Review: 'Blue Beetle' is a bumpy superhero ride, but star Xolo Maridueña is a charming pick to build a franchise on
The latest installment of the DC movie world, “Blue Beetle,” is a wild ride, if sometimes bumpy and lacking a sense that director Angel Manuel Soto is fully in control.
In Palmera City — which is to Miami what Gotham City is to New York — Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) has just returned from graduating college, and finds that the family business is faltering and his parents (Damián Alcázar and Elpidia Carrillo) may lose their house in the Edge Keys neighborhood to development from the super-greedy Kord Industries. It’s Jaime’s odd fate that the only job he can get is on the cleaning crew, along with his sister Milagro (Melissa Escobedo), in the mansion of the company’s CEO, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon).
Jaime loses the job when he witnesses an argument between Victoria and her niece, Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), who despises how her aunt has turned the company toward weapons manufacturing — something Jenny’s long-missing father Ted hated. Jenny runs into Jaime later, and promises to get him a job with some part of Kord Industries away from Victoria’s notice.
When Jaime shows up at Kord’s HQ, a very nervous Jenny hands Jaime a box and tells him to “guard it with your life,” but don’t look inside. Once he gets home, though, the family wants to take a look — and they find a large gold-and-blue scarab. When the object comes to life, suddenly it takes over Jaime’s body, and turns him into a reluctant superhero who can fly to space, absorb bullets harmlessly, and can consult with his onboard AI, Khaji-Da (voiced by singer Becky G), to produce any weapon imaginable.
The battle lines are quickly drawn, with Victoria and her super-soldier henchman Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo) on one side, and Jaime, his family — including his nana (Adriana Barraza, from “Babel”) and conspiracy-minded inventor uncle, Rudy (George Lopez) and Jenny on the other.
Director Soto — who broke out with the 2020 Sundance hit “Charm City Kings” — keeps the action fast and the humor light. He’s found a charismatic leading may in Maridueña, who handles both the wild thrill of learning his powers and the righteous fury when the final act kicks in. If there’s a weak link in the cast, it’s Sarandon, reduced to standard-issue supervillain cliches.
There’s a moment in “Blue Beetle” where Jaime has to wait for Khaji-Da to reboot the super suit — an apt metaphor for DC fans cooling their heels waiting for producers James Gunn and Peter Safran to do what they will with the revamped DC movie universe. If there’s a second movie, and that’s a big if, there’s a lot in Maridueña’s performance and the celebration of “la familia” that can be built on.
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‘Blue Beetle’
★★★
Opens Friday, August 18, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, language, and some suggestive references. Running time: 127 minutes.