Eternals! Or, from what I’ve gathered from promotion, could it be Community’s Human Being: The Motion Picture. Yeah; ‘we’ve had the peace and power to save the universe from Thanos but we chose not to get involved and now Iron Man is dead’. How are you going to justify your position in this Marvel Cinematic Universe, Eternals? Is this this going to be woke trash, or an ecliptic masterpiece?
Residing in modern-day London, Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Sprite (Lia McHugh) are two ancient beings out of ten, who have been living on Earth since the early stages of mankind. They have mingled alongside the greatest civilisations of our history, including Babylon and Mesopotamia, tasked by their overseer Arishem (voiced by David Kaye) to never get involved in human conflicts or evolutions, but only to protect the Earth from Deviants; a ground-dwelling ferocious species that merely eats and destroys. After a while, as the Deviants are believed extinct, it becomes too much for Druig (Barry Keoghan) to see people at war, fracturing the group awaiting permission to return to their home planet. Back to the present day, when an extra-powered Deviant emergences, Sersi, Sprite and Ikaris (Richard Madden) work to bring the Eternals back together again, to fight the Deviants, and uncover the truth behind their directive on Earth.
Even from the trailers, it was clear that this movie was aiming to get its arms around a lot. All worries aside, it is pretty cool to have a team of superheroes where every race is represented (even though they’ve missed a few 😔), and I was keen to give this movie a chance, so long as it didn’t ram any ignorant conceit down my throat quicker than I can scoff handfuls of popcorn willingly. Thankfully, I see no high-horses to speak of in Eternals, so I can get off mine. Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington), Sersi’s boyfriend, asks the Thanos question right out of the gate; a pretty important detail to deal with straightaway, I think, and the movie agrees – asked, and answered. I’ve only seen director Chloé Zhao before though Nomadland; the movie much-deserving of the Academy Award it won for Best Picture this year, and it seems to me that she must hold a deep and thoughtful vision for strength of character, and connection to the natural world, which is what you’d think a project like this would need. Because, there’s no doubting, Eternals is ambitious, recreating our history and inserting these superpowered observers into it. We see ten individualised perspectives change over the course of centuries, while the movie delves into complex themes like love, life and servitude, all while obligated to fulfil the minimum requirement for a comic book tale, of noble over oppressor.
I didn’t care for the sentient Deviant Kro (voiced by Bill Skarsgard). Maybe he was a prerequisite, as a famous villain of the Eternals series that had to have his moment, but the movie didn’t convince me that he was necessary. Angelina Jolie’s mind-weary Eternal, Thena, sorts him out, and if I’m honest, her entire side story felt like its main purpose was to be a misdirect to the bigger complications that lay ahead. Thena sounded highly respectable, and I’m disappointed that we do not get to see this weakened warrior in her prime, but I guess it’s a disappointment of the other Eternals too, so my frustration is sort’ve taken into account. I feel a little bad for Gemma Chan; she’s basically the lead of this movie, (as a non-white female to boot), but the movie is called Eternals, and she cannot receive stronger characterisation because the movie must balance out the rest of the crew. The movie is well aware that there’s a lot to keep track of, keeping all ten Eternals off screen together as much as possible – Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) is missing from the final fight; Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) are unexplainably absent for large portions of the movie. There are at least three moments when characters reappeared and I had forgotten they were missing, and that’s never a good sign when delivering a compelling narrative. And while I’m waggling fingers, I’m not sure how essential the opening crawl was at all, or the decision to put it there in the first place; even while reading it, it was washing over me and I knew I’d forget it. Sprite’s perspective could have been handled better too, considering she would turn turncoat later, but I thought her ending was touching enough, making her a real girl. But, Kamail Nanjiani; wowee – good to know you can still get chiselled overnight in your 40s; gives me hope.
As for our villainous Eternal hiding in plain sight, I didn’t trust a word coming out of Ikaris’ mouth from the very beginning, so that twist didn’t work on me. Why? Because he’s a white guy, of course. But seriously, because Richard Madden was so convincing as an asshole in Rocketman, it’d be a shame if the movie wasted him on being a good guy. Plus, our society just seems obsessed currently with the prospect of a Superman-style entity being evil; Brightburn and Justice League being my examples. Phastos’ kid son Jack (Esai Daniel Cross) even brings up Superman, breaking the comic book company divide in doing so; before even Spider-Man: No Way Home brings the Raimiverse into the MCU for real, where Aunt May once told Peter Parker, ‘You’re not Superman, you know’, in Spider-Man one 🤓 Speaking of all things nerdy, how many people you think creamed their pants at the creation of GOT fan fiction that saw Robb Stark devote his love to ‘Cersei’? That could’ve saved Westeros and a couple extra seasons of Game of Thrones during the War of the Five Kings, couldn’t it? There’s also that extra beat of a second as Kit Harrington’s character and Madden’s Ikaris exchanged pleasantries, as if a tip of the hat to their past brotherhood.
As much as Iron Man provided the sturdy base for the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy cannot be overlooked for being integral at proving that unknown alien characters can be introduced to the MCU and be instantly accepted. (Guardians’ probably pioneered the silly humour we see in most MCU movies as well, but that’s another story). Kudos to Eternals for trying something new again, pushing the boundaries of this franchise, despite the missteps. Eternals reminded me that comic book materials range in tones as it is, from the deeply thematic Watchmen to fluffy stuffs like Batman ’66; Eternals is closer to a traditional Sci-Fi than the majority of superhero movies we’re used to right now, even down to the not-so-final finale that leaves the future unknown. I’ve already expressed the sentiment that this movie is trying to get its arms around a lot, but that’s pretty much how I’ve come away thinking about it – imagining that shopper who forgot to get a basket, struggling to carry all their items to the register without dropping them. Or a biscuit crumb in a bowl, that’s just too crumbly to come together, but not far off being just right. I think Eternals holds the goods in there somewhere, but it’s below the surface, murky and scattered, and forever aware that it’s fighting to fit into this ever-expanding established narrative that is the MCU.
I haven’t looked into any reviews for Eternals yet, but scrolling past some stuff on social media, gives me a whiff that Eternals hasn’t been received all too well, and I look forward to sussing out other people’s thoughts and commentary for myself. I don’t see Eternal’s folly as Chloé Zhao fault though; this is a beautiful and deliberately paced movie. I just think when you’re trying to get into the minds of Gods, there’s not far to go before your story is pretentious, or bogged down by its own weight, and that’s a challenge for the entire project. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing this movie again, and I can see myself leaning either way on it, a second go round; either liking Eternals more for what it means to do, or realising it wasn’t worth the struggle. But I can’t rag it; I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are to see what CGI can do, and I can’t rag a movie that provides a moment where molten rock turns to blue birds right in front of my eyes, thanks to Sersi. I love that not everything has been tied up with a pretty little bow, and I want to know who Dane Whitman really is. And if the Celestials are to be the next unifying baddies for the MCU, then I feel Eternals gives them a worthwhile introduction.
3.5
P.S. The first post-credit scene introduces Pip the Troll and Starfox, and I don’t really care about them until I can see what they can do, but holy heck, it’s Patton Oswald – how has it taken this long to get him into the MCU?! The MCU is seriously like the new village bicycle; everyone gets a ride! Huzzah! But Harry Styles as Thanos’ brother? I’ve thought about it, and I don’t even care what the comics say one way or the other, that’s ridiculous. I’ll wait for the MCU to play it off as ‘brothers-in-arms’ and not ‘actual’ brothers, but we’ll see. I might need some convincing.
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