Eternals is definitely not your atypical MCU movie… so if you are going into the cinema hoping to see a superhero’s journey about how an everyday person gets imbued with superpowers and using said powers to overcome all obstacles and learn to be a superhero, well…. this is really not going to be that type of movie.
We are after all talking about the Eternals, a group of immortals who have lived on Earth for thousands of years, and who have inspired the legends of gods and goddesses… what do they really know about becoming superheroes when they already are?
If you ask me, this show is really about a dysfunctional family of god-like beings learning to get along together all while being stuck here on Earth, and we humans just happen to be there in their way. So I suppose I can understand why the critics are disappointed in this film because in many ways, it does feel a little disconnecting from the real world (or at least the MCU human world) at large. But if you would look beyond that, what I got from the story is really about how these immortals start to become more and more humanised, so much so that they were willing to go against everything that they are, in order to protect the world and everyone in it.
The movie was beautifully shot, with every scene a testament to Chloe Zhao’s vision for grandiose. The actors also did a fantastic job making me believe that they were really a ragtag family living in a strange foreign land. Angelina Jolie as Thena was stunning. Her sheer regal presence literally commanded every scene she was in. Kumial Nanjiani (as Kingo), together with Harish Patel (as Karun), brought laughs every single time. Gemma Chan (as Sersi) and Lauren Ridloff (as Makkari) were fantastic as well, and carried off their roles with much aplomb. But it’s unfortunate we never really get to know these characters on a much deeper and personal level. But I suppose this is what happens when you have a movie with 10 main characters in it. Still, the story makes sense and flowed well enough. The action scenes were fantastic, and there were many interesting twists and turns which I wasn’t expecting. The movie’s run-time of 2h 37min never felt overly long or draggy, and I was in fact pretty much immersed into the whole Eternals, Deviants and Celestials mythology, and was really craving for more.
Now, there were also alot to dislike about the movie. Firstly, Kit Harington’s Black Knight was so underused that you wonder why they even bothered putting him into the movie. The final fight scene with the Deviant boss was seriously underwhelming and at one point, one of the characters even left the fight scene and never came back, only to appear back in the epilogue and chatting with the rest of the Eternals like nothing happened. I was like, whhaaaaaat….. And last but not least, for all the importance that the movie places on the love relationship between Ikaris and Sersi so as to bring the entire story together to its ultimate climax, I really never felt anything. Yes, they had a very uneventful sex scene, and a very beautiful Indian wedding, but I think that’s about it. On the contrary, I really thought the love story between Thena and Gilgamesh was a lot more convincing and very touching, so much so I was almost teary during one of their scenes together.
All in all, while there are many “meh” factors in some parts of the movie, especially towards the end, I must say, I really enjoyed this movie for all that it’s worth. I seriously think the critics are being a little unfairly harsh on this movie, because quite frankly, I personally still think this movie is waaaaay above Captain Marvel, Thor: The Dark World, Ant-man and The Wasp, and maybe even Black-Widow. It really doesn’t deserve all the flak it’s getting. So don’t listen to the critics and go watch this movie!
PS. I seriously don’t understand the big hoo-ha over the gay kiss because in all honesty, it was just a very normal simple and loving kissing scene, and it was like only all of 2sec. People should really stop making such a big fuss over these things…