Blue Beetle

It's sad, not unexpected, to say that it's a chore, as you've seen the story told here a thousand times before, no surprises or things new, this will really make you blue, all in all more than two hours, that will bore you through and through. The CGI is not that good, and it will not make you marvel, plus the story is predictable, and I might suggest - quite larval, the acting's amateur, so is the dialogue and score, it's a challenge after watching to applaud and not ignore.

If we're really unlucky they'll make another one that will take us to places increasingly common in the world of Superhero desperation.

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.

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.

"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.

When I watch a film I don't expect it to be historically accurate, scientifically correct or politically acceptable however I do except it to be enjoyable! This film is 127min long which is 90min too long. Bad acting all round poor, poor story line and mediocre graphics. This a film that reminds me of the 90's children science fiction like power rangers. What especially got on my nerves is the constant shouting and screaming by the actors/characters and the ridiculous jokes that are as funny as watching paint dry.

WB clearly hedging their bets and trying to squeeze everything in to one film just in case there's no sequels. I HOPE THERE IS NO SEQUEL.