5 Reasons Why Blue Beetle Deserves More Love At The Box Office
DC fans who have gone to theaters to watch Blue Beetle might all agree on one thing: it isn’t a bad movie, if anything, it’s a huge upgrade from the previous DCEU bombs The Flash and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. It receives a 76% Tomatometer score and 92% audience score, which isn’t bad for a superhero movie.
However, the movie’s current box office performance doesn’t seem to fully reflect its quality, since Blue Beetle only earned a humble $25.4 million gross on its first weekend, which is significantly lower than any movie of the same genre, while still topping the box office chart of the week.
While the title still has a hiccup or two throughout the story, Blue Beetle is overall a good and fun movie that deserves way more recognition. In this article, let’s go through these 6 best aspects of the movie that prove why it’s the best DCEU title in recent years.
#1. Blue Beetle focuses solely on the Reyes family relationship, and it’s a good thing.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
One of the things fans look forward to the most in Blue Beetle is the family dynamics between Jaime and the rest of the Reyes household, and they weren’t disappointed. Right from the start of the movie, we’ve been treated with plenty of wholesome and fun interactions between the family members that any Fast movie would be jealous of.
The family dynamic is one of the best charms in Latinos telenovelas that keeps us watching, and in Blue Beetle, it’s easily the highlight of the film. From wholesome moments between Jaime and his father to the hysterical Reyes sibling banters, we just can’t take our eyes off the screen as they appear.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Blue Beetle is also probably the first superhero movie ever to have a protagonist’s family involves so much in his affairs. Against the mighty legion of Victoria Kord, the Reyes somehow pulls through at the end.
After Alberto’s death, Nana, Jaime’s abuela, encourages everyone to put their grief aside temporarily, as they all go save Jaime together. Only when everything is done and dusted, that Nana and the others allow themselves to burst into tears, mourning Alberto at the end. This scene hits us like a train and makes some of us shed a tear or two.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
The Reyes family has their badass moments in battle as well, with Uncle Rudy driving the Tedbug, Milagro punching the heck out of the enemies with her holo-fist, and of course, who can forget Granny Nana channeling her inner rebel soldier persona to shoot down an entire enemy group?
#2. Xolo Maridueña’s top-tier performance as the protagonist.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
On top of the Reyes family dynamic, is a charismatic Jaime who’s portrayed by the talented Xolo Maridueña. The young Cobra Kai star has done an excellent job to play the energetic yet awkward Jaime Reyes, who’s a mixture between Marvel’s Peter Parker and DC’s Billy Batson.
His interactions with his family are the best parts of the movie, and the way he keeps bantering back and forth with the Scarab makes us want the duo to return to future DCU movies. Along with Shazam, Jaime Reyes can bring that bit of goofiness and energy to the overall dark DC Universe, and Xolo Maridueña is the perfect man for the job.
#3. Spectacular CGI display.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
While focusing on the family department, Blue Beetle doesn’t neglect one bit the special effect aspect. In fact, the movie’s CGI display is a huge upgrade compared to The Flash’s.
From Jaime’s nanotech-like transition into the Blue Beetle to the smooth weapon transformation, the VFX artists have done an exceptional job with Jaime’s suit effect, making every movement and transition as seamless as possible, which put Barry Allen’s childish costume into shame.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Other sequences such as when Jaime slices a bus in half, speaking with Alberto in the afterlife, or battles against Carapax at the end are also pretty well done, while the explosion scenes could use a little more work.
#5. Blue Beetle benefits from a simpler storyline.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
We can all agree that Blue Beetle’s plot is simple to a fault, which has its own pros and cons, however, let’s focus on the good part for now. The lack of twists and turns in the movie allows Angel Manuel Soto to focus more on the hearty family relationship between Jaime, Jenny, and the Reyes, with many hilarious, wholesome, and tear-jerking moments.
Hopefully, in a possible sequel, we can learn more about Jaime’s connection with the Scarab, aka Khaji-Da, and dive further into the symbiote’s alien origin. The way that Khaji-Da learns more about human emotion at the end of a movie is another potential aspect worth exploiting.
#5. The Latino representation in the movie is very well done.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, a director of Hispanic origin, the Latino representation is seamlessly transitioned into the movie. From the streets of Edge Keys to the Reyes household, the classic Latin soundtrack or house decoration, you can find a nod to the Latino culture everywhere in Blue Beetle.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
The movie also introduces some more niche sub-culture heritage of the Hispanic community, such as the stop-motion El Chapulín Colorado movie at the end. Jaime Reyes is the first Hispanic superhero in the DC Universe, and the movie has done well to represent his Latino root on the big screen.
Do you think Blue Beetle deserves to be more successful at the box office? Let us know in the comment.