Blue Beetle (2023)

20251226:
I like George Lopez's acting in this film. I didn't like the antagonist (Victoria Kord), because the character lacked depth. The movie started differently than many other movies. In particular, the protagonist showed reluctance to getting powers and so that scene is the opposite of the common superhero experience. And while the learning to be a superhero scene is a common pattern across origin superhero movies, it's often pure enjoyment and builds connection between the viewer and the character. In this movie, however, there's an awkwardness that kills that connection.

Overall, the second half of the movie had redeeming qualities, with the family getting together, and some character development with Jenny Kord and some information about her father. But I think not enough to give the movie anything more than a 3.

Rating: 3.0/5

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20251227 Comment:
I had actually already written some notes for a review:

- While the beginning was weak and unlikeable, the ending was decent. The romance was kind of weak. The themes on family were decent.
- The film was weaker in terms of superhero movies. They didn't sell the symbiosis well. It didn't feel good like Venom / Brock symbiosis. Or Moon Knight.
- George Lopez was probably best overall performance.
- I guess the villain being Victoria was not likeable. There are appealing villains in stories. She was not. In contrast, Voldemorte is a good villain. You dont root for him, but he has depth to him. This victoria person wants power but she's not even good at having power. She just seems to boss people around plainly with no depth.

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Instant Comments:
he's standing there. I imagine the joke is he's the pool cleaner?
wow. this woman smiles even thoigh her tactics are cruel and a man died as direct result. truly evil
the grandma pulling them together had water partially move into my eyes
hehe the daughter asks how she knows how to hold the gun as such
hehe. the gramma puts the plan together
down with the imperialistas
really water flood when gramma says its okay to cry now
and more when she invites girl to join

midcredits
hmm... too bad theres no sequel right? [the film is the second-to-last in the DCEU, but apparently James Gunn is maybe keeping it; I think the soft reboot and doing it so soon would result in disengagement; like, do people really want to get invested into a new set of DC movies? whatever happened to standalone movies, not everything has to be a universe]

endcredits
the CH cartoon from earlier

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Watched 20251226 (Netflix, Instant) (Last day to watch 20251231)
Blue Beetle (2023) Angel Manuel Soto. 127 min

Relevant Links:
Blue Beetle (IMDb.com)
Blue Beetle (RottenTomatoes.com)
Blue Beetle (Wikipedia.org)