Blue Beetle: A Spoiler-Filled Discussion
***As the title would suggest, full spoilers for Blue Beetle follow***
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LG9ywim4hLVWsnOo81YJg
DC has now released three movies so far in 2023: Shazam! Fury of the Gods in March, The Flash in June, and now Blue Beetle. It may surprise readers to know that not only is Blue Beetle the best of these entries but it is the best by a country mile. That said, the movie is not perfect and there are still some problems, but if someone is going to watch one DC movie this year, it should be Blue Beetle.
What Worked
The family dynamic between Jamie and the rest of his family is really fun and engaging which makes the movie flow very nicely. There is no point where any character gets grating and it makes the supporting cast stand out among a sea of others who occupy a similar space. On top of this, the members of the family are characterized so well that when the key emotional shift happens towards the end of the movie, namely the death of Jamie's father, the immediate surge of emotion followed by suppression works very well.
The other thing that worked was the design and aesthetic of this iteration of the DC Universe. Right now, it is unknown what if anything from this movie will carry over to the new DC Universe under James Gunn, however hopefully this world that feels lived-in and authentically DC can carry over. Beyond this, the score and aesthetic for the movie itself feels different from other entries in previous DC films which makes everything feel so unique, even while it does play some of the greatest hits from superhero movies that you have almost certainly seen in the past.
What Didn't Work
Blue Beetle began as an (at the time) HBOMax movie, however, once Warner Brothers and Discovery merged, this was one of the films alongside Magic Mike's Last Dance and Evil Dead Rise to be reassigned as a theatrical release rather than streaming. This is to say that the budget is comparatively small for a theatrically released summer superhero tentpole in 2023 (only $104 million) and the visuals will reflect that low budget. It feels kind of wrong to put it in this section because of the budget it was working with, however it is still glaring considering this movie was moved to a theatrical release because of the visual spectacle associated with it.
There is also the third-act issue that has been pervasive in a lot of superhero movies lately, namely that it devolves into a fight between two individuals with the same powers that is just boring. It's functionally the same third act as Iron Man, as Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Wonder Woman where, on rewatch it will probably be the point where I turn off the movie because I know where it goes from here. The biggest sin is that it is set up earlier in the movie where the Blue Beetle suit can respond to his imagination so what could have been a fight about Jamie outsmarting Carapax, it just becomes a fight between them to see who can punch harder.
How You Should Watch This Movie
Despite Warner Brothers' best efforts, the movie still looks and feels like it was built for a streaming experience, not a theatrical experience. The visual aesthetic does not look great and larger screens will only make that shortcoming more obvious. The glaring third act issues also make the end of the movie hard to get through which is more of a problem when the movie is already clocking in at over two hours. There is still fun to be had in a theatrical experience, however viewers will get as much enjoyment from seeing it in a theater as a matinee in a standard format as they will in IMAX or on a Dolby screen.
★★★★
