★★★★

Blue Beetle deserves better than a lacklustre release at the arse end of a dying franchise. This hugely likeable super romp will play to the dust balls. A minimalist promotional programme from Warner Bros. says it all. Flash bombed and word on the streets has it that audiences just don’t care anymore. All executive eyes are instead on next year’s James Gunn franchise reboot. Expect, maybe they should care about this little try hard. Forget the wider world for one moment and embrace Blue Beetle as the most heartfelt, charming and unselfconsciously funny film the DCEU has produced in…well, perhaps ever. Sure, the bar’s low but don’t let that put you off either.

On one level, Blue Beetle answers the increasing convolutions of recent hero offerings – from DC and Marvel alike – via a reversion to convention. Certainly, a script by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer plums the class origins story mould. There’s a wide-eyed youth, a misadventure with alien technology, profiteering baddie, final battle and attractive beau, ready and waiting to be whisked off their feet. It’s all very 2008, right down to the titular Beetle’s shiny suit and silky smooth AI PA, here voiced by pop star Becky G. There’s a dash of Venom’s buddy comedy here but Iron Man and Spidey that provide the clearest line of comparison. Where Blue Beetle stands apart, however, is a setting shift from the brightly lit big city to the poorer suburbs in its shadow. That’s one half of the ace card here.

The other half belongs to a rather more left field narrative twist. As played by Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña, Blue Beetle – aka Jamie Reyes – is a hero who brings his family along for the ride. Not some Shazam bros. gang either. We’re talking mum, dad, uncle, sister and grandma too. She’s the most fierce – one time revolutionary – but Belissa Escobedo’s younger sis gives it good. Much is made of the family is king schtick that’s been the Fast and Furious mantra for more than a decade – ‘the love that I have for my family, that’s what makes me strong’ – but it’s the gawky embarrassment they bring to the table that really gives Blue Beetle it’s fuzzy edge.

Particularly pleasing is the film’s delightful cultural specificity. Dialogue slips between English and Spanish at a rat-a-tat pace, encapsulating a painstakingly honest family dynamic. While the entourage mostly offer comic relief, there is soul here too, well captured in a string of scenes that prove equally hilarious and moving. Far and away, Blue Beetle’s most memorable and affecting scene is neither action set piece nor dramatic denouement but the poignant delivery of a single line to a wounded unit late in a very long day.

Such is not to say that Blue Beetle lacks pizzazz and heft. Jamie’s first transformation alone prompts a thrilling sequence of fizzing spectacle and dramatic wallop. It occurs as Jaime makes contact with ‘the Scarab,’ an ancient alien artefact stolen from ruthless CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) by her wealthy heiress niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine). While Victoria ploys to utilise the Scarab’s powers to bolster a super-powered army, the thing itself has other ideas. If Khaji-Da hasn’t the zingers in its arsenal that helped make Venom a hit, the interplay endears, reaping a heartfelt arc and, yes, more than it’s fair share of laugh out loud gags. Throw in some Sonic-neon lighting and Shazam-esque fish out of water fun and you’re left with a hero that’s a treat to watch and well worth rooting for.

While there’s no question that the narrative he powers through lacks memorability – the journey is a check box of secret lairs, car chases and a final showdown – there is something to be said for the film’s morality. The Reyes family live in the shadow of imperialist wealth – ‘we used to own the other side of the tracks and now they want that too’ – and are as much threatened men in metal suits as those in polyester and linen. It’s a blunt but no less impactful shot that frames their run down accommodation beneath the wealth of a gleaming Palmera City skyline. Knowing and surprisingly sharp observations pepper a script all too familiar with the unease that proliferates the Mexican border. ‘We’re invisible to people like that,’ says Escobedo’s Milagro, ‘it’s kind of our superpower’.

Blue Beetle might give audiences exactly what they expect from this fare but it’s that little bit extra that makes it sparkle.

T.S.