Blue Beetle Reviews: An Authentic if Formulaic DC Movie

Critics are buzzing about Blue Beetle. In theaters August 18th, the DC movie focuses on Jaime Reyes (Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña), marking the Mexican-American superhero’s first time on the big screen with a predominantly Latino cast. Directed by Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Miss Bala), the first Blue Beetle reviews arrived online Wednesday — and it seems DC has tapped into an authentic, if formulaic, spin on the origin story with what Maridueña called an “unapologetically Latino” superhero movie for all audiences.

“One of the things that we really wanted todo with the cast was to be able to be as authentic as we can. We wantedto tap into almost three generations. We wanted to see the firstimmigrant family,” Soto told Comic Book and other outlets during a trailer reveal in April. “Not the Hallmark cookie-cutterLatinos. Something that feels like, ‘Yeah. That’s my uncle. I cantotally relate to those [characters].’”

Maridueña, in his feature film debut, leads a cast that includes Adriana Barraza (Rambo: Last Blood) as Jaime’s grandmother, Nana; Damían Alcázar (Narcos) as his father, Alberto; Elpidia Carrillo (Mayans M.C.) as his mother, Bianca; Belissa Escobedo (Hocus Pocus 2) as his sister, Milagro; George Lopez (The George Lopez Show) as Jaime’s Uncle Rudy; and Bruna Marquezine (God Save the King) as Jenny Kord. Blue Beetle also stars Raoul Max Trujillo (Sicario) as the villain Carapax, the indestructible man, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) as Dr. Sanchez, and Susan Sarandon (Monarch) as Victoria Kord, CEO of Kord Industries. Becky G (2017’s Power Rangers) voices Khaji-Da, the Scarab that bonds with Jaime to transform him into the Blue Beetle.

With its focus on the Reyes family — who witness Jaime’s journey from symbiotic host to superhero — Blue Beetle does away with the secret identity trope.

“To come through this journey together is something that we haven’tseen before in superhero movies and that really is the beating heart ofthis movie,” Maridueña said at the time. “Whether or not you’re Latino, it transcendsethnicity, it transcends color or skin because that’s something that wecan all relate [to]. The most exciting part is that although it isundeniably or unapologetically Latino, everyone will understandMilagro. Everyone understands Jaime because they’re the people whowe’ve interacted with in our daily life and the problems that they’refacing are problems that we know.”

Blue Beetle Reviews

EW: “Much like the community it represents, the film doesn’treally belong to either [the DCEU or the DCU], though canonically it references other DCheroes like the Flash and Superman. It stands alone, proudly and loudlyboasting its Mexican American roots, and making room for an authenticitythat elevates a somewhat familiar origin story by creating its ownidentity so hella Mexican American that if it were to be called anythingelse, it would be: ¡A huevo! Translation: F— yeah!”

The Hollywood Reporter: “Remember the first Iron Man movie, or the initial Sam Raimi Spider-Manchapters? Long before the narrative overcrowding of cross-pollination,composite timelines and the damn multiverse brought fatigue to themodern comic-book superhero adventure, those movies had freshness and abuoyant sense of fun. They had warmth and humanity, which have graduallybeen diluted by quippy smugness and a bludgeoning more-is-moreaesthetic. DC’s unexpectedly charming Blue Beetleis something of a throwback to that era, bolstered by humor and heartthat stem from the Mexican American title character’s love for histight-knit family, and no less so from their reciprocal support … The director and writer don’t exactly break the mold of the superherofilm, but they do treat the genre with an endearing fondness for retroqualities that have mostly been lost in recent years.”

Rolling Stone: “There’s a lot that’s familiar in Blue Beetle, the latest from — and one of the last remnants of — a dying cinematic universe. It’s a superhero origin story movie, so you’ve got a good sense of what you’re getting right from the get-go: someone ordinary getting thrown into something extraordinary, CGI battles, some wisecracks and rib nudges and heartstring thrums (no Snyderverse dude-brooding here), lots of destruction of public property, more CGI battles. There are rich geniuses with bleeding-edge tech and functioning moral compasses, and other rich folks dying to get their hands on the former at the expense of the latter. There’s an army of lackeys to dispatch before the big boss fight. And at the center of it all is a good-hearted kid, who’s ‘bitten’ by an alien creature that resembles a beetle (not a radioactive spider, but still), then is gifted with an extraterrestrial exoskeleton suit (not made of iron, but still) complete with weaponry, computerized stat readouts, and the ability to fly. The déjà vu is strong in this one.”

IndieWire: “On the one hand, the first Latino-ledsuperhero outing from a major studio is a long-overdue lifeline to awoefully underrepresented community of loyal moviegoers (Latinos make up19 percent of America’s population, but accounted for 29 percent oftickets sold in 2020), and Blue Beetle works hard to ensure that itsculture isn’t just another dreadfully rendered CGI costume — the film has plenty ofthose, which makes it that much easier to tell the difference. On theother hand, this ultra-bland origin story is so feckless and familiarthat it seldom feels like the first of anything so much as it does a half-hearted invitation to a party that’s already in the process of shutting down. Blue Beetle is full of colorful flourishes and perfectly capable ofdelivering some decent fun whenever it focuses on its characters, butthe film is so resigned to the safest cliches of its stale-ass genrethat even the freshest things can’t always hold onto their flavor.” 

TheWrap: “After The Flash turned out be a historic disaster on many levels,you could be forgiven for wanting give up on this mixed bag of afranchise as-is and wait patiently for the next reboot.Or, failingthat, the next-next reboot, because if there’s one thing DC loves it’scompletely redoing a superhero universe, over and over again in everymedium. But that’s a pretty rotten state of mind with which to enter a theater showing Blue Beetle,which is a delightful and satisfying superhero origin story if I’veever seen one. Tucked safely away from most of the cinematic universeshenanigans, “Blue Beetle” is a self-contained and smartly crafted filmthat ranks among the DCEU’s very best. Even though, admittedly, thatdoesn’t say nearly as much as it ought to.”

Collider: “Blue Beetle might not be aunique take on the superhero origin story, but Soto and Dunnet-Alcocerdo prove that a smaller scale, lighter approach within the DC Universecan work. The character of Blue Beetle might not have the name recognition ofSuperman or Batman, but especially with this origin out of the way, thisseems like a character with promise in whatever direction James Gunn and Peter Safran take DC.” 

Uproxx: “The thing that does makes Blue Beetle unique is Jamie’srelationship with his family. It’s obvious Ángel Manuel Soto wanted toget everything about this aspect of the film, the family and theculture, as authentic as possible. And it pays off, as this becomes themost interesting thing about the movie … by the end of the movie, as you can probably guess, Blue Beetledevolves into a very long, very repetitive CGI aerial fight, at night,between the hero and the villain who have very similar powers. It’s thekind of thing we’ve all seen way too many times before and felt extradisappointing here because there’s a lot in this movie that does feelunique, but then it feels squandered.”

/Film: “Overall, the details of Blue Beetle are fun, and the characters may inspire a few warm familial smiles, but the whole is frustratingly shabby and rushed. I prefer low stakes and a light, quick tone over the turgid and viscous drama of, say, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but I would also like a sense of joy and adventure. Give it a few more drafts and Blue Beetle may have emerged as something extraordinary.” 

Deadline: “Where this film really gets its heart and soul is not with the typicalgenre tropes but rather with the family dynamic created here, a realLatino lovefest … Like most of these [superhero] movies, the final third turns into all-out carnageand loses a bit of its fresh style, but for the most part Blue Beetle ishighly entertaining thanks to its irresistible family at its center andits protagonist played with grit and heat by Mariduena.”

DC’s Blue Beetle opens in theaters August 18th.