Fast, funny, and fervently earnest, Blue Beetle stands out in an increasingly overcrowded field of superhero movies. Clocking in at just over two hours, the pacing is snappy enough that it never overstays its welcome, and while it’s not entirely unpredictable, the tale of Jaime Reyes and the sentient outer-space scarab who’s symbiotically linked to him avoids becoming an eye-rolling origin-story cliche by remaining deeply empathetic toward its ensemble. Sure it’s thrillingly action-packed, but the familial bond at the heart of the film is where Blue Beetle transcends the trappings of its genre.
Xolo Maridueña delivers a delightfully refreshing performance as Jaime. The Cobra Kai alum imbues the character with a sort of sweet goofiness tinged with the concern and uncertainty of someone watching their family – and their entire community – face the ravages of gentrification. There’s a clear delineation between “have” and “have not” rapidly established by the sparkling towers of Palmera City overlooking the neighborhoods its people are being increasingly priced out of.
The tragedy of Jaime’s backstory lies not in a singular, devastating loss or an unhappy home life but in the constant failures of an economic system he’s tried so tirelessly to excel within. The script, penned by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, critiques the so-called “American Dream” as Jaime returns triumphantly with a college degree and hopes of social mobility for his family, only to be met with a job cleaning the mansion of tech CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon).
Within this commentary on class lies a deeply fun, superpowered adventure, complete with an iconic suit designed by Mayes C. Rubeo (WandaVision, Thor: Love & Thunder). It’s gorgeous, somehow treading the razor-thin line between technological and organic, and its accuracy to the comics will surely please Blue Beetle fans. The glimpse we get of suits belonging to former Beetles Dan Garrett and Ted Kord perfectly embody the campy heroes of the 20th century without looking too patently ridiculous. The famous Bug Ship, too, reads as fully functional and practically made while simultaneously staying true to the silliness of Blue Beetle’s previous incarnations.
Here’s the thing: Jaime has always been different from his predecessors. He’s able to unlock the full power of the scarab as it fuses to his spine. Garrett and Kord merely donned technicolor costumes to become their alter egos; under Ángel Manuel Soto’s direction, Jaime’s first transformation into the Blue Beetle is genuinely horrifying. Maridueña manages to convey the pain of his fusion as the sentient suit flings him throughout his house.
The screams of the Reyes family are played for laughs but there is a visceral disgust in their reaction – at one point comparing the transformation to a demonic possession. It’s these moments that remind the audience that Jaime, really, is just a normal kid who wanted better for his family.
The “chosen one” element of Blue Beetle is unfortunately predictable, and the scarab itself is strangely sanitized from the more hostile comic version. The alien invention (voiced by Becky G), becomes surprisingly endearing – and bilingual! – by the end, but its personality is clearly tailored to a wider moviegoing audience than it is to comic readers.
For the Reyes family to serve as the emotional anchor to Jaime’s ascent into unexpected superhero-dom, they must complement Maridueña’s charisma – and each and every one of them do. Made up of Reyes matriarch Nana (Adriana Barraza), Jaime’s parents (Elpidia Carrillo and Damián Alcázar), his anarchist uncle Rudy (Georger Lopez), and irreverent younger sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), the group’s chemistry is astounding. This feels like a real family, loudly affectionate, fiercely protective, and prone to excitedly talk over one another.
Escobedo shines as Milagro, delivering a gut-punch of a performance during a particularly devastating moment of grief. George Lopez injects Rudy with charm even in the character’s cynicism. It’s a great role for the comedian, giving him room to play this off-the-beaten-path character with his particular brand of eccentricity. Jaime needs his family and, really, this movie is just as much about them as it is Jaime.
What’s wonderful about Blue Beetle is that it’s so fiercely, brilliantly, loudly Latine: the multigenerational household, the pot of Vicks under Jaime’s nose after he passes out from fusing with the scarab, the Cheech and Chong Up In Smoke bobbleheads on the dash of Rudy’s car. And among it all, English and Spanish spoken together in a flurry of lively conversation. This is a truly bilingual movie. There are no stilted phrases uttered every now and then to clumsily remind the audience this is a Mexican-American family. The Reyes’ seamlessly switch between languages without thought, a realistic portrayal of Spanglish not as “English with a few Spanish words sprinkled in” but as a fully functional hybridization of both in equal measure. It points to the necessity of representation both in front of and behind the camera as Soto has crafted a community that feels authentic rather than pandering.
Ted’s daughter Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) unfortunately slots into common cliches of the superhero-movie love interest/expositional device. For the first half of Blue Beetle, she only serves as a vehicle to deliver the scarab and, eventually, information about its history to Jaime. Their romance is rushed and underdeveloped. That’s not to criticize the inclusion of yet another romance in yet another superhero film – there are just so many ways it could have been more interesting. Really, Jenny grows exponentially more memorable as the Reyes family adopt her as one of their own, and it’s that aspect of the character that deserves highlighting rather than her romantic prospects with Jaime.
In a similar vein, Victoria Kord’s motivations ultimately prove to be the weakest element of the film. There’s something truly fascinating about her rage at initially losing the Kord Industries CEO job to her late brother – passed over, as implied in the film, due to her gender. However, Blue Beetle doesn’t quite dive into her psyche beyond “rich, bitchy, racist.” Sarandon does what she can with the character, but as a villain, Victoria falls flat. She’s not a particularly interesting character, which ultimately hinders the climactic confrontation in the final act of the film.
What is fascinating though is Blue Beetle’s willingness to reference historical U.S. corporate and military destabilization of countries in Latin America. The script sometimes pulls its punches when referencing systemic oppression, and it’s far from a radical indictment of xenophobia or economic and racial inequality in the U.S. But it is surprising what Soto manages to say about these subjects in the package of a major superhero film.
Despite its missteps, Blue Beetle remains a good time at the theater. Amid the action and the comedy, its emotional core resonates with the experience of growing up in a Latine family. The film is comedic without being cheesy and, hopefully, a massive launchpad for Maridueña’s career. Though it doesn’t always escape some of the genre’s worst tendencies, the affectionate Reyes family energizes the entirety of the story. When the stakes are this personal, when the family feels so familiar, when their love is so true, it demonstrates just how special Blue Beetle really is.
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