BLUE BEETLE

Strip away the latino representation and DC movie Blue Beetle is hardly different from any other superhero flick of the last ten years, with CGI battles once more upstaging human emotion.

The death rattle of the DC Extended Universe continues with Blue Beetle, yet another run-of-the-mill superhero origin film that mistakes on-screen representation of a minority for innovation.

This is evident from the plot alone, which sounds awfully familiar. A teen is gifted out-of-this-world powers after an alien scarab takes over his body. Before you know it he is fighting a big corporation CEO who wants to harness that power to create an army of supersoldiers an he has to defeat one such antagonist, whose is basically an evil carbon copy of the hero.

Truth be told, I kinda knew going into Blue Beetle I wasn't going to be blown away by the story, but at least I hoped for some genuine heart amid the CGI battles and DC references. Early on there are snippets of that, mostly because Xolo Maridueña's exudes the charm needed to carry the movie.

Any real emotion is soon drowned in an exhausting sitcom approach to family morals however, exemplified by George Lopez' uncle, who turns the volume up to 11 and the implausibility to at least 20, while the movie also enhances latino stereotypes rather than undercutting them.

In fairness, Blue Beetle is mindlessly entertaining in stretches and I would never call it a boring film. What would I call it then? A picture you'll have forgotten about even before the end credits roll.

release: 2023

director: Angel Manuel Soto

starring: Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, George Lopez, Susan Sarandon