Even if it has a good heart arriving from the Latino family dynamics and heritage, Angel Manuel Soto’s first foray into the big studio pictures, “Blue Beetle” (which may be the first film in James Gunn’s new DC universe), is an unabashed copy of its predecessors.
Superhero Films in the 2020s
Superhero films are in the gutter at this current moment. They always were, if I’m being honest. But it is even more noticeable in the most recent films: “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” “Black Adam: Fury of the Gods,” amongst others. Sure, there are notable exceptions. The main examples are Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and Sam Raimi’s purposefully ridiculous “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.” Yet, for the most part, superhero films end up as vacuous projects. There’s no care put onto them and zero vision in sight. You rarely get one of those types of films with some sense of flash or originality. They all seem covered by a fog that blinds everyone attached, leaving them in utter shame and disappointment.
Even though I was still skeptical about it, when it was announced that Angel Manuel Soto would direct “Blue Beetle,” I thought there was a chance for change in that landscape. I wasn’t blown away by his most notable work, “Charm City Kings.” Nevertheless, I felt his passion and devotion for the story and themes all around. In addition, from the ones I have seen, his films contain personality and, although to a small degree, some verve. So, if there was a chance for this film to work out in the end, he was the right pick. I’m very proud that a Puerto Rican director finally got a chance to make something of this stature and scale. Unfortunately, his distinctive ouch is lost in “Blue Beetle” amidst the DC lore and superhero film mold.
An Origin Story That’s Fascinating… For its First Ten Minutes
This origin story begins with Susan Sarandon‘s Victoria Kord quoting, “Tell me you have the scarab, Carapax?” It was quite a funny line. But immediately after that, you see a charming moment of the Reyes family. They are welcoming their kin, Jaime (Xolo Maridueña), back home after studying abroad. However, his return won’t be that happy. They reveal that they’re probably losing the house in a few months. To help them out, Jaime ditches his aspirations to get a job and help them out. For a short moment, you sense that Angel Manuel Soto is digging into the capitalist and money-hungry people that run the world.
Jaime’s sister, Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), has a particular disdain for these powerful types. She probably took that hate from her tech “genius” uncle Rudy (George Lopez). These moments serve as a prompt for a fresh and unique superhero story. The Blue Beetle, as described later in the film, is the mantle of their people – the one that protected their beloved city. Alongside implementing Latino culture, this talk about ransacking billionaires seemed an exciting starting point for Soto. However, things change when the inevitable instrument that makes Jaime Reyes into the titular hero arrives in a hamburger box given to him by Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the niece of the Kord company’s CEO, Victoria Kord (Sarandon).
The scarab gets stuck into James’ spine and selects him as its host. Its only purpose is to protect the host from all dangers imaginable. When Victoria notices the young kid is attached to the dangerous weapon, she tasks Carapax (Raoul Trujillo) to take him down and get the scarab back. Jaime now has to fight for not only his own life but also his family’s before it is too late.
In Between Touching Dramatic Moments and Vacuous Popcorn Entertainment
The best parts of “Blue Beetle” rely on its dramatic story beats and the on-screen depiction of Latino culture (and as a biased extra point, seeing some local Puerto Rican spots on camera). Angel Manuel Soto has a good grasp of the drama at the core of this superhero flick. He draws back from his memories to add more spice to the film. The family drama side of this origin story brought me joy, even if it was minor. The expressions and chemistry the cast had with one another, separate from the comic-book plot, are charming. They get the best out of the director’s talents. However, things begin to dwindle once the action and adventure kick in. The familiar yet joyful moments of Latino culture and family togetherness feel like a haze when put into the succubus light of DC lore.
It turns out that “Blue Beetle” is another example of when an independent filmmaker who mainly focuses on drama is hired to make a 100-million-dollar plus superhero movie without slowly going up the ladder of budgetary handling. What I mean by that is that studios often give talented filmmakers a bunch of money when the person hasn’t even handled a project with a lower cap. This happened to Cate Shortland with “Black Widow” as well as Destin Daniel Cretto with “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. And now, Angel Manuel Soto is the next unfortunate director on the chopping block. He doesn’t know how to handle a project of this size or scale. When the action set-pieces arrive, he seems lost behind the camera, whereas, in the dramatic scenes, Seto feels comfortable as ever.
An Unabashed Copy of its Predecessors
The action or popcorn entertainment stuff is lackluster at best due to the lack of creativity in each and every one of them. Those moments seem like copies from other films of its kind, yet taking out what made them respectively entertaining or, at the very least, passable. There’s a bit from Spider-Man, Iron Man, Ant-Man, as well as Green Lantern. You get the sense that even when it holds its blazing Latino heart at high, there’s no spark of personality or distinctiveness on screen. Everything happens for a reason. But you feel you have heard this story before – as if you have mounted this ride a thousand times. The charming feeling that arrived during the dramatic moments rendered not so much as hollow but lost and frustrating.
“Blue Beetle” is constructed in a mold rather than built from the ground up. And it is a shame. I wanted Angel Manuel Soto to prove me (and everyone growing tired of these films) wrong. I wanted him to show that there’s space for blockbuster entertainment from a comic-book source and ingenuity. More so than Shortland or Cretto, I was aching that Soto did such things. I don’t know when the next time a Puerto Rican filmmaker will get the chance to make something of this scale. So, when it ends up like this, the pain is doubled. Sure, it may not be one of the worst in recent memory. Yet, it still suffers from the same problems as the aforementioned films, even if it is to a slighter degree.
“Blue Beetle” hits theaters worldwide on August 18th, 2023.
