Some moviegoers are sick and tired of superhero films, which is why Blue Beetle didn’t do as well at the box office as it should’ve. Now that it’s on Netflix, more people can discover its low-key charms and surprisingly affectionate portrait of a close-knit, working-class family.
When recent college graduate Jamie Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) is given an alien object known only as the Scarab, he discovers that it gives him superpowers, imbuing him with the gift of flight, super strength and energy blasts, by encasing him in a blue beetle-like suit. Jamie embraces being a hero, but he quickly finds himself pitted against a villain — Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), a ruthless CEO and the owner of the Scarab that gives Jamie his powers. She wants it back to fund her own private army of mindless foot soldiers, and she’s willing to kill Jamie — and his loving Mexican American family — to do so.
You’re not wrong to think Blue Beetle sounds a lot like Spider-Man — a geeky hero with a pure heart, a supportive network of friends and family and a tendency to deliver zippy one-liners while battling bad guys. Yet what Blue Beetle lacks in originality, it makes up for it with its big heart, talented supporting cast, efficient direction and colorful visual effects. Blue Beetle is so simple, so unburdened by unnecessary continuity that plagues other spandex flicks, that it almost feels new. In a year that saw such comic book dreck as Captain America: Brave New World and the disappointing second season of Peacemaker, Blue Beetle is a reminder that these kinds of films can be fun.
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