When a film wears its heart on its sleeve the way BLUE BEETLE does, it’s hard to dislike it. Not impossible, but very, very hard. Still, there’s a screenplay that can’t quite decide what tack to take as it moves awkwardly through plot beats that feel less like a story and more like the generic output of a script factory. Worse, it commits the cardinal sin of action flicks, it generates action fatigue.
Take the way it considers the evils of the military-industrial complex and gentrification, both worthy objects of scorn, and brings them tidily into focus by the struggles of the Reyes family. Son Jaime (Xolo Maridueña) returns from graduating college (the first in his family to do so) to find a warm welcome from his extended family, and a hard slap from reality about the precarious financial situation that they have been keeping from him. Jaime’s father, Alfredo (Damián Alcázar), gently reminds his family that they will get through this the way that they have gotten through other crises. The pointed reminders of the obstacles faced by immigrants and their second-generation children lead one to believe that this will be an issues-driven excursion into superhero land. Alas, while those elements remain in play, there is an overwhelming sense of déjà vu in even the most ambitious of the film’s effects sequences. The villain of the piece, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), representing weaponized science in all its glory is generic at best. A cardboard caricature of pure evil, a Cruella de Ville redux full of hackneyed ripostes and cliché schemes, Sarandon is suitably arch, with a fine gleam in her eye as she wreaks mayhem in the name of the greater good, but not even her palpable delight in pure evil can overcome the writing fails, and the plot holes that yawn with extreme prejudice.
Nor can any of the talented thespians on screen overcome the tedium of the obvious. There are no surprises to be had here, no interesting twists on the superhero conventions, and no originality in even in the post-credit sequence that has the whiff of inevitability about it. Sure, it’s a veritable cornucopia of effects and action, but the staleness of déjà-vu in even the most ambitious of the effects sequences is overwhelming. At over two hours, that is much to endure, even if George Lopez as Uncle Rudy, he of specific tonsorial and sartorial choices, enlivens the proceedings with an anarchic paranoia that spreads even to balloons. He is at least as diverting, and honestly more entertaining, than Jaime’s first encounter with the scarab that will give him his superpowers by burrowing into his body, forming armor (and insect appendages) around that body, and taking him on a test flight through downtown Palmera City and then outer space by way of a bisected bus.
The interplay between Jaime and his family can, however, warm the cockles of even the hardest heart even if you can anticipate their dialogue. Sweet talks about the meaning of life with father Alfredo, being urged on to do the right thing by tough and tender mother, Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo), sharing very big dreams with the smart-mouthed kid sister Milagro (scene-stealingly feisty Belissa Escobedo), who loves him more than life itself, the ci-mentioned Rudy, and a smiling, Nana (Adriana Barraza), ready with a blessing and a smile. The actors make up in spirit what is lacking in their lines, and seeing a close-knit family that isn’t saccharine, that worries more about Jaime’s condition than about the holes he keeps accidentally punching in the ceiling when taking flight is refreshing and, dare I say it, uplifting. They deserve a better telling than what is on offer here. As for the inevitable romance between Jaime and Victoria’s progressive niece, Jennifer (Bruna Marquezine), there aren’t many sparks as they work their way up to their first kiss.
With broad humor falling flat and diminishing its efforts at every turn, BLUE BEETLE can be a painful experience. So can wondering why a very smart cookie like Victoria Kord can’t track down Rudy’s tricked-out tailgate after spotting it when trying to find Jaime and the scarab she so desperately covets. Also, with extreme prejudice. It falls under the weight of good intentions with a faulty execution. And that’s a real shame.
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