Spreading its wings two months after "The Flash" ran into a brick wall at the box office, "Blue Beetle" is the latest movie to test the theory that life's tough for DC heroes not named Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman. The main challenge facing this young Latinx superhero is TV, and the sense this origin story would have been more at home on a venue like Disney+ (rival Marvel's playground) or the CW.
As is, the defining element becomes the extent to which the story heavily relies on its family component, which provides emotional ballast at first but becomes increasingly silly as the movie drags on. The basic premise -- young guy finds fabulous item that bestows extraordinary powers -- also makes the protagonist a particularly passive hero for too much of the movie, letting his Iron Man-like suit literally do most of the heavy lifting.
Ultimately, "Blue Beetle" feels ready for primetime -- in a "Ms. Marvel" kind of way -- but not necessarily ready for theaters in the wake of such tepid greetings for the "Shazam!" sequel, perhaps its closest DC kin thematically and tonally; and especially "The Flash," a significantly bigger and more engaging film.
"Blue Beetle" does get the principal casting right, with Xolo Maridueña ("Cobra Kai") as Jaime Reyes, the first college grad in his family, who returns home to an onslaught of bad economic news. Desperate to find a job to help out, he meets Jenny Kord (Bruna Marque), the heiress to a massive and shadowy conglomerate whose matriarch, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), is obsessed with finding the Scarab, an alien artifact that's the linchpin of her nefarious plans.
The item winds up in the hands of Jaime and promptly bonds with him, in a symbiotic wedding of man and suit that recalls the old series "Greatest American Hero."
Jaime's first reaction, naturally, is to want out, as the suit -- visually striking and sleek, if a little ill-defined in its powers -- talks to him while comedically bouncing him around town.
While Jaime tries to sort that out with assistance, primarily, from his sister (Belissa Escobedo of "Hocus Pocus 2") and crazy uncle (George Lopez, a little too unleashed), he inevitably must deal with the threat posed by Victoria, a lousy villain as these things go, turning Sarandon into the kind of figure one might associate with trying to kill Dalmatian puppies.
Director Angel Manuel Soto does bring considerable energy to the action sequences, and the script by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer incorporates lots of references to the long, geeky history of this second-tier character. (You'll be able to instantly identify old DC pros when they titter at a glimpse of the original costume.)
Still, "Blue Beetle" tends to fare best in its smaller moments, which merely reinforces the concept's limitations thanks in part to the sheer glut of similar fare driven by streaming. The cultural specificity is also an asset but feels rushed in a format that, unlike the pacing of a series, creates a greater imperative to get to the next battle.
The bottom line is the world has changed since "Shazam!" turned into a genial hit in 2019, and the theatrical bar has been raised for this sort of exercise. "Blue Beetle" might be able to soar into the stratosphere, but that feels like a hurdle the movie just doesn't clear.
"Blue Beetle" premieres August 18 in US theaters. It's rated PG-13. DC and Warner Bros., like CNN, are units of Warner Bros. Discovery.