Eternals (2021): Written by Chloe Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, and Ryan and Kaz Firpo, directed by Chloe Zhao. Starring: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Koeghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie. Running Time: 157 minutes. Based on the Marvel comics series originally concieved by Jack Kirby.
Rating: 3/4
Fresh of her historic success at the Oscars, Chloe Zhao is now the latest rising-star auteur to be given a chance to provide the now firmly-entrenched Marvel Cinematic Universe with, at the very least, a fresh coat of aesthetic paint. True, there is still world-building for future films that must be tended to, more so in this case than in many others, and that does hold Eternals back from reaching the same singular heights that, say, Black Panther or Thor: Ragnarok achieve. Nonetheless, this is still a film filled with breathtaking and beautiful moments, plus a whole lot of genuinely groundbreaking representation for big superhero movies that was still relatively lacking in the MCU to date. Taken together, this was certainly one of the more unique and unforgettable Marvel experiences, whatever its flaws.
The central concept of the film is that there is a group of immortal superbeings, called Eternals, on a grand mission from Celestials, who seem to be more or less the Gods in this universe, responsible for creating stars, galaxies, and even life itself. Their main job is to protect intelligent life (meaning, in this case, humans) from dark powers called Deviants that instinctively hunt out intelligent life forms and slaughter them, but to do so in a way that minimally interferes with the development of the protected species. Yes, it's basically the Prime Directive, but for Space Angels.
The leader of the group assigned to Earth is Ajak, a motherly Salma Hayak, who spends less of her time fighting and more tending to the needs and wounds (both physical and emotional) of the very colorful and motley crew under her. Indeed, the very specific abilities of each person don't always appear to obviously lend themselves to fighting anything, much less Space Demons, but they ways in which they work in tandem during many of the early action scenes is truly fascinating to watch, and one of the ways in which this film is able to differentiate itself from its predecessors.
However, in the present day we learn that the team split up many centuries ago, pretty much explicitly over disagreements over how far and how literally to take their non-interference orders. This is, of course, the explanation for the audience POV-character (Kit Harington as a potential love interest for Gemma Chan's Sersi, who is more or less the movie's main protagonist) as to why the Eternals have not popped up before to stop Thanos, or, well, any other atrocity humanity has cooked up for itself over the millenia. Now, though, a series of mysterious circumstances linked to the reappearance of Deviants convinces Sersi that the Eternals need to regroup and figure out what's going on. Her primary companions in this are the childlike Sprite (Lia McHugh) and her past love interest, Ikarus (Richard Madden), whose flying and laser abilities seem to make him the strongest Eternal, at least physically.
Until the major story developments and plot twists start coming, the story is told more or less through a mix of flashbacks to many, many different past ages and places and the present. There is a suddenness to many of these transitions and you often are left guessing for a moment or two if you're in the past or present, but I found this to be rather fitting; a repeated theme is how time and memory weigh on the Eternals, and the sheer endlessness of their existance can make it harder and harder for them to keep up with the thread of their lives and their mission. In the case of Thena, Angelie Jolie's characters, this is explicitly tied into her having a form of PTSD-esque, Eternal-specific mental illness that eventually cripples her incredible fighting abilities. More than a few MCU movies have attempted to grapple with the psychological aspects that must inevitably follow from having such incredible powers, but this is one of only a handful of examples where it feels real and genuine, and not just tacked on.
There are lots of other ways in which this film is actively not just breaking ground, but shattering it. Lauren Ridloff steals every scene she's in as Makkari, the first-ever deaf superhero who is already sparking increased interest in learning sign language. Plus, her incredible superspeed powers make for some of the most arresting visual moments in the major fight scenes. There is the first-ever explicit sex scene in a Marvel movie (basic missionary only, but hey, baby steps), as well as the most direct homosexual relationship to date, though doesn't get the same focus as the heterosexual ones. Throw in Don Lee and Kumail Nanjiani as, respectively, the first Korean and South Asian superheros in the MCU, and there is a lot packed in here that is worth lauding.
However, that has clearly not been enough to outweigh the film's noticeable flaws in the eyes of both critics and general audiences, and this is not without reason. The movie is juggling so many balls while trying to tell, as Zhao put it, "a love story across time and space," that a lot of threads inevitably end up underused or seemingly dropped entirely. Barry Koeghan's Druig has a truly frightening power of mind control, and at one point he apparently created something of a secretive cult deep in the Amazon as a rejection of human development, but the very dicey implications of that are never picked up on. For a time, an especially advanced and intelligent Deviant is built up as the narrative "Big Bad" with an understandable grudge with the Eternals, only to become so inconsequential by the end that I had almost forgotten about him when he suddenly dropped into the film's climax.
For my money, though, these shortcomings aren't enough to sink the film. Sure, taken as a whole, I would probably rank this somewhere within the mid-tier of the MCU, but this is far more memorable and interesting an effort than most of the other movies at that level. It takes some big swings, and in many ways the conclusion this builds to is very much nothing we've gotten from a superhero movie before.
There are still a lot of open questions in terms of where the MCU can develop from here and whether or not audiences can stay committed now that so much of the original cast has moved on, but I'm still here for the ride. Eternals will not be everyone's cup of tea, but this is a movie worth taking the time to digest on your own before shooting out any hot takes.
-Noah Franc
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