Movie Review: 'Blast' Beat Starring Mateo and Moises Arias

Blast Beat doesn’t know what kind of movie it wants to be. Is this a drama about immigration? A drama about family strife? A coming of age story? A story about two brothers on opposite ends of the Goofus and Gallant scale? In the end, Blast Beat is running in so many different directions it fails to gain ground in any one of those directions. The drama is inert, blunted by a lack of focus while reaching for emotions that it fails to earn.

Blast Beat stars Mateo and Moises Arias as brothers, Carly and Mateo. As we join the story, the brothers, along with their mother, played by Diane Guerrero, are readying to move away from the violence and corruption in their home country of Columbia. The boys’ father, Ernesto (Wilmer Valderrama, That 70’s Show), moved away 6 months earlier to buy a home and establish a business before bringing his family with him to Atlanta, Georgia.

The move is a huge step forward for Carly, the older brother, who is eager to get started on his career path. Carly plans to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology as a stepping stone to working for NASA. He has the grades and the unstoppable intellect to meet this challenge, even as he rocks a permanent five o’clock shadow, and dresses in the uniform of heavy metal rockers, long hair, leather jacket, and band t-shirts. Carly is the definition of the phrase, never judge a book by its cover.

Little brother Mateo however, is far less eager. Mateo loves life in Bogota, Columbia alongside his best friend and mischief maker, Norby. We meet Mateo and Norby as they are finding trouble, graffiti tagging walls, getting chased by cops, and, because Mateo can’t resist trouble, using fireworks to destroy property. This is all fun and games for Mateo as he’s leaving for America, but Norby will have to feel the consequences of what happens. Mateo’s reckless behavior has also driven a wedge between him and his brother.

Blast Beat is set in 1999 for reasons that really aren’t very clear. Nothing about the movie screams turn of the millennium. The technology on display gives the production designers something to fall back on but beyond that, Blast Beat could be set in just about any time period. Arguably, given the most recent battles over immigration, the movie might have had a little more resonance having been set in 2019 given the battle over immigration in America, but I am not sure that the struggle of immigration is intended to be a significant story in Blast Beat.

Carly’s story about wanting to go to work at NASA is the only story that has any real momentum throughout Blast Beat. Mateo Arias’ performance comes to life in scenes where he’s engaged in talking about his future and what he hopes to accomplish, and watching his dream develop and hit major obstacles is by far the most compelling aspect of Blast Beat. Outside of these scenes, Arias’ performance is a lot of aesthetic touches, his death metal wardrobe, long hair and incongruous place as the doting, non-rebellious, son of two loving, immigrant parents.

Would Blast Beat be better off being Carly’s story and not splitting time between him and his powder keg little brother, Mateo? Maybe, but it’s hard to say. It’s hard to say what Blast Beat intended to accomplish with the character of Mateo. Yes, he’s unpredictable and volatile and that can create tension but there is nothing else about the character that stands out. I don’t feel as if the movie did enough to explore and flesh out Mateo beyond his volatility and immaturity.

Blast Beat is a competently made drama with strong elements but lacking in focus. In the end, it’s hard to tell what the movie intended to accomplish in telling the multiple stories it attempts to tell. Wilmer Valderama and Daniel Dae Kim are the most well known actors in the movie but while they are innately compelling actors, they appear stranded in roles that are only ever in service to further the plots of the two brothers. Valderama disappears too often to make much of an impact and Daniel Dae Kim waffles between minor villain and savior without leaving much of a mark in either role.

Blast Beat opens in limited release and for on-demand rental on Friday, May 21st, 2021.