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 to do with the cast was to be able to be as authentic as we can. We wanted to tap into almost three generations. We wanted to see the first immigrant family," Soto told Comic Book and other outlets during a trailer reveal in April. "Not the Hallmark cookie-cutter Latinos. Something that feels like, 'Yeah. That's my uncle. I can totally 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't seen before in superhero movies and that really is the beating heart of this movie," Maridueña said at the time. "Whether or not you're Latino, it transcends ethnicity, it transcends color or skin because that's something that we can all relate [to]. The most exciting part is that although it is undeniably or unapologetically Latino, everyone will understand Milagro. Everyone understands Jaime because they're the people who we've interacted with in our daily life and the problems that they're facing are problems that we know."

Blue Beetle Reviews

EW: "Much like the community it represents, the film doesn't really belong to either [the DCEU or the DCU], though canonically it references other DC heroes like the Flash and Superman. It stands alone, proudly and loudly boasting its Mexican American roots, and making room for an authenticity that elevates a somewhat familiar origin story by creating its own identity so hella Mexican American that if it were to be called anything else, it would be: ¡A huevo! Translation: F--- yeah!"

The Hollywood Reporter: "Remember the first Iron Man movie, or the initial Sam Raimi Spider-Man chapters? Long before the narrative overcrowding of cross-pollination, composite timelines and the damn multiverse brought fatigue to the modern comic-book superhero adventure, those movies had freshness and a buoyant sense of fun. They had warmth and humanity, which have gradually been diluted by quippy smugness and a bludgeoning more-is-more aesthetic. DC's unexpectedly charming Blue Beetle is something of a throwback to that era, bolstered by humor and heart that stem from the Mexican American title character's love for his tight-knit family, and no less so from their reciprocal support ... The director and writer don't exactly break the mold of the superhero film, but they do treat the genre with an endearing fondness for retro qualities 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-led superhero outing from a major studio is a long-overdue lifeline to a woefully underrepresented community of loyal moviegoers (Latinos make up 19 percent of America's population, but accounted for 29 percent of tickets sold in 2020), and Blue Beetle works hard to ensure that its culture isn't just another dreadfully rendered CGI costume — the film has plenty of those, which makes it that much easier to tell the difference. On the other hand, this ultra-bland origin story is so feckless and familiar that 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 of delivering some decent fun whenever it focuses on its characters, but the film is so resigned to the safest cliches of its stale-ass genre that 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 a franchise as-is and wait patiently for the next reboot. Or, failing that, the next-next reboot, because if there's one thing DC loves it's completely redoing a superhero universe, over and over again in every medium. 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've ever seen one. Tucked safely away from most of the cinematic universe shenanigans, "Blue Beetle" is a self-contained and smartly crafted film that ranks among the DCEU's very best. Even though, admittedly, that doesn't say nearly as much as it ought to."

Collider: "Blue Beetle might not be a unique take on the superhero origin story, but Soto and Dunnet-Alcocer do prove that a smaller scale, lighter approach within the DC Universe can work. The character of Blue Beetle might not have the name recognition of Superman or Batman, but especially with this origin out of the way, this seems 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's relationship with his family. It's obvious Ángel Manuel Soto wanted to get everything about this aspect of the film, the family and the culture, as authentic as possible. And it pays off, as this becomes the most interesting thing about the movie ... by the end of the movie, as you can probably guess, Blue Beetle devolves into a very long, very repetitive CGI aerial fight, at night, between the hero and the villain who have very similar powers. It's the kind of thing we've all seen way too many times before and felt extra disappointing here because there's a lot in this movie that does feel unique, 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 typical genre tropes but rather with the family dynamic created here, a real Latino lovefest ... Like most of these [superhero] movies, the final third turns into all-out carnage and loses a bit of its fresh style, but for the most part Blue Beetle is highly entertaining thanks to its irresistible family at its center and its protagonist played with grit and heat by Mariduena."

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