Blue Beetle

 

Puerto Rican director Angel Manuel Soto's Blue Beetle feels a bit like a retread, but it is so sweetly pimped-out that audiences are not likely to care -- which will do wonders for the DC Universe's limping feature film franchise.

Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai) lends abundant charm to the role of Jaime (pronounced Hy-me not Jay-me) Reyes, who returns to fictional Palmera City (think a Southwest version of Gotham City or Metropolis) after having graduated from college.

He returns to the loving embrace of his partly undocumented Mexican immigrant family -- Damián Alcázar as father Alberto, Elpidia Carrillo as mother Rocio, Adriana Barraza as Nana, Belissa Escobedo as sister Milagro, and George Lopez as Uncle Rudy. They're all full of fire and vinegar and optimism, but it's Rudy who delivers copious amounts of lunacy, wisdom and, not coincidentally, skepticism.

The family bears news that they are being forced out of their home by the locally headquartered, voracious weapons manufacturer Kord Industries, which has essentially ghettoized Latino residents onto a slip of land the people call the Keys.

The corporation is headed by the viperous CEO Victoria Kord (a delectably evil Susan Sarandon), whose rebellious niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) steals Victoria's secret weapon, alien technology known as "the Scarab," which ends up first in Jaime's possession and ultimately taking possession of him, turning the affably innocent kid into the ultimate fighting machine.

Even though the Blue Beetle series has a long history, this telling turns the story of a minor league superhero into not just a cautionary tale about those historically cozy bedfellows -- private industry and the Pentagon -- but a welcome take on cultural annihilation and the spirits that are awakened in the face of existential threats, even when those threats are backed by the government.

Note to Soto -- this viewer is eagerly anticipating Nana's freedom fighter backstory -- ¡Abajo los imperialistas!