Blue Beetle

Our Review

The final hero entry of the previous DC regime arrived with almost no marketing and turned out warmer than most of what came before it. Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes is a college graduate who comes home to find his family losing their house, takes a gig cleaning a mansion, and ends up fused with an alien scarab that wraps him in living armor and wants to kill things immediately. The scarab, an ancient bioweapon voiced by Becky G, arguing with Jaime about when violence is appropriate, is the funniest running bit.

What makes the film work is the household. Adriana Barraza’s Nana is a riot with a machine gun in the finale, George Lopez’s conspiracy uncle Rudy is a hoot, and the Reyes clan arguing around a dinner table gives the superhero formula something the DC line almost never had: a real family on screen, in on the secret from minute one. Susan Sarandon phones in the corporate villain from a series of helicopters, and the plot hits every standard origin beat on schedule.

You have seen this shape of story many times, and the craft never rises above solid. But the cast keeps it warm, the pacing is tight, and by the end the movie has earned its hug. Our score: 6/10. Comfort food origin story that deserved a better rollout.