Blue Beetle - A Surprisingly Delightful Origin Story of a Lesser Known Superhero

The news about this movie had been circulating around for quite some time but because I was not familiar with the name, it did not get me too excited. However, seeing it was another superhero movie, I still went ahead and see it during the weekend as I was not free when it was released in midweek. OK, I'll get right to it then. 

Brief Story Line

Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña - Cobra Kai, Parenthood TV series etc) had high hopes when he returned to his hometown after graduating college. Although his parents Alberto (Damian Alcazar - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian etc) and Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo - Predator etc), younger sister Millagro (Belissa Escobedo - Hocus Focus 2 etc), uncle Rudy (George Lopez -  The Tax Collector, Gnome Alone etc) and grandmother, Nana (Adriana Barazza - From Prada to Nada etc) were actually having financial problems, they were still very delighted with his return.

Later Jaime somehow gotten himself an object that created a suit which enabled him to have various powers. The Kord Industries led by its CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon - A Bad Moms Christmas, Lorenzo's Oil etc) that were developing powerful weapons to be sold to the military, found out about this and assigned her bodyguard Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo - Apocalypto etc) to capture Jaime and acquire the object. With the help from Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezina - Women in Love etc), Jaime had to save himself and his family from the danger while trying to adapt to his new found abilities.

So what would happen to Jaime and his family? And how would the story conclude? You could find them all in this movie. 

End of Brief Story Line

OK, to be honest I was not really looking forward to this movie and was feeling a bit skeptical whether I would like it or not. Not even after seeing the trailer which did not exactly scream amazing. Probably because of the unclarity surrounding the future of DC Universe and the unfamiliar superhero as well. It turned out that I could not have been more wrong cause I ended up enjoying this movie a lot, and my wife did too.

This movie was exactly what I would hope for in a lesser known superhero origin story. Despite having a rather slow start with the introduction of the people involved but it was smart & important to show the warmth and closeness in the Reyes family which would explain the subsequent events relating to them. It also made us felt attach to this group of people with their positive attitude, especially the father Alberto and the hilarious uncle Rudy. Many times my wife and I laughed out loud because of Rudy's behavior.

The way Jaime got his powers was done pretty smoothly. Though it might seem too easy but his reactions were really what we could have imagined a normal people would act when it happened to them. I think Xolo Maridueña did a great job in portraying Jaime Reyes. I read that critics were full of praise for him. I also liked the rest of the family members which meant the cast did wonderful job as well. This time I felt that they were really part of the film instead of just additional characters. 

The action scenes were nicely done and no over using of CGI. Some fight scenes were pretty awesome although the one involving the many bad guys on the island might be a bit exagerrated but I think it was more for fun. I did not have any complaints with the special effects either and the sound effects on the studio with Dolby Atmos certainly helped in making it more entertaining. The story was another factor that made me and my wife enjoyed it as it was told in a nice way. There were few emotional moments which I felt were well put at the perfect timing. Credits have to be given to the director Angel Manuel Soto whose prior experience was mostly directing short films and feature film Charm City Kings plus the writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer for making this an enjoyable movie.

Aside from the nice story, the warm relationship of the family, the realistic characterization of the people, the decent action scenes and the humor, I think this movie had the benefit of not having to link it to future films in DC universe (yet). My wife enjoyed this a lot that she did not even feel bored and caught any glimpse to her mobile phone. The duration of 2 hours 7 minutes did not feel too long. Oh there was one mid end credit scene which I believe would be hint for its sequel. There was a post end credit scene that was just for fun.

Overall this film was definitely a delightful surprise package that was truly entertaining. Even if we did not have any knowledge of this superhero at all, but from what we have seen here, we liked him already. So if you are still in doubt, you can cast it aside and give it a try. I am quite sure you would be enjoying this as much as my wife and I did.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars