Is it the last, is it the second last or is it the first? It’s hard to tell what’s going on at DC Studios these days now that James Gunn and Peter Safran have taken control of the company. Depending on what day of the week it is, BLUE BEETLE is either the final film in the less-than-successful DC Extended Universe, or it’s the second last one because AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM is due out in December and that film, supposedly, falls under the DCEU too, or it’s the first film in the newly launched DC Universe (DCU). Hopefully, it will all make sense at some point but for now, BLUE BEETLE has landed and the stakes couldn’t be lower. Parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, still riding high on the BARBIE wave, hasn’t thrown much money into promoting this film, at least here in Hong Kong, so don’t be surprised if it comes and goes in a flash (pun intended).

In this DC Comics superhero entry, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña, TV’s COBRA KAI and PARENTHOOD), is a 22-year-old from the fictional Palmera City, which appears to look not too different from Miami. (In the comic book series, he’s from El Paso, Texas.) Having just returned home after graduating college, he soon learns that the family is struggling to pay its bills and is about to lose its house. Jaime decides to get a job at the local high tech powerhouse, Kord Industries, and through a twist of fate befriends Jenny Kord (Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine), the niece of the company’s CEO, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon, MAYBE I DO). Victoria has recently found an ancient scarab that will give her immense wealth and power but Jenny steals it and gives it to Jaime for safekeeping, telling him not to touch it. He does, of course, and the scarab attaches itself to him, giving him superpowers. Not surprisingly, Victoria wants the scarab back and will not stop until she does, setting her private army on Jaime’s family. The Reyeses are not going down without a good fight though, and his uncle Rudy (George Lopez), younger sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), mother (Elpidia Carrillo, TV’s EUPHORIA) and Nana (Adriana Barraza, DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD) team up with Jaime and Jenny to bring Victoria down.

BLUE BEETLE is surprisingly not bad. It’s not great – it’s certainly more entertaining than THE FLASH, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS, BLACK ADAM and WONDER WOMAN 1984, and the scheming and ruthless high tech billionaire as the baddie is derivative – but it works because of the story’s focus on family. The best scenes are the ones where the family strikes back and they do it in amusing fashion. Maridueña is effective in his dual role as the young man who is suddenly thrust into a situation that he never could have imagined in his wildest dreams. Sarandon, however, seems to have been sleeping through her performance, not that it was overly taxing. She’s basically barking out orders to everyone around her. I’m sure it was a good paycheque though.

Unlike the other DCEU films of late, BLUE BEETLE had a relatively small production budget of around US$125 million, so there’s a good chance that it might break even, which is something that all of the other films mentioned above failed to do. If that happens, there’s a good possibility we may be seeing Jaime Reyes again, perhaps not in his own film but as a supporting character in another DCU film. In typical comic book movie fashion, the film’s mid-credits scene hints that there’s more of BLUE BEETLE to come but that all depends on Gunn and Safran.

BLUE BEETLE opened in Hong Kong yesterday (August 17) and rolls out around the world today. As far as DCEU movies go, this one’s better than most but that’s not saying much.

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