Eternals (2021) – Movie Review
The Eternals are a race of immortal beings who arrived on Earth 7000 years ago with the mission of stopping the Deviants from wiping out humanity. After completing this mission, the heroes split up to experience living normal lives among the humans they’ve protected. But when Deviants reemerge hundreds of years later in modern day, the Eternals must reunite to stop them.
First off, I just want to make it clear that Eternals is not a bad movie, and not nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. It doesn’t deserve the hate it’s getting, nor to be the lowest rated Marvel movie (that should be reserved for Thor: The Dark World). Anyone who claims it was terrible or that they had to leave the theater during the movie is just overreacting and joining the hater’s bandwagon. Go and form your own opinion.
Chloé Zhao did a great job writing and directing the film. It’s not easy introducing ten new characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and making us bond with them in two and a half hours, but she did an admirable job. A big contribution to this was the ensemble cast really digging into their roles and making their characters unique. Each one complimented the film with their own flavor and personality. Well, all except for Angelina Jolie’s Thena, who turned out to be a major disappointment. She was supposedly an amazing warrior but was practically out of commission and acted like a robot the entire movie, which just seemed like a waste of the character.
Something that was interesting was how the characters were integrated throughout human history. Since they arrived in 5000 BC, these characters have been present for most of human history, with their names being used in the stories we passed along for generations. Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Thena in Greek mythology as the goddess of war Athena, Ikaris as the boy who flew too close to the Sun, and Sprite as the soda…
The special effects were very well done, and they did a great job showing (not telling) us each of the Eternals’ powers. Besides the visuals, Ramin Djawadi’s music score was great and added to the film’s emotional impact. While Eternals didn’t exactly feel like it fit in the MCU, the movie brought forth the same action, humor and emotion that the rest of the movies did, making it a solid movie worth seeing.
I understood some of the criticisms about the story, with some parts feeling a little weak. And the explanation for why the Eternals didn’t help the Avengers fight Thanos was that their mission was not to interfere in any human affairs unless Deviants were involved – also a little weak. But, at the end of the day what’s done is done, and I’m excited to see them team up with some of our other favorite Marvel characters in the future.
Overall, I enjoyed Eternals for what it was and would rate it 3 ½ / 5 stars. It didn’t exactly feel like a Marvel movie, but just a sci-fi/fantasy with an all-star cast. I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the film ended but am interested in seeing what implications it holds in regards to Phase 4 of the MCU.