It’s been a really bad year for DC Studios. Shazam 2 and The Flash were bad movies that both flopped. And now we’ve got Blue Beetle, a film that has the look and feel of a big Arrowverse crossover event on The CW. I’m sorry to say the state of DC hasn’t improved at all with this movie.
Blue Beetle follows recent college grad Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) as he tries to help his family keep their house. Instead, he runs afoul of Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), the evil billionaire running a tech company called Kord Industries, and gets himself and his sister fired from their cleaning job. But then Jaime gets mixed up with Victoria’s niece, Jenny (Bruna Marquezine), who doesn’t love that Aunt Vicki turned the company into an arms manufacturer. And after a series of accidents and coincidences, Jaime ends up with an ancient alien device climbing up his butt and turning him into a superhero. And Victoria is going to send some armored super soldiers to get that Scarab back.
Blue Beetle has three really big problems. First: It was originally planned to be released directly to HBO Max, and the final product feels shows it. It looks cheap and bland, the cinematography makes use of only the most standard TV angles and framing, and the action sequences never look like much. Blue Beetle has the air of a broadcast TV show like The CW’s Arrow or The Flash, rather than the introductory chapter of a DC hero on the big screen.