new sense of speed and urgency that matches the circumstances, and Manuel Soto completely lets loose. The Spy Kids influence is cranked up to ten, and for some it’ll be too much, but regardless of preference, the film actually opens up here and feels intentional. Characters soar to unimagined heights and break their previously self-imposed mold. Again, it gets pretty ridiculous, but the film asks you to commit to that. If you do, you may find it to be a real saving grace on the whole.
Blue Beetle is simply stuck. It’s a fine family film, and might’ve had a better outlook had it been marketed that way. It feels like one that kids would grow up obsessed with, shaping their tastes at a young age and introducing them to what big movies can be. But as far as superhero blockbusters go, it leaves a lot to be desired, especially in comparison to heavy hitters that have released this year in the same genre, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Credit where credit is due, there are some neat comic book callbacks in here, but the whole thing feels less dedicated to those roots than it does to satisfying as wide an audience as possible. A safe play is a sensible move for a brand that has seen films constantly fall flat on their face in recent years, but this is an over-correction, and ultimately falls in the same boat.
Diehard DC fans should catch this one simply because it’s a DC heroes’ first feature introduction, and that’s always a big deal. Families, too, have reason to find a seat. But for the casual moviegoer and superhero cinema fan, Blue Beetle is too mixed a bag to warrant buying a ticket. Still, Xolo Maridueña deserves to play the character as long as he’d like.