Blue Beetle

A pretty fine comic-book flick. An old-school origin story that seems to have fallen out of a time twenty years ago. The protagonist is likeable, the villains are one-dimensionally evil, and the family element brings some unexpected chaos. It’s a bit of a blue Green Lantern with some Latino spice. (24/11/2023)

(Spoiler alert!) Blue Beetle reminded me a lot of Spider-Man (a bug-themed superhero) and Shazam (an ordinary young man is chosen and gains super powers) in its story and atmosphere, though it has an unmistakable old-school vibe - from the credits, to Ted's mysterious room and various gadgets (the flying fly swatter was cool). DC's latest film stands - but at times falls - on family values that, while not as annoying as any Fast and the Furious trailer, are nonetheless a bit less tolerable in places. The revolutionary grandmother with the "light machine gun" certainly looked better on paper, probably as much as the paranoid uncle, but on the other hand, I appreciate the nice scene from "the other side". The main character/actor was cool and it was nice to see Susan Sarandon on screen for the first time in a while. Better three stars! (19/08/2023)

Jaime Reyes didn't want to be a superhero, but an alien artifact chose him, so he has no choice. Now he must protect his family from an army of villains who would like to acquire his powers. Blue Beetle is an unexpectedly fine old-school comic book movie that has solid action, functional characters, and doesn't try to bludgeon the viewer with a bunch of overblown effects. It relies more on a likeable hero and shows that with superheroes, you really don't always have to make everything bigger and louder. Don't expect anything new or groundbreaking, but it's fine. And after flicks like The Flash and Ant-Man 3, that's actually enough. (17/08/2023)