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Eternals is an overstuffed movie that fails to thoroughly focus on any of its ideas. Recognition is deserved because it touches on some interesting themes and provides light twists that break the ironclad Marvel mold. However, these themes are diluted by a cluttered story, and the twists (though uncommon for Marvel) are fairly standard for films overall. So, while Eternals has some relatively ambitious attempts, it still falls into classic pitfalls of franchise movies.
The most fundamental flaw of Eternals is its unclear intentions. Is it creating a cohesive experience, or is it merely a stepping stone to expand a franchise? When the main protagonist (Gemma Chan) has neither characteristics nor an arc, the narrative at hand feels like an afterthought. Meanwhile, side characters are superfluous, the villain lacks pay off, and the tone/pacing are erratic. Furthermore, the themes of Eternals aren’t fully explored. Ideas of autonomy, utilitarianism, and consciousness are introduced but, disappointingly, go nowhere. This lack of follow through applies to the filmmaking as well. Eternals has occasional visuals but is bogged down by CGI barf and bloated action. Ultimately, the movie reaches for respectable goals but fails to commit to a specific direction.
Writing: 5/10
Direction: 6/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Acting: 7/10
Editing: 4/10
Sound: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 6/10
Production Design: 7/10
Casting: 7/10
Effects: 7/10
Overall Score: 6.1/10
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Browsing some reviews for the MCU’s latest entry, Eternals, I saw someone say that people are only complaining about this movie because its attempting to be “emotionally mature” when they have gotten so used to kid focused content. I guess to some people emotional maturity amounts to bringing up questions that have already been treaded in previous (and better) movies while posing characters for a model shoot every 10 minutes. Might just be me though.
Chloé Zhao latest is a story introducing the Eternals to the MCU – a group of cosmic beings sent to Earth to protect its inhabitants from the mutant “deviants” and help shepherd humanity into the future. Throughout the film we slowly learn secrets that have been kept around the group that in turn lead to huge questions on morality as these characters fight among themselves and others in an attempt to question their own creator. In theory.
In practice, however, what we have a colorfully presented story about essentially nothing. Sure, we have a three-act structure. Sure, we have to save the world. But what is undercutting this story is not immortal beings coming to love the existence of mortal creatures or exploring the uncaring morality of a God – but a story about kicking some people around until one of them takes their metaphor too seriously (you’ll understand what I mean if you see it). The main reason for a lot of this is due the fact that the story does a lot more “telling” than “showing” – I heard many times the Eternals say they cared for each other and how they are a family, but aside from the odd paring I did not buy their dynamic at all. This may not seem all that important, but the climax of the movie quite hinges on loyalties that characters hold to one another that we are never aware of. The object through which they defeat the big “bad” is also a “macguffin” that we find out can “operate” in a way just because we are told it does. This all leads to a serious case of information drought that works to isolate me from the characters rather than pull me towards them.
Talking more on the characters, at its current stage, the cast is seriously too big. There are way too many intertwined characters being introduced for them to not be the main focus of the story. You could take out about 30-40% of them that currently do nothing more than fluff up the runtime and still be left with a sizable chunk to work with. The motivations of the characters don’t make sense either. Why is Phastos (Brian Tyree henry), the only eternal with a human family, not the main character that goes on to motive others to join? It seems out of all of them, he is the one with the biggest stake. But no, instead, he needs to be the one to be convinced. Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) was also thrown in at the end haphazardly. I’m happy a deaf character was able to join a superhero team and be featured so prominently but she seriously has no reason to be there other than that the script demands all of them join. Same with Druig (Barry Keoghan) who controls humans like pawns to make them stop fighting or Sprite who at no point shows any interest in saving humans and as such tagging along. My problems with Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) are somewhat personal. It was great to see a south Asian man in the MCU, but did he really have to be the comic relief, when there is another south Asian man who is also the comic relief? And introducing with a Bollywood dance number that’s not even good? For all its claims of representation, it really failed me as a brown man. My point is: There could have been so many points you could have explored with a cast this huge! Fuck telling a story about another world ending threat. Put these characters into emotional tangents. Explore their unique relationship with every single other character. Rather than telling snippets of stories through flashbacks thousands of years earlier, make that be the full focus. Take some inspiration from Scorsese and create a grand opera that builds these characters up (The Irishman’s decades spanning story comes to mind). I don’t want to just see a sex scene and have that be the only point of love! I don’t want just one scene of someone looking at another couple to show their jealousy. Explore these! How do you have more than 2 and a half hours and I still don’t care for half of the characters – and that’s still me being generous.
Having ranted enough about the characters, let me quickly touch on the other points of the film quickly. This is probably the most natural looking MCU film, and that probably stems from the fact that it was shot on real locations, so good job on that. But its nowhere near MCU’s best looking film as its being touted – Ragnarok and Guardians (I&II) still take the cake for me. The dialogue itself is stiff and ham-fisted. I never really got a real sense of how each character talks. On the acting front, Richard Madden (Ikaris) feels like the only one trying to give his character an emotional balance. Others are fine but they never really jump out as being good or great. I really wish we got more from Kit Harrington, I was excited to see the Game of Thrones starts reunite on a screen.
With all the bashing I have done, it might be curious that I ended up giving it a 3 but I have reasons. For all its failures, there is still an attempt made at exploring all the ideas I have mentioned above, but they all get either the minimal attention or are undercut by bigger, dumber things. But there is still some heart pored into it, and thought it did not resonate with me, I cannot ignore it completely. I just wish with a cast this large, Chloé Zhao could have given us the best team-movie for the series.
By @_xkrow_
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Eternals is an action adventure film directed by Chloe Zhao and released in 2021. The movie follows a group of ancient and immortal heroes known as the Eternals, as they reunite to combat a world ending threat. Eternals is the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it is easily one of the most divisive in it’s long catalogue. Eternals is the first MCU movie to get a “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes, and is even being hailed as the worst Marvel movie by some critics. I went into Eternals hearing all of this negative press and expected to at best, think it’s ok, and at worst, really dislike it. The trailers didn’t really peak my interest and I didn’t know what to expect. All that being said, I really loved Eternals. This is a very flawed movie that I can’t help but love regardless.
One of the biggest aspects of Eternals is it’s characters. The Eternals are made up of 10 heroes. This along with the movie’s villains and side characters creates a massive cast. Unfortunately, this is one of the areas the movie falls short, but not to the extent as some have said. I didn’t find the characters to be lifeless and flat like many did, in fact quite the opposite for the most part. I found myself thoroughly enjoying almost every single character in the main cast, and becoming attached to them. To me each one of them is memorable in one way or another, and none of them were forgettable. Through charismatic personalities, and cool, visually impressive abilities, each member of the Eternals is either an interesting, or likeable character. With the best characters in the cast managing to become well established characters that I really like. However, some characters aren’t fleshed out to the extent they really should be. And unfortunately the worst example of this comes from the movie’s protagonist, Sersi. Sersi has cool powers, and while likeable she doesn't have a strong personality and is very flat overall. This is especially detrimental considering she is in a romance with fellow Eternal, Ikaris. The lack of direction as a character hurts that romance and the story. It’s a detriment to the film that it’s main character isn’t given the same vibrant personality and attention that other characters are. Especially later in the film as Sersi takes a back seat to newer members that have to be introduced. However, while definitely preventing the film from reaching greater levels I don’t believe it ruins the movie.
Aside from Sersi every other character is given enough personality and identity to be likeable. Furthermore they are given good relationships between each other to cement the family dynamic the movie goes for. While many thought this group doesn’t feel like a family in the slightest, I found myself believing in the bonds they shared. While these aren’t the deepest characters in the MCU, or in film, I was given enough information to form an attachment to them. I wasn’t left feeling disappointed, but rather intrigued, I wanted to know more. The film gives you a taste of these characters. Who they are, their personalities, their beliefs, their powers, and it leaves you wanting to see more of them. Much of the movie focuses on the group reuniting and seeking out the members of the Eternals after centuries apart. I think the movie makes a great decision in letting this happen slowly. Instead of going from 3 members traveling together to 8, we go slowly gathering 1 or 2 at a time. This allows each character to be slowly introduced to the audience giving them their time to shine. Characters and their dynamics with one another are also further introduced through flashbacks. Eternals uses flashbacks in a really great way. Throughout the movie the story goes back to different points in human history, and we see how the Eternals influenced that period of time, and how they feel about it. It’s interesting and provides for some great moments and ideas. While they could have been given more development I think, aside from Sersi, the level of development the characters receive works for the movie for the most part.
The story itself is also one I found myself enjoying quite a bit. The plot is full of twists and turns and forms a complex narrative that I was left very entertained by. It is messy in places and has a few plot holes. As well as some potential gaps or plot holes in the larger continuity of the MCU, but I don’t think any of these issues are that damaging. It was easy for me to overlook most of these issues, but I can understand why someone might get caught up in them. I think the finale does also lose a bit of steam, due to the way the story is wrapped up. The resolution regarding the film's main villain could have been better, and definitely felt rushed. Kro’s place in the story feels a bit weird. He is the main threat in the movie for a while, but once the larger threat is uncovered after a twist he is kind of forgotten about. It’s a bit awkward, and his inclusion in the finale feels rushed and a little lackluster. I feel like he should have just been beaten earlier in the movie, or just been left on the loose, to be finally beaten as a more fleshed out character in a future installment. As it stands his return in the climactic final battle feels very jumbled. His character is interesting, just very misused in the end. Aside from issues with Kro I think the story of the movie works well. It tells a monumental story befitting these all powerful heroes, with an appropriate scale and fitting stakes. I think the twists were executed well for the most part, and I was invested in the story, and the characters' place in it.
The world building in Eternals is one of my favorite aspects of the movie. Similar to Guardians of the Galaxy, or Shang-Chi, Eternals introduces a new corner of the MCU. I think the presentation of this is very well done, and it fits within the universe crafted by the MCU. The celestials are imposing and fit well into the story. The Eternals' place in the MCU is also very interesting. Who they are, their purpose on Earth, and their abilities are presented well. Those concepts and ideas, as well as others, are explored in the story and produce a very reflective story and narrative. While it doesn’t always succeed in fully realizing it’s themes, they are very interesting. I found them to work well for the most part, even if they don’t quite live up to their full potential. I can’t get too deep into the ideas present in this film due to spoilers, but they’re some of the most interesting in the MCU. The Eternals are supposed to be protectors of Earth but their actions have profound influence on its people. They have to grapple with the morality of this influence and what it causes. They have also been instructed by the celestials to only intervene in conflicts regarding deviants. Deviants being mythical creatures that act as foils to the Eternals. In having to stand by and watch human conflict knowing they have the power to save lives, the characters are left troubled. These characters, their identities, and purpose are very complex, and it creates a great narrative, with a lot to reflect on after the credits roll. The nearly impeccable visual effects help to display this new world we’ve been introduced to. The CGI is great as usual for a Marvel movie, and the way the Eternals’ powers are illustrated is very effective. The unique style of them helps to differentiate them from the other heroes we know about in this cinematic universe. These elements help to create an exciting new world of possibilities.
The more artistic elements of Eternals are also very great. The cinematography for this movie is great. The different visual style introduced differentiates this movie from the rest of the MCU. The world seen and inhabited by the Eternals is one massive in scale. It’s grandiose and magnificent, emphasizing nature and the beauty of Earth. The score for Eternals is also phenomenal. Ramin Djawadi has created one of the best scores in the MCU. Stylistically it feels different from anything that has come before it. The score is very calming, emphasizing the beauty and wonder present throughout this movie. It’s subtle orchestral sounds perfectly accent the grand scale of the film and it’s stakes. This magnificent score adds an extra layer of emotion to the movie through its gorgeous sounds. It also adds a hard hitting and powerful element, which works in line with the power of the Eternals. It’s becoming one of my all time favorite scores overall and is fantastic in every single way.
The movie also excels in 2 areas that Marvel often struggles with. It does a great job managing it’s comedy, and displays its action scenes beautifully. The action in this movie is legitimately phenomenal, and continues the MCU’s streak of great action movies. With Shang-Chi producing some of, if not the best action scenes in the MCU. Eternals is right up there with Shang-Chi in that regard. Action is filmed in a way that lets the visuals, choreography, and powers of the Eternals speak for themselves. And due to the power levels of these heroes these are some of the most hard hitting action sequences in the MCU. Each character’s powers are incredibly fun to see utilized, especially in combination with one another. Makkari is one of my favorite characters just because her powers as a speedster are displayed so perfectly. Her super speed is shown so well that it even beats the scenes of Quicksilver in the X-Men movies. I couldn’t be happier with the action, and I’m glad Marvel is continuing to improve in this area. The comedy is also continuing to improve. I think almost every joke in the film landed for me, and almost all of it felt well integrated into the movie. Even more so than in Shang-Chi. The finale and climax of the movie features almost no humor and is all business, which I love. Eternals takes itself seriously for the most part and I think it works to have a serious finale. But comedy doesn’t feel out of place either, and I really enjoyed the jokes for the most part. It definitely didn’t feel like “typical” Marvel humor, and it doesn’t act as a crutch like in What If.
Overall I really loved Eternals, and there is a good chance it will become one of my favorite MCU movies following a few rewatches. It feels like it’s own entity, despite referencing the MCU. I think that this is a great movie for those wanting something truly unique and new from Marvel. However, those that like the “MCU formula” can also enjoy this movie. The movie has it’s fair share of flaws, and doesn’t reach the heights it could. The film is definitely hurt by a messy script, and at times shallow characters. The story may also come across as boring to some, considering it’s 2 hours and 37 minute runtime. This is definitely a slow burn that takes a little while to really get going. I can completely understand why someone may be turned off by these issues. While I can see it’s flaws and say this movie won’t be liked by everyone, personally I still adored this movie. Eternals was a very pleasant surprise, and this along with Shang-Chi shows a lot of growth in Marvel to me. This makes me even more excited for the future of this franchise. In my opinion this is nowhere near the worst Marvel movie. I think it is in contention with some of the better ones. I wouldn't be deterred by the negative reviews, and I encourage you to experience it for yourself. It isn’t for everyone, but who knows, you may end up loving it like me.
Objective Score:
6.5/10
Personal Score:
9/10
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I found myself dissecting the movie instead of enjoying it, because the poorly written screenplay took me right out of it.
The actors are doing their best, when they're not staring blankly at each other waiting to say their lines. The first thing that felt off was the the dialogue. I found myself thinking, "people don't talk like this ", and I almost excused it since they're aliens. Phastos was the only one that came off as natural and not practiced. The deviants were nearly realized as complex beings with weight and meaning, and then they end up wasted like most of the cast.
The flashback structure tried to convey the ever changing dynamic of the eternals' interpersonal relationships with each other and their love of humanity. Only I didn't buy it because they didn't show me, they just talk it all to death. I kept waiting for flashbacks to fill me in on how some of the eternals got to where they are in present day, but it never happened. Instead they expo-dumped everything in the dialogue. So much info and lore. For a film this big in scope and this ambitious, it should have showed me the things it didn't have to tell me in forced unnatural dialogue. I walked out feeling informed. Now I know who they are and I suppose I'm curious to see how they will fit into the MCU in the future. But I'm not rushing to see this again.
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Directora: Chloé Zhao
¿Dónde la encuentro? Disney +
Al fin tuve la oportunidad de ver esta película que causó impresiones muy diversas. En resumen, la película nos presenta a los Eternos, unos seres inmortales con poderes que llegaron a la Tierra hace miles de años y se mantuvieron ocultos mientras protegían a los humanos de unas criaturas llamadas Deviant. Su misión (supuestamente) era sólo ésta, y no debían intervenir en el desarrollo de la vida humana (ya sean guerras o incluso los conflictos con los aliens y Thanos). Pero el punto de inflexión aparece cuando los Eternos descubren que la Tierra está a punto de ser destruida.
La película no me encantó, pero me gustó. Decir que es de las peores de Marvel me parece un montón. Tiene una fotografía hermosa, efectos visuales muy bellos, y además cuenta con un gran elenco que nos brinda buenas actuaciones. ¿Dónde está el problema? Ahí depende de la interpretación de cada uno. A mí me hubiese gustado más desarrollo de personaje. Y si, se que son demasiadas incorporaciones, pero recién al final de la película comienzan a aparecer esos rasgos que despiertan interés hacia un personaje. La que más me llamó la atención fue Thena porque ya presenta un conflicto a inicios de la historia, y Phastos que formó una familia. El resto medio de meh.
La “pareja principal” siento que no funciona. Que se hable más de Druig y Makkari con solo mostrar indicios de que algo pasaba ahí, que de Sersi e Ikaris lo dice todo. El trabajo de Salma con Ajak me encantó, creo que la quise mucho más por Salma que por el personaje en sí. Angelina es hipnótica, como siempre, y no podía dejar de verla. Agradezco profundamente a Gilgamesh, Kingo (y su ayudante) y Phastos, que le dieron al film el humor a lo Marvel que tanto me gusta.
A pesar de las críticas y las opiniones encontradas creo que Eternals va a traer más tela para cortar en el universo Marvel. Muchas cosas quedaron abiertas (el personaje de Kit Harington, Harry Styles siendo hermano de Thanos -wtf?-, la nueva misión de los Eternals, etc). Veremos cómo estas storylines se entrelazan con otras películas/series.
🍿 Calificación: 3.5/5
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2021
12A
Director: Chloe Zhao
starring: Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, Angeline Jolie, Barry Keoghan, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Ma Dong Seok, Bryan Tyree Henry, Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington, Bill Skarsgard, Harish Patel etc
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), an unexpected tragedy forces the Eternals, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years, out of the shadows to reunite against mankind's most ancient enemy, the Deviants. This film proves that rotten tomatoes isn’t always right, and people should make their own opinion. As I really loved this.
My first few positives would be the fantastic cinematography and action. As well as fantastic powers and representation. And finally, the fantastic performances and chemistry between the cast. Eternals for me is one of the most visually stunning movies I have seen. And especially from the MCU. The cinematography was unique and large in scope. But also having that rich grounded appeal of an arthouse film, with Chloe Zhao finding the perfect balance between them both. I also thought the action in this film was excellent. It wasn’t overused and balanced well with the rich and detailed plot. But it was always entertaining and felt different and unique to other MCU movies. This is mostly because of the variety of amazing powers by the characters. All the characters had their own distinct set of powers, that were both visually stunning and interesting as a concept to use. I also thought the representation in the film was fantastic. The MCU is finally starting to bring some more diversity into its movies which is amazing. The LGBTQ+ representation was great and the deaf representation with Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) was particularly excellent with the use of sign language. Finally, I thought the performances and the chemistry between the cast was fantastic. The performances from the whole cast were excellent and some of the strongest I have seen in a superhero movie. Particularly from Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan and Richard Madden who all did particularly fantastic especially with their more emotional scenes. The whole cast also worked well together and had fantastic chemistry, there relationships with each other just felt very natural and believable. Whether it was comedic or emotional they all worked brilliantly together. Kumail Nanjiani had great comedic chemistry with everyone.
My next few positives would be the great character designs. The amazing set up and explanation to the plot. As well as the amazing humour, and excellent worldbuilding and themes. I thought the general design of the eternals with their different coloured suits was really interesting and distinguished the different characters well, also making them more God like which fitted with the aesthetic of the film. And the design of the deviants was also particularly strong as they resembled different creatures. I also thought the set up was strong. Establishing the characters normal lives as humans was an interesting way to start. It made me connect with the characters on a more human and personal level which is rare with superhero movies. And introducing the deviants was an effective way to break the norm and set up the rest of the film. I also thought the explanation to the plot and the worldbuilding was fantastic. There wasn’t one detail that was left out of the movie as it was written excellently. With some of the most outstanding and fascinating lore and worldbuilding I have seen in the MCU. Introducing us to a whole new part of the superhero genre. I also thought the humour in the film was particularly strong. It wasn’t overused like some MCU projects. It had just the right amount and the humour worked. With some great gags between Kingo (Kumail Nunjiani) and Karun (Harish Patel). Finally, the film tackled a lot of deep themes. Chloe Zhao really added her artistic touch to the superhero genre, and I loved it. The film was moving and thought provoking and tackled issues that haven’t really been used in superhero movies before. Highlighting the greed and cruelness of humanity as it has grown and how horrible the violence and hatred has become. Which tied in with a lot of the characters morals and powers excellently.
This film was not perfect though, and I did have some issues. There was lack of character background to certain relationships. As well as a lack of emotional connection in parts. Also, some of the film was very exposition heavy therefore impacting the pacing. And some characters were underused. I would have liked some more background into certain characters relationships before the set up. Particularly between Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Dan (Kit Harrington) as their relationship felt a bit rushed to me. I also found myself emotionally disconnected in parts. Particularly with the death of Ajak (Salma Hayek) it was very oddly places right near the beginning, and considering she was such an important eternal, and her role was big I found it hard to be emotionally connected to the death. It was oddly placed within the structure of the film and felt out of place. Some of the film was very exposition heavy, explaining every detail is great. But it also impacted the films pacing in parts when there wasn’t a lot going on with the characters. I also thought the deviants were underused and needed to play more of a role within the film. The villain was strong, but I felt like it needed to be in the film more to add more impact.
My final few positives would be the interesting elements. As well as the fantastic plot twists and development to the plot. As well as the great character conflict and structure. Finally, the fantastic script and final act. I thought there was a lot of interesting and unique elements added to the film. Particularly with the powers of the deviants taking eternals different abilities and the mythology surrounding them as a race was really fascinating to me and it was well explored. I also thought the plot twists were excellent and developed the plot excellently. They weren’t just used for shock factor, it had relevance to the plot and motivated the characters to change the way they were living. I also thought the character conflict was excellent, not only did it help split the group up more easily. It raised a lot of interesting questions with the films themes and the morals of the characters. I also thought the structure of the film was fantastic. I liked the switches in time and how they were structured within the film. They held a lot of importance to the film and its characters and filled in any plot holes that were created in the present. The script for this film was fantastic. Chloe Zhao did such a good job at adding her intelligence and depth to a superhero movie and a lot of the issues tackled really made me think and it was a great reflection of society. The final act was also excellent, the stakes and the action were incredibly strong, and it ended in a satisfying and conclusive way, whilst also setting up a lot of great new things with the excellent end credit scenes.
Overall, despite all the pieces not fulling meshing together. Eternals is a visually captivating and ambitious movie. That takes the MCU in an amazing new direction. Further solidifying Chloe Zhao as a fantastic director. I applaud Marvel for creating something so different and going against the formula.
Overall score 86/100
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