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Blue Beetle - Movie Review
Transcript
00:00 Blue Beetle, though it was made before James Gunn's big reboot, is said to be, well, vaguely part of James Gunn's DC universe.
00:08 Smart to say that, since saying "Hey, the new movie coming out?"
00:12 It doesn't matter, it's getting rebooted anyway, causes people to not go watch your new movie.
00:18 I get what you're doing, DC.
00:19 At least they're learning from their mistakes, respectable.
00:22 [Blue Beetle theme]
00:27 So, Blue Beetle, a new DC movie, also a character I don't know much about outside of Injustice 2, gonna be honest with you.
00:34 Point is, a robotic world-ending death scarab from outer space latches onto a dude, he becomes Blue Beetle, and now he's gotta, you know, save the day. Also, family.
00:42 Now, Xolo Maiduena is the lead in this film, he's the Blue Beetle, I mean, he's the heart and soul of Cobra Kai, has been since the first season,
00:51 and he does bring that energy here, obviously he plays a very different character, but still has that essence of...
00:57 He seems like a good kid.
00:58 I mean, it's weird to call him a kid, he is in his 20s, but I'm just saying, he has that essence of, you know, he seems nice, from people who have interviewed him, they say he's nice, just as a human.
01:09 In a film like this, especially one that heavily revolves around a family dynamic, you want someone you can relate to, and be like "Hey, we're rooting for you here," he does bring that to the character.
01:19 I'm saying, that's when it's him, the face we know, the human we're rooting for. That's when the film's actually at its best.
01:27 When he becomes the big bad beetleborg, it just feels like a lot of superhero stuff we've seen a lot of, which is kind of funny, the Blue Beetle character is actually, I think he's from 1939?
01:36 Kind of ironic to me that a character that's so old, just in the echelon of comic book characters, has a movie that feels like it's borrowed so much from other comic book characters' movies.
01:47 But the family dynamic was really the heart and soul of the film, though it was a little tonally inconsistent, there are moments where it feels like this movie was made to be a more hardcore version of itself,
01:58 and they were like, "Eh, maybe we should market this towards kids a little more? Let's change the music in a couple scenes, that'll help."
02:06 Then there was his transformation scene, his transformation scene in the trailer looks intense, you're like, "Oh my god, I would freak out if that happened to one of my family members."
02:14 Or we can make jokes, have a lighthearted song choice to go with it, sure.
02:16 I'm not saying the movie has to take itself too seriously, I'm running out of ways to say it, because that's a very common complaint I have, where it's like, "The movie was too lighthearted, made jokes at the wrong time."
02:27 There were characters it did work with, like with the grandma, I was like, "Full pass. That works. That's kind of ironic and amazing."
02:34 Granny kicking ass with a Gatling gun just works, what can I say? It does feel a little campy in the way it just kind of lingers on it for a little longer than it needs to,
02:43 but what can I say? I was having fun with that.
02:45 Also, George Lopez, I thought was great in the movie too, I mean, he is a seasoned comedian and comedic actor, so absolutely he does crush it in that respect.
02:53 That's kind of my point, in a world where a lot of these comic book movies want to make everything funny, the seasoned comic knows how to do it, and have the comedy not overstay its welcome.
03:05 And in terms of drama, gotta give credit where credit's due, there was one scene in particular I was like, "That worked! That was... good job, movie!"
03:14 *laughs*
03:15 You did it!
03:15 And there was another moment with another character, it came later in the film, I liked that one too.
03:20 Could have gone for more of it involving that character, but I digress.
03:24 As for the baddies, you have Susan Sarandon playing passive-aggressive racist CEO Karen Baddy,
03:28 then you have another dude who looks like he was plucked straight from Cyberpunk 2077.
03:33 As for Cyberpunk 2077-ish baddy, I thought he was the most interesting character in the movie,
03:38 until he starts fighting Blue Beetle, and then he becomes something out of Tron, and then he's just less interesting, he's just a big robot-looking thing fighting Blue Beetle.
03:46 Could have gone for an entire film revolving around him, to be completely honest with you, who knows, maybe we can still get it.
03:52 Yeah, this movie definitely does have a mask problem, it's like, "Oh, human faces? Great! Characters!"
03:56 Then masks come on, they start fighting, "Oh, okay, well, it just feels like everything I've seen before... a fucktillion times at this point."
04:03 I did like how the family was way more hardcore than Blue Beetle was, you know, 'cause the suit can kind of make anything,
04:10 so it's like, "Oh, we can make... you wanna wipe baddies out? Here are some guns."
04:14 He's like, "No guns, no killing." He's like Batman or something.
04:17 His family though, yeah, they end lives, they'll kill folk, doesn't matter.
04:20 I don't know, you think they talk about it at the barbecue? You think he's like, "Well, I definitely have a thing against killing people, and...
04:27 you all absolutely do not." I kind of feel a certain way about that.
04:31 It kind of came across as an inconsistency that the movie makes a point to be like, "Killing is bad," and that's a thing with Blue Beetle.
04:39 His family though, they will put folks in the ground, and no one cares.
04:44 Look, in the end, like I said, I thought Xolo Mayedueña, I thought he was great as the lead.
04:47 He brings that likability that you've seen in Cobra Kai, and he brings it here in comic book movie form.
04:53 I just feel like I've seen this movie before in the form of a few other movies.
04:56 Granted, most movies out there are a Frankenstich of at least a couple other movies woven together to make something seemingly new.
05:04 But in the comic book movie subgenre, it's easier to notice when your movie seems to be pulling from a few other comic book movies.
05:10 For the most part, this film felt like it would have been great if it came out in 2004.
05:15 There's some stiff competition out there, and the elements you see and hear, I feel like you can get in other comic book movies that have done it better.
05:23 Maybe it'll be a better time if you're drunk.
05:25 Yeah, now it's a party.
05:27 Alright, so Blue Beetle, have you seen it? What did you think about it? Whatever you thought, comment below, let me know.
05:31 And as always, if you like what you've seen here and you want to see more, click right here to see more.
05:34 [Music]