By: Ted Trafton & Andrew Wing

Eternals is a 2021 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics race of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), preceded by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (see our full review here). The film was directed by Chloé Zhao (director of the Best Picture winning film Nomadland, that we also reviewed), who wrote the screenplay with Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo. It stars an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians, Captain Marvel) as Sersi, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Stuber) as Kingo, Lia McHugh (Totem, The Lodge) as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Godzilla vs. Kong) as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead, Sound of Metal) as Makkari, Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, American Animals) as Druig, Don Lee (Train to Busan) as Gilgamesh, Angelina Jolie (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Changeling) as Thena, Salma Hayek (Frida, Grown Ups), as Ajak, Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones) as Dane Whitman, and Harish Patel as Karun, Kingo’s human valet. In the film, the Eternals, an immortal alien race, emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their ancient counterparts, the Deviants.

In April 2018, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that a film based on the Eternals had begun development, with Ryan and Kaz Firpo hired to write the script in May. Zhao was set to direct the film by late September, and was given significant creative freedom with the film, which resulted in filming on location more than previous MCU films. Zhao re-wrote the screenplay, which Burleigh was later reported to have also contributed to. Principal photography took place from July 2019 to February 2020, at Pinewood Studios as well as on location in London and Oxford, England, and in the Canary Islands.

Eternals premiered at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on October 18, 2021, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 5, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.

THE GOOD

From Andrew’s perspective…

Similar to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, I was skeptical about Eternals at first once I heard they were going to be making a feature film on these characters. Obviously not every Marvel movie can be focused on the main Avengers, but I just didn’t get that same level of excitement due to me not knowing much or anything about these characters. However, after seeing Nomadland, the 2020 neo-Western drama film directed by Chloé Zhao that won her Best Director and also Best Picture at the 93rd Academy Awards, how could I not be excited about the fact that Zhao’s next project was going to be a Marvel film. That is just such a big get for Kevin Feige and Marvel to have Zhao’s expertise and level of filmmaking skills a part of this universe, and she did not disappoint with her MCU debut. Zhao’s vision definitely came through in this film, as you can see it with her tenderness and attention to detail. It was unlike any other Marvel movie I have ever seen with its different approach to themes and its next-level cinematography and all visuals in general.

The film truly looked amazing. Did it look as good as Nomadland? Maybe not. But was it one of Marvel’s best movies visually? I would say 100% yes! I knew after seeing the trailer for Eternals that we were going to get some stunning visuals, but watching it up close and personal on the big screen was still breathtaking. Even the visual effects on the Celestials and the Deviants looked awesome and were even pretty scary if I’m being completely honest. Also, the action scenes were very well filmed which is no surprise when you are dealing with a Marvel movie.

Continuing on with things I loved about Eternals, the next on the list has got to be the world building we get with this. World building is so vital when you are dealing with new entries into the MCU, especially when the audience does not know much about the players involved, but Zhao and her team of writers I thought did a fabulous job developing all ten of the Eternals and giving each one of them their own relationship with humanity. I was just completely immersed in the story, and we will touch on this later in the review, but I honestly liked that it was a little complicated at times because it kept my mind sharp. The worst thing that can happen when you’re watching a movie is when you just check out mentally, and that was not the case with Eternals.

As I mentioned earlier, I was very pleased with Zhao’s approach to numerous themes that was unlike anything we have seen in an MCU movie before. With every MCU movie prior to this, the main objective has been to defeat the bad guy and preserve life on Earth. With this, you still get that for the most part, but it comes at a greater cost for the Eternals themselves as they must go against their beliefs that the Celestials have instilled in them. I just really liked how Zhao showed us how each character’s struggle was slightly different from the others and just how the movie offered the audience some deeper questions about life. Questions such as: What is the purpose of humanity? Why are we here, and do we deserve to be?

Last but not least, when it comes to things I enjoyed about Eternals, we have got to talk about the performances. I honestly enjoyed everyone’s performances in this. I felt like Gemma Chan and Richard Madden were both a bit stiff at times, but they very well just could’ve been playing their Eternal-selves, so I’m not going to critique them too much there. I probably had a three-way tie for my favorite performance, so I might as well just hit on all of them real quick. First with Barry Keoghan as Druig. His character Druig is isolated from the rest of the Eternals as he has a difference in thinking when it comes to using his powers on humans, but I thought Keoghan did a superb job at showing us with his performance why his character is the way he is. Secondly, Kumail Nanjiani was awesome as the comedic relief in this film as he is responsible for most of the laughs I had. Well him and his human valet Karun who is a fan-favorite for sure. Kumail is another great addition to the MCU with him being undoubtedly one of the funniest actors working today. Lastly, I loved Lauren Ridloff’s performance as Makkari. Ridloff herself is deaf, as is her character in this making Makkari the first deaf superhero in the MCU. I was just so impressed with how well she can act and express her emotions without any words involved.

From Ted’s perspective…

Just to provide a bit of context, before the initial announcement of Eternals and the release of the first trailer I had very little understanding of who these Marvel superheroes were. I’m not a comic book guy, so I usually get roped in once a movie or series is made. I actually first heard about the movie when I read an article about how actor Kumail Nanjiani, who I knew from the HBO series Silicon Valley, was getting shredded for his role in the film. Eternals is finally here, and early feedback has been mixed to say the least which admittedly had me a little concerned heading in to the theater. So, was it a dud or a future addition to my slowly expanding Ultra 4K Blu-ray collection? Keep reading and find out.

I know the suspense is killing you at this point so I will cut to the chase, I really enjoyed Eternals. It had a very balanced cast ranging from A-list actors to some up-and-coming talent, incredible visuals, beautiful cinematography, top-notch CGI and special effects, and one heck of an exhilarating final sequence. The fact that I had very little knowledge of who the Eternals actually were allowed me the opportunity to immerse myself in the overall backstory, and it was a very satisfying ride. The humanistic element of the characters was an extremely captivating element of the film in my personal opinion, making it feel surprisingly grounded in reality considering they are superheroes who have been around for thousands of years. The cinematography was on another level with so many really cool locations throughout the film. More than a few times I just wanted to jump through the screen and experience it for myself, especially Babylon, which I learned is a historical ancient city in Mesopotamia, located in present-day Iraq. The Iraq part is less enticing, but it looked truly amazing in the film.

The writing felt authentic, allowing each character the opportunity to develop and by the end of the film I felt an attachment to each character in varying degrees. I feel like that can be a difficult accomplishment especially with so many “main” characters. The two and a half hour plus run-time felt well paced without any a wasted sequences. I enjoyed the entire movie from start to finish, but my favorite story arch was that of the previously mentioned Nanjiani, who plays the character Kingo. He provides the majority of the comic relief as expected, and I thought he was hilarious along with his valet Karun, played by Harish Patel. If the two of them were on-screen together, odds were good that I was laughing, or at the very least had a big smile on my face. They were easily my favorite characters, just such a fun dynamic. As far as the film itself and how things came together, the finale was absolutely next level and just so much fun to experience. I was on the edge of my seat right up until the mid credits and post credit scene. Bottom line, director Chloé Zhao deserves a ton of credit for what she was able to accomplish. She is the real deal.

Acting is definitely a big strength for Eternals, and its not so much that it was always perfect, but more so that the cast is so well balanced and everyone played their characters very well. I already talked about Nanjiani and Patel, who were fantastic, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest name in the film is easily Angelina Jolie, who plays Thena. I thought she was fantastic, and within 30 minutes she was no longer the larger than life actress and just became her character, which was huge. Another big name is the versatile actress Salma Hayek in the role of Ajak. I thought she did a great job as well and had a big impact on the film and the story.

My guy Brian Tyree Henry was crucial as far as the dynamic of the characters in his role of Phastos. He sort of took on that Iron Man role where he ended up having a little more to live for, and I thought that added a ton to the story. I first became a fan of Henry in the FX series Atlanta, and he has proven himself to be a very talented actor. I also really liked American Animals actor Barry Keoghan, who played a very complex character and did a really nice job with it. Gemma Chan and Richard Madden were fantastic, and had great on-screen chemistry. Ma Dong-seok was hilarious, Lia McHugh made her presence known as usual, Kit Harington was great, Bill Skarsgård was awesome as usual, Lauren Ridloff was a very pleasant surprise as she really took charge toward the end of the film, and we are also treated to a great cameo in the mid-credits scene but I will let you experience that for yourself.

THE BAD

From Andrew’s perspective…

To my surprise, and I’m sure many other MCU fans, Eternals has been, for lack of a better word, bashed by critics more than any MCU film in recent years. The main things I’ve seen being criticized are its exposition, pacing, runtime, and lack of character development. While I’m not as mad about these things as other critics, I find it only right to discuss why I understand these critiques, but ultimately why I was okay with it for the most part.

The reason for the critiques being centered around exposition, pacing, and runtime are simply because the film is extremely ambitious, some calling it overambitious. I mean we have ten new characters that need to be introduced and that they are trying to get the audience to feel emotionally attached to, so to do that you need exposition on the existential stuff that moviegoers don’t know much about. The heavy exposition definitely takes away from the action that most MCU fans want and need, but I liked the amount of exposition we got because we NEEDED it with all these new faces. And despite the film’s lack of action, I thought both the middle battle scene that takes place in the woods and obviously the finale made up for it as they were amazing to say the least.

I don’t understand the complaint about the 157 minute runtime for Eternals, because Avengers: Endgame was 181 minutes long and I didn’t see anybody having a problem with that when it came out. As for the lack of character development complaints, I totally agree with that. As I said earlier, I do think that they did a good job giving us the basics about them, but there is no denying that we could and should have gotten more. Yes, it might have added to its already long runtime, but I wouldn’t have minded one bit. The films lack of character development makes it really hard for me to disagree with the notion that this project might have been better suited as a Disney+ series, just so the characters could have gotten flushed out more, but at the end of the day, this needed to be a feature film and I still had a blast with it.

Lastly, and this is one thing that I haven’t seen a lot of from other critics, but is just my personal opinion after watching this, and that is that Marvel needs to improve on their film scores. I know we obviously have the great Avengers theme that we get every time the opening credits roll, but after watching a film like Dune (see my full review) where the movie was almost carried by its score, I just felt that Marvel needs their movies to have something like that. We know they can afford it, but I strongly believe that a score done by a great composer could have helped this movie tremendously and I really want to see Kevin Feige and Marvel try to improve and take advantage of that for the remainder of Phase Four and so on.

From Ted’s perspective…

I agree with Andrew 100%. The bar is high for anything with Marvel attached to it which is understandable, but to be completely honest, I had very few serious issues with this movie. Surely part of the reason for that is the simple fact that the majority of the initial feedback for the film was disheartening to say the least which did lower my expectations, but as someone who considers himself to be a sort of anti-critic, I always relish the opportunity to prove the Rotten Tomatoes crowd wrong. It may feel a little different compared to most Marvel films as it takes a much more humanistic approach, and it may feel a bit slow at points to some because it is in fact an origin story, but the bottom line is that Eternals is a very good movie. Andrew is also correct as he referenced the lack of deeper character development, but I expect we may get more of that in the next movie. I would happily see this in theaters a second time even if just for the experience alone, and will definitely be picking up the 4K Blu-ray when it releases.

THE VERDICT

From Andrew’s perspective…

While I definitely see why some people had problems with Eternals as it bites off maybe a little bit more than it can chew as it is very ambitious, I feel it should rather be getting a lot of credit for that.

The 26th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes from the brilliant mind of the award-winning Chloé Zhao and she gives us a genuinely ambitious Marvel film unlike any other we have seen before with its unmatched visuals, themes revolving around humanity that will entice all viewers, and numerous terrific performances from its star studded ensemble cast.

Oh and one more thing, the credit scenes are wild in the best way possible and teach us that whenever you think the MCU can’t get any better, it can!

From Ted’s perspective…

A rare genuinely intimate superhero experience thanks to the talented Chloé Zhao, complete with her trademark incredible cinematography as well as the top-notch action sequences we have come to expect from Marvel, Eternals was the theater experience I was hoping for and then some. Do yourself a favor and ignore the out of touch critics who wouldn’t know a good movie if it bit them in the rear end, and see Eternals in theaters sooner than later. If they don’t let Zhao direct the sequel, get your signs ready and put your protesting shoes on!!