Maridueña delivers impactful performance
Don’t call it a comeback, because it’s not and that’s a good thing. Blue Beetle makes me very hopeful for the DCU moving forward. With all that in mind, from the mind of a Blue Beetle fan, here’s the review.
The intro to this movie is a massive call back, not only to Blue Beetle’s history, but a couple other characters in DC’s catalog that I won’t spoil, just to be safe. It’s so nice to see such a comic-y background in a DC movie as opposed to the overly dark and dreary takes that have been the status quo. This movie takes the long and tricky history of the Blue Beetle and adapts it in such a faithful way while making it more believable than I could have expected.
As for the cast, I could not ask for anything better. Xolo Maridueña and George Lopez absolutely steal the show. We experience the film through Jaime, played by Xolo, who is a recent graduate of Gotham Law, and wants to use his degree to revitalize his home. Xolo makes an adequate conduit through which we can relate and react alongside his newfound journey with Kaji-Da, played by Becky G. Lopez plays Jaime’s conspiracy-theorist uncle Rudy, which is exactly as fun as it sounds. I could go on and on about the cast, they all gave stellar performances that far and beyond exceeded my expectations.
In short, Blue Beetle was everything I wanted and more. It was a breath of fresh air not only for the CBM genre, but for representation in media. Director Angel Manuel Soto set out to create a film that could resonate with the culture; a film in which Latino kids could see themselves on screen being unapologetically Latino. For me, it really works. In my heart, it’s a 10/10. I’ll never win that argument, but I had a genuinely fun time. I felt for the characters, and I will 100 percent be watching it again.
