Sep 4, 20232 min read

FILM REVIEW: BLUE BEETLE (12A)ESP RATING: 3/5

The penultimate DC movie from the current universe before the James Gunn/Peter Safran re-launch – just about hits more than it misses.

Xolo Mariduena’s (TV series Cobra Kai) Latino superhero may have just done enough to transition to Warner Bros’ new vision – by taking on a vibe more akin to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy.

Just not as good. And with over-the-top comedy that borders on exasperating.

When college grad Jaime Reyes returns home to the Miami-esque Palmera City, he soon realises his family are going to be evicted from their home, and ends up going for a job at wealthy Kord Industries – led by Susan Sarandon’s villainous CEO Victoria Kord – after befriending her step-daughter Jenny (Bruna Marquezine).

But when he inadvertently comes into possession of an ancient biotechnological relic housed at Kord’s top-secret facility, known as a Scarab, it fuses with him, and he becomes the symbiotic host – granting him powerful exoskeleton armour and super-human powers.

Now transformed into the heroic Blue Beetle, he becomes the target of Victoria and her similarly-powered bodyguard Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), as they seek to literally ‘rip’ it out of him.

But with Jenny, his enigmatic sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), annoyingly overly-comedic Uncle Rudy (George Lopez) and the rest of his family by his side, they won’t be able to do it easily.

And this comes in a fairly entertaining, generally formulaic, but satisfyingly amiable way, that will probably appeal more to youngsters nearer the 12A certificate – even with the unnecessary over-use of milder expletives – than adults looking for a more serious approach.

Blue Beetle definitely scuttles along at an enjoyably action-packed pace – but the over-zealous main family are without doubt an irritating bug bear.

ESP Rating: 3/5

Gavin Miller