Movie Review: Eternals

Leading up to November 5th 2021, we have had two films in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Black Widow and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Both films were great entries into Phase 4 which do incredibly well in establishing new characters and concepts while still holding true to a lot of familiar identities the MCU has embedded in it so far. It's not just the films either. Phase 4 of the MCU also saw the introduction of TV shows set in the universe and pivoted around familiar characters while putting them in new and interesting situations. It seems so far Phase 4 has had been doing really well in playing around with new characters and themes and that's something the newest film Eternals continues to deliver on.

Eternals is the 3rd motion picture in Phase 4 of the MCU and is directed by Oscar winning director Chloé Zhao. The plot of Eternals is based around ten superpowered beings called Eternals who are instructed by a Celestial called Arishem to venture from their home planet of Olympia to the planet Earth. There they are instructed to hunt down and eliminate a predatory alien race called Deviants which seek to terrorise the human race. As millennia's pass each of the Eternals split off and root themselves on Earth among humanity until present day in which an event called the Emergence threatens the planet and brings them all back together. The Eternals each have unique powers and characteristics that set them all apart from one another. The cast of characters include:

• Sersi (Played by Gemma Chan) who is one of the central characters and has the ability to change the elemental structure of anything she touches.

• Ikaris (Played by Richard Madden) who is another central character has the ability of flight, super strength and eye lasers.

• Kingo (Played by Kumail Nanjiani) a Eternal with the ability to generate and project cosmic energy at will. He's one of the more comedic characters in the film

• Sprite (Played Lia McHugh) who is the youngest looking Eternal and has the ability to cast illusions.

• Phastos (Played by Brian Tyree Henry) an Eternal with great intelligence and the ability to craft intricate and powerful inventions.

• Makkari (Played by Lauren Ridloff) an Eternal with the ability to run at super-speed and is deaf. 

• Druig (Played by Barry Keoghan) an Eternal with the ability to control the minds of others. 

• Gilgamesh (Played by Don Lee) is an Eternal with the ability to reinforce his fists and is noted as the strongest physical Eternal

• Ajak (Played by Salma Hayek) is the leader of the Eternals and has the ability to heal physical wounds. She serves as a the main bridge between the Eternals and the Celestials. 

• Thena (Played by Angelina Jolie) is an elite warrior Eternal with the ability to create a collection of weapons to combat with.

The dynamic between all of these characters is the biggest highlight of the film for me. I love the performance everyone puts in to their roles here. Everyone does a fantastic job working together to establish a very convincing family dynamic between all of these characters. There's enough time and dedication put into each character to reflect their natures and give the audience enough insight into who they really are. I was really impressed by how far the range of emotions between them were capable of being. They work and interact off one another so naturally that you do believe they are one big family unit and you feel the emotions resonating from them in the happy and lighthearted scenes just as much as in the serious and emotional ones. 

The narrative playing out in the movie is good for the most part though I will acknowledge it suffers under it's own runtime a bit when trying to balance exposition and narrative progression. The concept behind Eternals is incredibly unique and stands apart from your typical MCU superhero narrative considerably. I like the idea that the Eternals have been living and influencing humanity near the very beginning of our dawn. The film takes great strides in showing you the eras they've lived through and their personal opinions on where humanity is heading in light of their inaction. There's some great moments of personal conflict between the Eternals and it's utilises some of the darkest days in humanity's history to not only give the audience an opportunity to reflect but also give the Eternals some much appreciated definition. The worldbuilding is the core focus of the movie but that doesn't mean it lacks any fun or engaging action sequences in the film. The Eternals are plentiful and there's some big set pieces layered throughout it that get to showcase how they utilise their powers for combat. Ikaris, Thena, Makkari and Gilgamesh are some of the big stands outs when it comes to the fight scenes, I absolutely loved how varied and layered each of the fights ended up being too. 

I also want to spend a bit of time talking about the cinematography and visual direction of this movie, because It's got to be the best looking Marvel film we've had to date. Chloé Zhao and Ben Davis manage a brilliant job making the visual style of this film so alluringly beautiful in nearly every scene. The scale of the shots and the mix of colour and CGI blend together in such a mesmerising fashion and it really helps the film stand out from all the others. When you're introducing new concepts and characters like the Eternals, having the visual focus stand out just as much as the narrative is a very clear way to set things in place and I love how they did it here.

Eternals is a great film and I honestly can't understand why the critics had such a difficult time with this movie. This is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and while everything that came before it follows a very conventional and familiar formula; Eternals stands strong by choosing to focus on a slow burn with character dynamic and relationships at the heart of it. This film is different and that to me is what makes is far more interesting a product to sit through and I'd happily pay to watch it all over again.