Eternals

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.

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.

Visually stunning.

Different "vibe" than we know of Marvel, but very refreshing. Would almost say more calming and suiting. Love that it wasn't a cliché group, but very diverse, which just makes total sense.

Don't forget: Some Avengers already had their solo films to explain the origin of their story. Even though it's not fully explained for the Eternals, almost each character will get (a part of) their story explained. This takes time and some might consider this too long with a slow pace. However very necessary for the film.

Could've used a little more action, but think upcoming film(s) will have more of that and maybe even some solo films? It definitely leaves an open window for (a lot) more and the movie was interesting enough to leave you with questions you want to have answered!

PS. Keep seated during the credits for the two addition scenes. You want to see more after this.

PS. Proud of Angie. Very layered character. Love the roles she chooses to play.

I personally feel like this movie is very underrated. It's not as jokey or flashy as any of the other Marvel movies but that's kind of why I like it. It felt less like a superhero movie and more like an art film about gods and what it does to your psyche when you live for such a long time on the planet that's not yours.

There's a lot of different diverse personalities in this and it shows interesting ways of how these characters and not only cope with their longevity but also take advantage of the world around them. Even though the characters seem wooden in the beginning of the movie as time goes on you start to at least in my opinion connect with them and their relationships to each other. I love the fact that the humor isn't over the top and one is there it's to help you understand the characters more instead of just being goofy for the sake of being goofy.

The main point of the movie is basically about the passing of time and what it does to people. Hence the song played over the marvel logo being Time by Pink Floyd. As time goes on these characters change how not only how they feel about each other but humanity all together, for better or for worse.

There are also twists in the movie that I did not expect that were pretty surprising. Without going into much detail I like the fact that all of these characters are kind of in the gray and aren't 100% good guys or bad guys. It feels more like a Snyder film in the sense that it's less about superheroes being quippy and trying to save the day and more about imperfect gods trying to figure out what there purpose is.

To a lot of people this felt like a huge step backwards for the MCU. For me this was a refreshing change of pace for these movies.

The only negatives that I will say is that I did not care at all about the romance between Ikaris and Sersi. There was absolutely zero chemistry between them. Also, personally, I can't stand Sprite. She is an insufferably selfish character she just came off as super annoying.