

Blue Beetle Review


Blue Beetle Review
Movie Rating: 6.2/10
Film Rating: 3.5/10
Going into Blue Beetle, I was cautiously optimistic. It had been a while since we had gotten a genuinely good superhero movie and although the DC extended universe isn't really a reliable name when it comes to superhero films the trailer looked moderately promising. As you can see my ratings go into decimal points this time and that is because I couldn't quite decide on a rounded number. This is one movie that I wanted to give a higher score but I just can't.
As always, let's start with the good stuff. The best part of the movie, hands down, is George Lopez as Rudy. He steals every scene he's in and it very much feels like the filmmakers really gave him room to do what he wanted with the character, which led to almost all of the laughs in the movie. His charisma is so noticeable that you feel his absence every time he is not on screen. Next is something I came into this movie very worried about and that is the CGI. DC Studios has repeatedly fumbled or half-assed their computer-generated effects too many times to count it's something that can really take you out of the movie but luckily they seem to have found some balance that works in this film. Now I am not going to say it's perfect CGI or that it's the best I have ever seen but it honestly is not noticeably bad in any scene. And that is a serious upgrade for DC Studios that I really feel warranted a mention. The character design for both Blue Beetle and Carapax are great. They do a great job of adding realistic and modern spins to comic book imagery without making any crazy changes. My favorite thing about Carapax is the menacing voice he has when suited up, almost like a combination of Megatron and Iron Monger from the first iron man movie. It really brings the whole package together.
With the good must also come the bad and I have a fair bit of gripes with this movie. The biggest of my gripes is that Jaime Reyes has NO personality. He is a boring and sometimes outright stupid character throughout the entire movie. There is what feels like forty-five minutes of exposition after the start of the movie where they show how important family is and explain the family dynamic before he gets anywhere near a scarab and not a single second of that time is spent telling you who Jaime is. He is a mindless drone that cares about his family and that is it. No personality, no interests, no hobbies. You can assume that he has a strong belief in justice or fairness or something given the fact you find out he is pre-law but that fact never comes up again in the movie. He actually makes some video game references toward the end which would have landed much better if I knew he played video games in the first place. My next gripe is that Jaime has no character arc at all. This is an origin story. It is supposed to show a rather flawed version of him at the beginning of the film and show how he changed into a hero by the end. How he stands up for what's right but nothing about his boring character changes at all in the movie. He starts off as someone who would do whatever it takes to help his family and that's exactly how it ends which just adds another level to how boring and generic his character really is. Also, for the most part, the choreography was lackluster. Not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, just plain, he has "an arsenal" at his disposal and normally just kicks people.
All in all, I would say the movie is okay. If you are a blue beetle fan, definitely go see it. If you just want to turn your brain off and watch a superhero beat up a supervillain, go see it. Otherwise, skip it and wait for James Gunn's DC universe.
Thank you so much to everyone who reads my reviews especially anyone who made it this far. I really appreciate it! I hope you have a great day!