What’s It About
Jaime Reyes suddenly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology called the Scarab. When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he’s bestowed with an incredible suit of armor that’s capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
We finally get a new solo superhero movie from a character that’s not White and without first debuting in some other hero’s film. With some moviegoers feeling a bit burned out on the whole superhero genre, Blue Beetle restores faith in movies with an actual story without relying solely on CGI fight scenes. In Blue Beetles, Jaime Reyes is a first-generation Mexican graduate from Palmera City, a fictional place meant to be in Texas. For reference, DC uses imaginary cities as their superhero’s homes that are eerily similar to a real place, i.e., Batmans Gotham equals New York, or The Flash’s Central City is an obscured mirrored image of Missouri. Jaime Reyes represents the Mexican experience in America. Jaime may be a true Mexican-American, but not all of his family is legally registered. I’m not sure if Jaime’s uncle Rudy was documented, as he was the conspiracy theorist of the family. Along with Jaime’s sister, mother, father, and grandmother, Blue Beetle’s primary focus in this film is family. So much so that nearly every conversation, every fight scene, no matter who was talking, was regarding family. What family means, what it doesn’t mean, and what it represents. If you thought the Fast and the Furious franchise talked about family a lot, Blue Beetle out-“families” them within the first half-hour. They talked about it so much, it was sickening, and all you wanted to see was a fight – any fight. I stated earlier that this film does not rely solely on fight scenes. It tries to convey the complex issues of a Mexican-American through multiple stereotypes. The story is somewhat true to Blue Beetle with the usual unnecessary Hollywood changes, but the transitions from a conversation to a battle were okay at best and awkward most of the time. The script needed a serious rewrite. There were too many cringy scenes mixed with a butt-load of standard movie tropes, and somehow they were able to barely pull off a decent superhero film with a message of family.
OUR RATING – A CINEMA-AMERICAN 7.5
MEDIA
- Genre – Comic Book
- Street date
- Digital – September 26th, 2023
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K– October 31st, 2023
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish
Extras
- “Generations: Blue Beetle” – 4-part documentary
- Told in distinct chapters, explore the journeys of actors and filmmakers bringing “Blue Beetle” to the big screen for the first time ever. Audiences will be immersed in the POV of filmmakers who showcase their experiences on set and in their creative studios making the story of this DC character a reality.
- Nana Knows Best – featurette
- Witness Nana’s transformation from an adorable ‘abuelita’ into a machine gun-wielding revolutionary, and stop in for a few of her most fun moments on set throughout production.
- Scarab Vision – 2-part featurette
- Xolo Maridueña hosts this series of scene study walk throughs that showcases how the scarab works and the role it plays in some of Blue Beetle’s most epic moments.