Blue Beetle

My nephew Sean and I went to see Blue Beetle last night (it was one of his most anticipated movies of the year) and we both loved it!  Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) is a recent college graduate who has returned to his hometown looking for a job.  He ends up at Kord Industries, run by the ruthless Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) who wants to use an alien artifact known as the Scarab to create cyborg assassins known as One Man Army Corps (OMACs).  Her niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) objects to this and steals the Scarab but she ends up giving it to an unsuspecting Jaime.  When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its host and fuses with him to create a powerful armored suit, he reaches out to Jenny to learn about its origins.  However, Victoria wants it back and sends her bodyguard Ignacio Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), an OMAC prototype, to attack his family, including his father Alberto (Damian Alcazar), mother Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo), sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), uncle Rudy (George Lopez), and grandmother Nana (Adriana Barraza), forcing an epic confrontation.  There have been a lot of superhero origin stories over the years so it is inevitable that tropes have developed and, while this movie does employ many of them, I think the story is a lot of fun.  The emphasis on the importance of family provides a lot of comedy (Nana is my favorite) but also a lot of heart with several incredibly poignant moments that brought tears to my eyes.  The action sequences, which involve mostly practical effects and real-life locations, look fantastic, particularly the final battle between Blue Beetle and Carapax, and I especially loved the design of the suit. Mariduena is incredibly appealing and charismatic in the title role and, even though I was not very familiar with the character, my nephew (who is a huge fan) tells me that his portrayal is very true to the comics.  I ended up really liking the character, especially his humanity, and I am happy that Blue Beetle will be a part of the new DCU under James Gunn (a mid-credits scene sets up the second movie in a possible trilogy).  This has had a disappointing opening weekend at the box office so I highly encourage everyone to go see it because, in my opinion, it is one of the better CBMs in recent memory and both Sean and I had so much fun watching it!