I honestly do not understand the bashing of ‘The Eternals’.
As an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that introduced a whole roster of new characters within it’s two hours or so run time, I think director Chloe Zhao did a phenomenal job.
Introducing a whole dozen of characters who would be shaping the MCU landscape in Phase 4 is no easy job. Black Widow is a prequel that gently introduced potential new players, Shang-chi established a new world in its pocket dimension, but The Eternals shouldered the responsibility of expanding the universe from original lore to new directions. With every new character introduced in The Eternals, how to balance their stories without sacrificing the overarching storytelling is a pretty demanding task. And after sitting through the movie, without looking at the time, I firmly believed that Chloe did the impossible.
The first task for ‘The Eternals’ to tackle was explaining their whereabouts during the last 10 years, if they were already on the planet for 7000 years, witnessing the evolution of mankind. Turn out it was not that difficult, as they were instructed by their boss not to do so unless it involves the Deviants, the predatory beasts that destroy lifeforms on earth. They never mentioned about whether the Snap impacted them, although they were well aware of the happenings.
There are 10 characters from the core Eternals team (already cut from the original idea of 12), that means a lot of characters to go through and to provide time for them to be established. Just like their powers, they each have their own personality but most of them did not know the meaning of their mission. They only knew they were on Earth to protect the humans from the Deviants. An it was this true meaning for the mission that ultimately divided them. They went through thick and thin but the truth torn them apart.
For me watching The Eternals is like watching 10 adult children working for a family business that eventually fell apart because their parents turned out care about the business more than their children. Their parents still expected to the kids to deliver, but the relationship or bond among the kids are none of their concern, as long as the business is thriving.
I think it is this kind of sentiment that sets this team apart from the usual Avengers. The fact that Gligmesh decided to care for the deteriorating Thena in the outback of Australia to keep her out of troubles, Sprite check on Sersi under Ajak’s request to make sure she is ok, and Ikaris rushed to Sersi and Sprite’s side as soon as he detected something abnormal from the natural events, were proves that they care about each other. However, they also fight like siblings do. They left to live their own lives, partly to figure who they are as adult kids, and partly to seek the space they need to live a life they wanted. I personally like this really grounded relationship among this group of superbeings a lot. And as I said, it sets this movie apart from others.
Of course, at the end of the day The Eternals is a superhero movie. So, the audience expect a lot of super hero actions, and it did not fail to deliver. The unique power set of each of the members allowed Chloe and her team to design individual visual effects for each of the member, and despite sharing the same colour scheme, the effect did give each of them their unique looks and visual spectacular. Among all of them I did like the effects for Thena and Sersi most. I mean, the power set itself already sets itself apart from the others with the Astro Weapons and Transmutation they can conjure and perform. But Phastos’ Astro Powered Weapon set was a surprise to me in the final showdown. Ikaris, as Phastos’ son said, basically was the Superman in the MCU sans cape.
Character development wise, I do wish we have more time with each of the characters so that it could be flashed out more, and hence we can see more performance form each of the cast member, as every one of them is a great actor by himself or herself. However, even with limited screentime for each of them due to cast size, they delivered. I really like the relationship between Don Lee’s Gilgamesh and Angelina Joile’s Thena. Lia Mchugh’s sprite was a surprise, as she really delivered the portrayal of an old soul in a young body with immense precision. However, I did want to see more of the love triangle among Kit Harrington, Richard Hadden and Gemma Chan’s characters. I personally think it would be fun to watch.
At this point for me, I am in the phase of how I can continue to feel engaged in the MCU after the Infinity Saga, which I religiously followed for a decade. For me, The Eternals was a breath of fresh air with its diverse cast and down to earth story telling despite being one of the most outlandish plotlines to establish something in a much grander scale. I totally enjoyed it, and I think Marvel continued to employed independent film makes to make their new movies did help to establish new angles for a superhero franchise that otherwise could become formulaic, old and wearing.
The Eternals is in the theatres now.
