Blue Beetle Movie Review: In the last weeks of the summer, after an important production lasting five or more years that saw DC Film and Warner Bros. really giving everything to develop a film on the character of Jaime Reyes/ Blue Beetle that was for the cinema, subsequently meeting numerous obstacles posed by HBO Max and Walter Hamada, both intending to distribute it directly on the platform, Blue Beetle finally comes to us.
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Blue Beetle, the fourteenth film in the DC Extended Universe directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, is present in all cinemas starting from August 18, 2023.
Blue Beetle, a political character – or film – in danger?
That DC is not doing well in terms of receipts and critical acclaim is now evident, despite the innovative and undoubtedly courageous strength of two key personalities such as James Gunn and Peter Safran. This is why after the release of The Flash, a commercial flop and more, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the direction of Blue Beetle seemed very clear, a title with a negligible budget when compared to Muschietti's blockbuster, yet Manuel's film Soto surprisingly manages to save himself, that's why.
While making some references to the universe of Batman and Superman, Blue Beetle demonstrates that it does not want to base its foundations on the adventures and roots of the DCEU, rather than wanting to find its own way in total autonomy.
A somewhat radical and courageous narrative operation that increasingly distances the first appearance of Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) from the announced disaster, allowing him to shine, despite that political weight in more than a moment for its own sake destined to weigh on the entire duration of the film, which adds nothing to the amused entertainment of a superhero movie with multiple flashes and obvious limitations, if not a small big underlying problem: is it so necessary to want to create political debate also through a film like Blue Beetle?
Blue Beetle: DC chases drama, finding color and family
Unlike many other DC titles, Blue Beetle, strong in its Puerto Rican and more generally Latin American identity represented both by director Ángel Manuel Soto and by the rest of the cast, soon chooses to renounce the typical gloom of the brand, in favor of an extremely colorful, contaminated and in some ways parodic funny research, the metalinguistic and television discourse linked to El Chapulín Colorado is an example.
However, what he does not seem to want to give up is the political and dramatic question of the struggle between classes and economic disparities, a discourse that tirelessly remains the background of an enjoyable but far from unforgettable superhero adventure, which, deprived of this subtext, would probably have guaranteed greater breadth and lightness, if not understanding to a title that is all in all youthful and popular with the general public, that is, the one that is more carefree and potentially disinterested.
However, the biggest problem of Blue Beetle is not the political subtext, but rather its apparent inability to place itself beyond the already seen of the origin film, staging a long series of moments and clichés, also interpreted quite effectively (Victoria Kord by Susan Sarandon is very funny) that add nothing to the multitude of cinematic and serial superhero products seen over the last few years.
Where the search for color and lightness can only give a different look at the originally - and eternally - gloomy, resigned, adult, and pessimistic DC aesthetics, giving us a portrait of family origins and not alone, the lack of verve and weight writing never really allow Blue Beetle to put aside that awkward movie fun undecided about its own nature. The one who would like to please everyone, but ends up pleasing no one, or at least very few.