Review: Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle
Cert: 12A / 127 mins / Dir. Ángel Manuel Soto / Trailer

Next up in DC's pantheon of semi-discarded continuity is Ángel Manuel Soto's treatment of The Hero's Journey, Blue Beetle. Xolo Maridueña comfortably handles the title role as restless law-graduate Jamie Reyes, Bruna Marquezine looks blank a lot as The Girl One and Susan Sarandon is so wooden as the villain she was treated on-set as a fire hazard. The film's branding and colour palette are gorgeous, although that's definitely offset by the pervasive layer of Beige™ emanating from the storyline. Tropes, platitudes and galactic levels of exposition clump along in a solid if basic script - delivered by a spirited cast with almost enough enthusiasm to paper over the cracks. The setup is basically that Peter Parker becomes Robocop with a suit that looks and acts like a pound shop Iron Man. In fact, by the time you factor in the corporate baddie looking to manufacture similar suits for their own capitalist-megalomaniac ends, our hero needing to be morally worthy of his cosmic assistance and his humble suburban family of hidden warriors and socially unconventional tech genii, Blue Beetle soon feels like watching all of the Marvel Phase 1 films at the same time. It never goes so far as to be boring, but little happens of any real interest. On a sincere note, it's genuinely great to see Latino representation on this scale that doesn't get too bogged down in cliché, it's just a shame it's in a movie so utterly featureless. More disposable than anyone at DC originally intended, this will probably be fine for an undemanding audience, although good luck finding one of those over the age of 12 in this day and age...

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