Eternals

I had a good time watching Eternals. It wasn't the best film I've seen, but I have a lot of respect for the effort to make this.

Eternals has the humor, top-notch special effects, and references that make it an MCU movie.

The notes that worked in this film are the humor, VFX, stunning visuals, and fight scenes. The notes I think need improvement are the character development, the runtime, and understanding of character motivations.

I went in knowing nothing about the source material and not watching a single trailer. I had no expectations for this movie. After watching it, I feel like it had the potential to be incredible. But it wasn't. It wasn't even good. I'm legitimately sad while writing this.

I see this as the MCU homage to Watchmen. It feels very "adult" in so many ways. But in others, it's childish. The story is a complete mess. So many useless subplots. The characters feel flat, especially the protagonist. Some uncharacteristically bad casting choices (while also criminally under utilizing Angelina Jolie, a beast of an actress, should have been the main character). So much of this movie doesn't feel natural, something always feels a bit off.

There's a lot I enjoyed. I watched some of the coolest things I've ever seen on screen. So many parts are visually stunning. Some of the action was good, some wasn't. An enormous step down in that department after Shang-Chi. The deep philosophical themes are interesting but poorly executed.

Sigh. I'll probably watch it again to see if it grows on me. But this might be the worst MCU movie. I hope the bad reception doesn't discourage them from being ambitious in the future. I'm afraid they might stick to playing it safe to avoid another underperformer.

Edit: I watched it again, in IMAX of course. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time. All of my initial flaws are still there. But I focused on all of the good, and tried to ignore the bad. It made for a much better experience, especially after moving past the initial disappointment of how truly amazing it could have been.

I think the reason I found the protagonist so underwhelming is because she doesn't drive the plot. Her character is always reactive. Things happen to her. She's generally likeable, but a weak character. And one thing that was impossible to ignore even when I tried, Salma Hayek was a terrible choice.

My favorite character is Druig, with a great performance by Barry Keoghan. I really like most of the other characters and wish I could have seen more from them. Kumail Nanjiani is awesome, except when they give him random "insert joke here" lines. I'm curious to see more from most of the characters.

This movie is still very flawed. And I absolutely hated how certain character conflicts were resolved after major decisions were made. But if you can move past the bad, you can enjoy the action, visuals, and ambition. Rating updated from 4 stars to 5 stars.

(3 viewings, opening night IMAX 11/4/2021, IMAX 11/17/2021, 4/30/2023)

I'm not going to give a long winded review though the movie was long. "Eternal" was the runtime. There were parts that were good and parts that weren't. One of the biggest issues is that a movie of this nature presents more questions than it answers. The very existence of eternal beings existing on planet Earth, sent there by their creator in order to protect human life from Deviants, begs a lot of questions. And the more they strayed from their prime directive, the more questions they presented. The eternals were human in every aspect with the exception of their powers and their lifespan. The fact that such humanlike and very fallible beings (as in not entirely obedient) were sent to protect humans is just a start of the questions.

"Eternals" was unnecessarily long. There were plenty of scenes that could've been left on the cutting room floor. Marvel bit off a lot with this metaphysical, beginning of creation movie. It was very emotional and slow at many points. Even the comic relief failed to garner the laughs it intended. But, there was applause in the theater after it was over. Honestly, I don't know if that was based upon how good the movie was or simply MCU diehards paying their obligatory tribute.

Chloé Zhao's direction gives Marvel Cinematic Universe a much needed breath of fresh air, but 'Eternals' doesn't quite come together. Despite the fact the film claims to have a far more thought-provoking theme and a plethora of philosophical concepts, it fails to elaborate on them sufficiently to create a more compelling experience. The movie is still magnificent to look but it's pretty much lifeless with boring actors playing boring characters.

I think this movie got such a trash review because people thought it was too "woke" with casting. Which is nonsense by the way. That is how the real world is. It does have its flaws but it's not nearly as bad as people rate it. These 2 & 3 ratings are nonsense. Those people who wrote those might want to try watching movies from a long ways back were they did put out some good movies but also put out tons of trash. This is most certainly not trash. It's pretty good. Decent humor, good action and a good story. Pacing and some of the dialogue is subpar. I will Also say that its run time is a bit much. I actually enjoyed this movie though and I'm very much not disappointed or think that it was a waste of time. It's a very unique take on the internals. I will say that Sercy and Icarus chemistry could've been better. It has its flaws but if you want to sit back and watch a unique interpretation of a comic book Then give it a shot.