BLUE BEETLE (2023)

BLUE BEETLE is superhero movie from DC Comics about a self-aware alien mechanism that picks a pre-law college grad from a Mexican immigrant family to be its symbiotic host, giving him access to a powerful suit of armor with advanced weapons, which enables the young man to stop a power-mad female industrialist who wants to create her own super-army. BLUE BEETLE is an engaging superhero movie with lots of heart, but its pro-family premise and brief Catholic, Christian symbolism are marred by lots of foul language, brief false theology and some politically correct, Marxist content. 

The movie opens with the female industrialist, Victoria Kord’s, military team finding the blue alien artifact, shaped like an Egyptian scarab. Victoria’s niece, Jenny, objects to her aunt trying to turn her late father’s company back into a military developer.  

Meanwhile, Jaime Reyes returns home from college, but finds getting a job difficult. He ends up working with his sister as one of the Kord company’s maintenance and cleaning crew. However, his sister gets them fired. Jenny is there at the time, though, so she tells Jaime to stop by her office the next day, and she’ll try to find him another job. 

The next day, Jaime stops by the Kord company’s large office building, but Jenny is busy sneaking into the company’s secret lab and stealing the scarab. She hides it in a discarded fast food box and heads down to the lobby to leave. Jaime sees her as she leaves and tries to stop her, but the alarm goes off, and she hands off the box to Jaime and tells him to take it home, and she’ll get it form him later. Don’t open it, and don’t touch what’s inside, she says. 

Back at home, the family cajoles Jaime into opening the box. Everyone is perplexed by the blue mechanical scarab inside. Jaime tries to stop her, but his sister grabs the scarab, and the scarab suddenly comes alive, enlarges and attaches itself to Jaime’s back. A suit of armor surrounds him, and he flies through the ceiling. The scarab armor seems to go through a series of tests to make sure it’s working. 

The next day, Jenny shows up at the family’s house and is just as perplexed about the scarab device as Jaime and his family. She says there’s a key device at her family’s corporate headquarters that may help them detach the device from Jaime. Jaime’s Uncle Rudy has invented a device that can jam the building’s security cameras, so he helps them sneak into the building.  

Jaime and Jenny steal the device. However, the main henchman in charge of the aunt’s security and mercenary forces, Lt. Carapax, whose body has been enhanced by the company’s military tech, gets wind of the intrusion. He engages with Jaime’s new Blue Beetle suit. 

They and Rudy get away, but the aunt eventually tracks down Jaime’s family. So, Jaime has to defend his family from Jenny’s aunt, in addition to stopping her from using the Blue Beetle technology to develop an army of soldiers with virtually invincible superpowers. 

BLUE BEETLE is an engaging superhero movie with lots of heart. It has exciting action scenes and plenty of jeopardy. Sometimes, however, the dialogue is a little on the nose, telling viewers the story’s meaning rather than showing it. 

BLUE BEETLE has a strong pro-family premise and message. For example, the female villain’s henchman tells Jaime that his love for his family is his weakness, but Jaime shows him that the love he has for his family is his strength. Also, when it turns out that the scarab device is controlled by some kind of alien intelligence, Jaime teaches it not to kill the people attacking him. So, the movie also has a strong pro-life message too. In addition, Jaime’s grandmother blesses her grandson with the Sign of the Cross, which is a visual statement of faith in the Holy Christian Trinity. There are at least two other instances of family members performing this spiritually uplifting Christian ritual. 

However, BLUE BEETLE has lots of foul language. Much of the language is light, such as a series of “h” obscenities, but there are more than several “s” words and one strong profanity misusing the Name of God. 

The movie’s pro-family premise and light Christian references are also marred by some false theology and false politically correct Marxist content. 

For example, in one conversation, Jaime and his father talk about the universe as if it’s a living thing. Also, there are two or so shots of a painting of the Virgin Mary in the Mexican family’s home that hints of worship of Mary. In one scene, the grandmother is called a revolutionary from way back and later she fires a weapon at the bad guys while condemning them as “imperialists.” Later in the movie, a flashback shows that the female villain’s main henchman, Lt. Carapax, was a little boy in Guatemala whose mother was killed when the villain’s mercenaries, working apparently for the U.S. government, blew up their village, and the boy lost his memories as a result of one of the explosions. The flashback scene implies that the female villain turned the boy into the enhanced soldier he became. These two scenes reflect the movie’s apparent subtext of Latino-centric identity politics. 

The filmmakers of BLUE BEETLE are smart to have a strong pro-family premise driving their story about a Latino superhero and his family. However, the Latino or Hispanic demographic they’re trying to please is not monolithic. Also, the Latino demographic is pretty traditional when it comes to morality. So, having so much foul language in their movie will limit the movie’s ticket sales. 

Also, the universe is a Creation of God. It’s not conscious. Too many movies and TV programs these days are including dialogue about the universe wanting this or not wanting that, as if it’s a person, when it’s not. Such references to the universe are irrational and annoying. 

All in all, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for the excessive foul language, false theology and politically correct content in BLUE BEETLE.