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Eternals Movie Review: Chloe Zhao's Film Is Not The Ideal Introduction To Marvel Superheroes
Eternals follows a set of Eternal beings sent to Earth 7000 years ago to save the humans from Deviants
Available
On:
Disney+
Hotstar
Duration:
157
Minutes
Language:
English
Story: Eternals follows a set of Eternal beings sent to Earth 7000 years ago to save the humans from Deviants. The multi-starrer film marks the 26th release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and introduces a new group of superheroes.
Review: Directed by Chloe Zhao, the film was one of the anticipated releases of 2021 and it finally made it to the Disney+ streaming platform. The film was released in several languages and also has the character use languages used in the history of civilization. However, refused to provide English subtitles making most of the film harder to grasp.
Unfortunately, the same can also be said about the story, as most of the scenes provide a very little contribution to the final act in the film. Eternals begins with a very Star Wars beginning with a narration of a galaxy far far away where celestials made the Eternals who were then sent to Earth to protect the humans from deviants.
The journey that started somewhere in 5000 BC for the superheroes brings them to Post-blip MCU where the Deviants have somehow returned. Amid the centuries, they learn to accept humanity, share their knowledge and eventually also lose hope in Humans. However, their captain, Ajak does not give up, she gives the Eternals a chance to make a life of their own so that they could learn something from their time on earth. Most do, including Gemma Chan's Sersi who loves the planet since they land on Earth. When the Deviants return they have no choice to reunite and fight their biggest foes yet.
The makers have tried to give each Eternal a meaningful arc but it ends up taking a chance for the audience to form connection with any of the characters. The audience hardly gets chance to spend time with one character for more than five minutes. Nor can the audience root for the heroes when the villain has essentially never existed in the film.
While the characters do not live up to the Marvel name, the picturesque visuals do. Still, they do not make up for the lack of charm or humour expected from a superhero film. Meanwhile, the talented cast is left to cover up for the wafer-thin plot of the film.
Chloe does express a theme of perspective and choices which matter the most for all the characters, but the supposed villains in the story are the only characters you can actually feel something for, and that too hardly has a five minute screen time. One of the best scenes in the film are by the characters that haven't been given much to do, including Don Lee, Harish Patel, Salma Hayek and Kit Harington.
Overall, Eternals begins to get fun at the end and the post-credit scenes. Reading the film's plot would be equivalent to watching the film.
