all right citizens of the reject Nation we just got done watching Blue Beetle where George Lopez
broke into a stand-up comedy special for two hours to tell us why Batman is a fact right
it's a one-man show it's a dissertation open my eyes I had no eyes go home and burn all my DC
memorabilia go woke in your brain expands this is usually the idea but you know don't quote me
on that no no no no no no no no hear it in the context of the movie if you've got a character
he is like well he's always saying like this is the guy character saying stuff like that about
anybody who comes into this conversation through that BS out of the way right now leave a like on
this video that'd be very much appreciated now before we go into things reject Nation for those
who know me well no I love graphic novels and know I've always wanted to write a graphic novel myself
which is why when we were asked to shout out the Codex I was intrigued I specifically asked to get
familiar with the comic before shouting them out and I am literally at the halfway point here and
I can confidently tell you this is an awesome unique this isn't your typical post-apocalyptic
narrative it massively Blends action horror fantasy Western and sci-fi and probably some
other genre that I'm not even thinking of right now that's where to put it is imagine a world that
interweaves Cold War era apprehensions with futuristic Innovations and Mythic beasts the
heroes are incredibly diverse from a determined deserger and a 400 year old muted with a tech
savvy bionic dog and a powerful sand Druid what's their daunting mission to Vanquish this ancient
demon darmuck yet this journey is fraught with challenges facing adversaries like the death pawns
these terrifying radiated zombies screamers these harrowing banshees and Chaos Reapers these giant
dragonflies oozing acid among others so it really makes a codec Stand Out is this unparalleled
Fusion of Cold War dread avant-gardec and of course legendary monsters it paints his Grand
tail for this ominous nuclear catastrophe unleashes these dark Forces and of course
urging brave souls to step up and restore their Realms and already the artwork and intricate
storyline have genuinely left an impression on me if you like myself cherish and decreativity
then let's show our support on their Kickstarter believe me diving into the Codex will give you
this unparalleled experience so don't forget to click that link below we gotta get our thoughts
out on this end of DC you beginning of DCU movie it's the fulcrum point and with the way this movie
works like yeah this could be in the DC EU or the TCU the animals the references in the perfect
position James Gunn is right and John give them a quick plot description of this movie yes give it a
go right Jaime Reyes back from college challenge luck looking for a good job finds an opportunity
at the cord building where he stumbles upon the Scarab the artifact that unleashes the Blue Beetle
Powers he takes it and then it chooses him he gets the powers but then oh no what Susan Sarandon's
character she's uh trying to exact her own special Tech that hinges on the Bluetooth yeah and uh yeah
and then she's gonna come after him better ruin your flow you um helped my flow so much I think
I I think I helped thank you for that I appreciate you willing to endure I could not have handled it
at the roles are reverse and I act one experience of this movie a lot of act one is not very strong
it took me a while to kind to understand what this movie was really going for even kind of just
feeling the crowd where they weren't even really reacting to a lot of the jokes that were being
thrown out there and stuff it's not all bad in act one like when you're meeting the characters there
are some charms to be had especially you know I think instantly with the family Dynamic of the
Reyes family that right away just clicks it's really really strong but there's other aspects
with the way that pacing was being done and a lot of the comedy and the exposition things that we're
going through that immediately started having me go this sort of feels like if like if someone's
like hey they made a Blue Beetle movie in 2000 you ever watch it they put on the theater for me but
I kept going let's just wait for when the actual Blue Beetle [ __ ] starts going sure let's just
wait for act two and I gotta say by the time it got to act two the parts you see in the trailer
were Jaime Reyes you know comes into contact with the Scarab it was pretty fast it was really really
fast the charm of this movie quickly started to take over I would say almost instantaneously
it's hard take over like if you just hold out until act two you're like whoa wait a minute
this movie's becoming genuinely fun yeah it's becoming genuinely endearing the heart and the
comedy is actually starting to really work right now everything that I was becoming Center not well
not everything there's like especially things about the villains that I want to go into that
doesn't quite work with this movie but I'll save it right there so that way I can let John get some
opinions in here the first 10 to 15 minutes I was sitting there being a little bit worried because I
was like okay this is feeling a little bit flat I can feel people performing and stuff like that but
once you yeah get on the adventure and the family Ensemble really gets a chance to lock together and
you get everybody in the same room and you really start to let the scenes breathe absolutely the
movie comes to life and that spirit that part is present throughout the whole rest of the movie for
the moments that are like surprisingly interesting as well as the moments that are like oh that's
pretty familiar too fresh you guys a shirt right now it's way better than the Flash movie
yes it's one movie it's like one movie that has character in it the character grows there were
a couple of times where the emotional swells actually got to me uh I was really enjoying
it there's times here where this movie has this nostalgic elements that do feel like a genuine
80s sci-fi movie at times in 90s sci-fi movie obviously a 2000s movie and it's a playlist it's
a playlist of the earlier films there were times where yeah you know it's been a while since we've
seen just a pure origin film sometimes to a fault though it feels like a Marvel phase one film some
of the best parts of a Marvel phase one film and some of the weakest parts of a Marvel space as
well everything that it was going for that this that the director was aiming for and then with the
cast like the chemistry with the family Dynamic like the Reyes family doesn't just feel like an
afterthought I could imagine the interviews where you hear them saying like yeah Jaime is the main
character but the Rey's family it's like the emotional core to it and sometimes you hear
it like that and it just sounds like fluff it it sounds like ah maybe that was the intent but it
could possibly all the people who already bought to yeah bring this to life yeah yeah it gets lost
that is not the case here they are all so integral and other than I would say the mom who gets one
little moment to shine she's the only player in the whole ensemble of the family who doesn't
really but the rest of the family I mean the dad the sister who at first I thought was annoying but
then I really grew to like her as well she was amazing she was the standout of the family and
um uncle Rudy George Lopez again Act One George Lopez kind of annoying but then by the time
he's really funny and he's really embodying this character right now he does a great job
well the thing that surprised me so much is that yes it is certainly about Jaime
Reyes but the Ensemble of the family is much more present than I expected to the
point where there are times where you're spending time with just that yeah as you
know Jaime is in different states apparel and whatnot so like it really is like a
family Ensemble move and Jaime Reyes it really feels like hey you know Miguel from Cobra Kai
and it's a fun movie because you kind of get to watch him sort of grow into the role because it's
like we've watched him grow on COBRA Kai That's a streaming but I'll call it TV show yeah so then
this you know starts out feeling a little bit like a TV movie it feels a little man for TV to feeling
like an actual movie and his performance I think grows to suit that you see the difference with
this kind of movie is that the charm of it and the things that work really work to the point that
faults of this film The cons which we will go into they're you know they come and go
the fault's coming it doesn't it's not like the faults just dissipate after act one and then it
just it's great from there it can be a bit bumpy in certain moments of the movie but the things
that work just so for at least for me and I feel like for the audience you can feel the audience
getting won over by the experience as well it just overtakes it it's like a Marvel phase one movie
with uh Latino backdrop interlaced throughout the industry sure if we did Miss Marvel during phase
one it was still kind of like this because too I mean the cultural element is very strong it's very
it's very present in order to return to the camera to be like Mexico but yeah like there is I mean it
feels natural yeah like a personality just shines it feels like you're being invited into you know
the a home filled with Customs that you know as a white guy I might not be familiar with but you
feel very welcome and it feels like yeah it's not stopping to Hold Your Hand it's kind of throwing
you into the rhythm of everything but I think that's good it brings everything to life and
it really makes for some great ons again if you use Nora Ensemble but some great scenes where
they let the actors really breathe and interact with each other The Ensemble is so important to
this film now let's talk about like the Blue Beetle power set itself I like the Blue Beetle
power set it's kind of like yeah if you guys seen Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo it's kind of like that
but more negotiation and cooperation yeah like requests can be made yeah yeah yeah it's like
it's like Spiderman's no way home was like a little bit more assertive it's a bit of tuxedo
meets meets Karen from the Spider-Man suit meets symbiote Venom sure Eddie Brock yeah right it's
it's all those amalgamations into one the powers look cool my favorite parts of the fighting were
when you could tell that they were using CGI to enhance practical uh stuck work sure practical
fight sir because this movie does have third act syndrome of crazy amounts of CGI yes are
happening and it's not super effective because it does have the typical third act syndrome of
that I don't want to make it a bash vest at the flash but not to the point of the flash which
that third act I actually liked I'm on record for saying that I actually like that third act
I know a lot of people have that complaint but it has more Marvel phase one uh type of effect
where characters of similar effect it's a lot of CGI yeah yeah yeah yeah but there are there is
a lot of fun to be had with the power set I did find myself though craving more personality from
the scare because they do establish that slight spoiler here I mean you could literally look up on
Wikipedia if you're like what's the scare from my God if you do establish it's an alien entity but
they treat it so much like it's a robotic entity they treat it so much like it's an Android I did
find myself craving a bit more of just give it a personality you know the things that they're
finding if threatened by that it's gonna overtake Jaime and that he's not gonna have any control
dollars say and what he can do and that it could just be this Lethal Weapon that could destroy all
there could have been more fun with the writing to be had with the cooperation him learning to
bond with it instead of it just being essentially a robot that occasionally has a line or two where
you can see that it is becoming more sentient yeah the arc there between them kind of co-mingling and
learning to work together it's there it's just one of the most sparse aspects of the movie to
the point where you could almost forget about it and not have the experience change that much yeah
um so yeah it's like if they are graced with the ability to make a Blue Beetle part too
I will want much more sort of back and forth or some kind of I mean not to make it just Venom but
that has like a very strong element of entity and protagonist together and I feel like yeah that was
a bit missing here I thought it was really missing they harp on what the Scarab is quite a bit yeah
yeah and it's such a formidable presence and it has this very unique you know set of powers and
abilities and a unique look and stuff like that there are times where it is really impressive what
they do kind of like a Green Lantern can just use its imagination to conjure up weapons that's what
this Healthcare Works Anything You Can Dream It can make yeah and so at times it is it's pretty
sweet you know like some of the things that really don't work Susan Sarandon I feel like the bio on
her was generic feeling yes yeah just be that's cold and extremely apathetic to anyone's emotions
in any regard like there's you know everything that every one of these to study all of those
and uh don't get too crazy with it all right stay in the pocket it is not red and wet I thought the
villains overall were written we Kara packs you know there was something intriguing about Kara
packs he's craving the indestructible Iron Man you know I think is that character name in the comics
indestructible man the performer there for you in front of the actor's name you could tell that
he was aiming to bring depth to the performance the entire time so he brought a level of intrigue
whenever he wasn't like robotic mask just through the body language you're like I feel like there's
something deeper here he's going for but the writing and the treatment of his character is not
really servicing it very requisite yeah and then way late into the movie they decided to go here's
his character and they give you a very interesting bit there to help the third act kind of like okay
we're doing the big passion crash but like it's maybe a little too late but I'm glad they put it
in it's like in the middle of the road a little too late you're like it works it made this more
effective but it it's a good part of this movie it was still kind of oh so I would still be checking
out though whenever he was on here yeah yeah yeah it doesn't fix the part where for two-thirds of
this movie I was like oh whatever you know another big overpowered guy doesn't make me
look back on those and go wow those scenes are much better now yeah but from here on great yeah
it's not exactly entirely original no I I can't say that it's not entirely original in
fact it's actually a really predictable movie every stretch even the post credits a lot of
stuff that reminds you like Spiderman yeah even the post credit scene I've turned to John like
halfway through I was like I bet you this is what the footage is gonna be who's exactly what
the post-operative team was so I'm not even diving into what the topic is of it because I don't want
to possibly give away what might happen in this film because Henry Cavill shows up yeah Henry
Cavill shows up he's like he's on Netflix I will say that another character too that other dolphin
just because we're at the end of the review Jenny Court yes uh she's another character who
I felt like the actress brought a lot to it that's really elevated that role yeah because 99 of her
character is just her telling us her backstory and lamenting her just reminding us that she's
the good one family yeah who's remaining right now just pretty much shows up to give her food in fact
there's one scene but she's like I really talk about this and she's crying I'm like this is all
you've talked about I know it's your backstory you know who your father is and all these things yeah
yeah the thing is that I guess the part that can sound like apprehensive in in the way in my in the
tenure of my voices is because I feel like saying the words fun and Charming are often a cop-out
when it comes to this genre when it could be a weak film what they pitched us on the trailers
this movie did and more so yeah I got exactly what I wanted Color Me impressed with certain key
moments of this film the way they had the whole character Ensemble here was just so refreshing it
was one of the most refreshing elements was like oh wow look the actual family around our Central
character is truly crucial to the whole experience and they really do shine they elevate the film and
so I recommend the movie I do I recommend it go watch it I hope it gets a sequel because I feel
like a sequel would just leave us with a more refined more polished version of this yeah and
I would be very excited to see Show Low murder as Jaime Rey is you know interacting with a potential
future Teen Titans team or something like that he seems like a great introduction to that idea
if that's what they want to do and I hope that this does well because yeah the things that it
does get right it really gets right with a lot of care and a lot of a plum and it makes up for me
for the stuff that yeah is like wrote or that is pretty predictable or flat or whatever else well
guys uh those were our thoughts on Blue Beetle it's a recommendation from John and I uh what do
you think do you want to see Blue Beetle carry on to the DC Universe leave your thoughts down below
we'll talk with you guys soon thank you so much for being here [Music]