Blue Beetle review: DC delivers a surprisingly wholesome film after a series of flops

3.5/5

Story: Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), who is fresh out of college, realises that getting white-collar employment is easier said than done. A chance meeting with Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the daughter of the late tech billionaire Ted Kord, changes his life forever when an alien scarab with world-destroying capabilities chooses Jaime to be its host. It imbues Jaime with a suit of armour capable of extraordinary feats. This drags him into the crosshairs of Jenny’s aunt, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who plans to use the alien tech to create weapons of mass destruction.

Review: The decision to announce a rebooted DC Universe, with Superman: Legacy (2025) serving as the curtain-raiser for James Gunn’s new cinematic universe, could go down as a serious lapse in marketing judgement by the head honchos at Warner Brothers Discovery (WB). It may have essentially torpedoed at least four DC releases, including Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Two out of the four films have already underwhelmed both critically and commercially, while the Aquaman sequel might need a miracle to break even if it hits theatres this December as scheduled. However, Blue Beetle may just buck the trend thanks to early positive reactions. Ultimately it will go down as a decent superhero film, with plenty of action and drama, but one that has been released at the wrong time.

The fact that Blue Beetle has a significantly lower production budget when compared to The Flash, bodes well from the former’s financial perspective. Another crucial aspect that works in Blue Beetle’s favour is the fact that its technical aspects such as VFX, sound design, and cinematography are noticeably superior to most recent superhero films with a much larger budget, including The Flash. Whether the film will have a successful theatrical run remains to be seen considering the lack of significant promotions leading up to its release. If the film does eventually find a semblance of success, it would be because of positive word of mouth.

Lead star Xolo Maridueña, who is best known for his turn as Miguel Diaz, in the hit TV series Cobra Kai, is an inspired casting choice. For the unversed, Jaime Reyes is the third person to take over the mantle of the Blue Beetle, after Dan Garret and Ted Kord, in the DC comic book lore. The character Jaime Reyes has become a fan-favourite over the past decade thanks to his reintroduction in the critically acclaimed animated series Young Justice and the hit video game Injustice by WB and NetherRealm Studios. In fact, the film’s director, Ángel Manuel Soto, revealed that the film's fight choreography took inspiration from Injustice. One can have no complaints about this aspect as the film is able to find the perfect balance between great action sequences and a plot driven by its compelling characters.

The overarching story leans on familiar ‘superhero tropes’, but pivots around Latino culture and themes of family, socialism, and imperialism. In an era where Marvel films, and even recent DC films such as The Flash, have needlessly shoehorned bland humour into their narratives, Blue Beetle seamlessly transitions between humour, emotion, and fast-paced action. Jamie’s family are just as crucial as the scarab in his quest to overcome the antagonists. But unlike Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto in Fast and Furious, the word ‘family’ is not a ‘get out of jail free card’ whenever the protagonist wishes to wiggle free from a tight spot. Instead, Blue Beetle features more nuance in its storytelling and does not shy away from subtly highlighting social injustices such as institutionalised class discrimination and racism.

Blue Beetle is by no means a compelling superhero film on par with recent films like Matt Reeves’s The Batman nor is it an all-out entertainer like Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it is the perfect antidote to the underwhelming release of The Flash. However, as one of the cogs of a larger cinematic universe, Blue Beetle leads to nowhere. For all of James Gunn’s prowess as a remarkable storyteller, handing him and Peter Safran the keys to DC Film Studios may have been ill-timed. Simply because Gunn has put all of his eggs in one basket – his 2025 film Superman: Legacy. He appears to have burnt several bridges, most notably Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck – actors who played two of the biggest superheroes in history, Superman and Batman. For the sake of DC fans around the world, one can only hope that Superman: Legacy does not turn out to be a vanity project. The only saving grace is that all of Gunn’s recent films such as Guardians of Galaxy Vol.3 and The Suicide Squad have been head and shoulders above their competition in terms of sheer quality.

Verdict: Blue Beetle has certainly exceeded expectations and is the best DC film since The Batman (2021) and the best DCEU film since The Suicide Squad (2021). The film was inadvertently set up to fail thanks to WB and DC Films’ lack of transparency surrounding James Gunn’s new DC Cinematic Universe, but it appears it would be premature to write off this entertaining caper just yet!