Film Review of the Week

Action

Blue Beetle (12A)

Review: The sprawling DC Universe inhabited by Superman, Batman, The Flash and members of the Justice League welcomes its first leading Latino superhero with the introduction of a human-alien symbiote, who unleashes hell to protect his Mexican American family from corporate skulduggery. Adopting a knockabout tone closely aligned with the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe, Blue Beetle barrels along at a brisk pace, establishing a strong emotional hook between the eponymous crusader and his resourceful clan on which to hang the obligatory special-effects laden set pieces. Like Iron Man, the acrobatic title character is encased within polished, hi-tech armour, which threatens to reduce battle sequences to video game-style cut scenes.

Director Angel Manuel Soto intersperses these slickly choreographed skirmishes with close-ups of actor Xolo Mariduena’s eyes within the Blue Beetle helmet as he communicates with an extra-terrestrial entity (voiced by Becky G) that is now hard-wired to his brain. Screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer abides by well-worn comic book tropes, including a tragic backstory that will set a fledgling hero on the path to a righteous destiny, and he elicits bountiful chuckles with snappy dialogue between family members. An outlandish and overblown second half, when the clan’s grandmother (embodied with twinkly-eyed delight by Adriana Barraza) exposes her revolutionary past and galvanises her kin into heavily armed response, is a hoot.

Twenty-two-year-old Gotham Law graduate Jaime Reyes (Mariduena) excitedly returns home to his close-knit family comprising proud parents Alberto (Damian Alcazar) and Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo), sassy younger sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), grandmother (Barraza) and conspiracy theorist uncle Rudy (George Lopez). He is the first member to go to college but Jaime’s prospects are still painfully limited. An ancient relic of alien biotechnology known as the Scarab chooses Jaime as its symbiotic host and he is transformed into a superhero with an incredible suit of armour.

“It’s some kind of world-destroying weapon,” helpfully explains Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), whose Machiavellian aunt Victoria (Susan Sarandon) is a powerful businesswoman determined to acquire the Scarab to realise her vision of a mechanised army. Victoria dispatches her cyborg bodyguard, Conrad Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), to neutralise Jaime and claim the Scarab. Jenny is fiercely opposed to her aunt’s plans to weaponise the company that bears their family name and she defies blood ties to align with the rebel-rousing Reyes in their hour of need.

Blue Beetle doesn’t break the comic book mould but Soto’s picture comfortably meets our expectations of turbo-charged entertainment between clearly delineated powers of good and evil. Sarandon’s boo-hiss villainess feels undernourished as a worthy adversary to Mariduena’s noble protector and a romantic subplot is largely superfluous. However, the tone see-saws pleasingly between spectacular thrills and humorous introspection and an additional scene nestled in the credits teases a welcome potential sequel.

Comedy

Strays (15)

Review: Life’s a female dog and the four-legged protagonists of director Josh Greenbaum’s boisterous comedy enthusiastically reclaim the B word as they cock legs at political correctness and bark obscenities at a furious rate to rival the expletive-laden scripts of Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee. Screenwriter Dan Perrault’s road trip repeatedly sniffs the hind quarters of bad taste and every time it seems he might retreat from full-blooded filth, he brazenly ramps up the puerility, smearing the screen and many of the cast – on two and four legs – with every conceivable bodily fluid.

Beloved animal movies including The Incredible Journey, A Dog’s Purpose and Marley & Me are mercilessly lampooned, delivering a hysterical on-screen cameo for an actor intimately acquainted with the genre and sly vocal casting of a Labrador who dreamily narrates his owner’s PG-rated activities. You can teach old dogs disgusting new tricks and Strays collars huge laughs with its uproarious set pieces including a showdown with an Animal Control officer (Brett Gelman) that might turn the stomach of anyone who buys chocolate from the concessions stand.

The hirsute hero of this gloriously foul-mouthed yarn is an unerringly optimistic Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), who has the misfortune to be plucked from the litter box by the current girlfriend (Jade Marie Fernandez) of selfish, pot-smoking wastrel Doug (Will Forte). The human relationship implodes and Doug defiantly clings onto Reggie during an acrimonious break-up to spite his ex. Left alone with the mutt, Doug routinely mistreats his four-legged companion, who has never known what it means to be truly cherished and constantly makes excuses for his owner’s behaviour. “He loves me so much he doesn’t have a job!” chirrups Reggie.

A game of long-distance fetch, designed to permanently remove Reggie from Doug’s meaningless life, strands the Border Terrier on mean city streets in the company of a straight-shooting stray Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx). He shares philosophies on the enemy (“Humans trick us into thinking we need them”) and opens Reggie’s eyes to Doug’s habitual cruelty. Despair quickly festers into snarling rage and Reggie vows to bite off his owner’s favourite appendage. Bug rallies the troops – an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher), who has been side-lined by her influencer owner for a cute puppy, and a Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park) – to join an epic odyssey to witness Doug’s long overdue day of reckoning.

Strays is a hysterical fever dream replete with forbidden love between one dog and his favourite sofa (alluringly voiced by Sofia Vergara). Foxx doesn’t paws for breath between rapid-fire outbursts, sparking a glorious double-act with straight man Ferrell as their onscreen alter egos run amok and demonstrate how beautiful life can be when you’re let off the leash.