Film Review: Blue Beetle is solid fun for comic completionists

Xolo Madridueña in Blue Beetle

• Blue Beetle
• ★★★☆☆
• Cinema release

Please do not panic about invasive species. For one thing, not all scarabs of alien origin are ‘some kind of world-destroying weapon’; besides, the scarab in Blue Beetle (12A) is rather picky about the person with whom it chooses to bond.

Luckily for Jaime Reyes (Xolo Madridueña), the alien entity infests his body and turns him into an indestructible superhero just when the pre-law student discovers that democracy is under threat from the ‘murderous billionaire psychopath’ Victoria Kord (Susan Saranadon), whose Kord Industries plans to unleash an army of robo-cops to keep the streets safe for White America. 

Aided by Victoria’s conscience-stricken granddaughter Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) and his extended family – sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), mother Rocio (Elipidia Carrillo), father Alberto (Damián Alcázar), Nana (Adriana Barazza) and Uncle Rudy (George Lopez) – Jaime sets out to defeat Victoria’s killer android, Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo)…

Adapted from the DC Comics stories by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, and directed by Angel Manuel Soto, Blue Beetle is an origin tale that has fun playing with the superhero tropes, at least in the beginning: here mainstream America is not a place to be defended against all comers but a relentless enemy gentrifying Palmeras City one block at a time, while Jaime’s transformation from ordinary citizen to mutant hero doesn’t take place in private, as is generally the case, but under the horrified gaze of his entire family.

Once Jaime is suited up as the Blue Beetle, however, the movie starts to hit the superhero beats with monotonous regularity, with only the occasional curveball from Uncle Rudy – a conspiracy theorist nut – offering some diversion. 

Xolo Madridueña is rather bland as the hapless hero who is never really in full control of his new powers, while Susan Sarandon is arguably the least sinister villain ever to grace a superhero flick. DC Comics completists will likely get full value for money, but Blue Beetle is solid rather than spectacular.