Eternals (2021).
Eternal love.
Since this movie was first announced, it'd piqued my interest. I personally was holding out hope that this would finally be an MCU film with a group of characters from space who I actually
liked and weren’t a bunch of a-holes. An opening crawl not only explains who Eternals are, but Deviants and Celestials too. There’s enough exposition through dialogue to answer any questions one might have whilst watching (such as why these Eternals were ‘Switzerland’ during the battle against Thanos). Complaints about this film being ‘confusing’ because it alternates between past and present must be from those with short attention spans, as it’s quite obvious what time period the movie’s in at any given time thanks to helpful location title cards. Too many characters? I think not. Endgame had 30-something characters and nobody complained. Each of these Eternals has a distinct personality.
Salma Hayek gives good wise leader as Ajak, who can heal, but her decision-making causes some conflict with the others. Gemma Chan (who I became a fan of thanks to her nuanced performance in the TV series
Humans) has a certain quality about her that makes her the perfect fit for Sersi, whose power is molecular manipulation. She experiences self-doubt, but there’s more to her than she thinks. Long ago she was involved with Richard Madden’s character, Ikaris, who’s kind of like Superman (one unexpected thing in this movie is the shout-outs to the MCU's ‘rival’, DC, with the Superman/Batman mentions) with the flying/eyebeams/super-strength. Over the course of the movie we find out why he left Sersi, and like her character, he’s got more going on than you might expect. Madden’s a natural fit as the ‘leading man’ type and he really brings it when it comes to conveying the conflicted emotions his character feels.
Kit Harington plays Dane Whitman, who’s someone Sersi could be happy with until Ikaris’ return throws a spanner in the works. Those wishing to see the two GoT actors reunited onscreen should be happy with the scene where their characters size each other up, but thankfully it never descends into teen drama love triangle angst. After watching the trailers, the one character I wasn’t sure I’d be fond of was the young-in-appearance redheaded girl, Sprite, whose power is creating illusions. Whilst she isn’t
too bad for the majority of the movie, she did annoy me towards the end and I was peeved she didn’t face suitable consequences for her actions, instead seemingly being
rewarded with something she’d always wanted (her crush on older-looking men/willingness to follow them no matter what makes her seem quite shallow). Turns out my first instincts/gut reaction to her was correct. She’s a brat.
They soon seek out the other Eternals because a cataclysmic event called ‘the Emergence’ (involving a Celestial, that’s big enough to dwarf a planet, hatching from the planet Earth...which is bad news for humanity) is imminent. They first find Kingo (whose power is shooting beams similar to Ikaris’ eyebeams...except from his hands) filming Bollywood movies. He provides a bit of light relief from the doom/gloom, but it’s his valet, Karun, who steals their scenes. Gilgamesh (who punches really hard) and Thena (who kicks major arse) next rejoin the group, and there was a nice dynamic between them. Angelina Jolie may surprise some with how much emotion she brings to the role of Thena. She has something happen to her which proves a problem for everyone, but Gilgamesh stands by her, making for a good character relationship. Characters who arrive later include Druig (a mind-controller), Makkari (a speedster) and Phastos (an inventor). Each serves a purpose in the story and the actors do the most with what they’re given.
It was nice to have a memorable/epic theme tune in an MCU movie again and the film’s score is quite beautiful, as is the cinematography. There are breathtaking shots throughout, the fights feel visceral, the CGI is as convincing as one can hope for in creating such otherworldly things (those Celestials are quite the sight to behold) and I don’t get complaints about the Eternals' costumes (as I, for one, welcome anything that isn't
Thor: Ragnarok-esque/looking like it could be purchased at a discount costume shop). I saw people ragging on the 'basic'/'cheap'-looking Eternals spaceship, but I appreciate the simplicity of their ship wedge. Sci-fi movies seem to want to keep creating more and more outlandish-looking ships and eventually it'll reach the point where they become SO bizarre-looking you'll wonder, "WTF kind of functionality does that have?". There are mid-credits/post-credits scenes to hang around for; the former introducing what seems like a rather important character (whose casting may surprise some) while the latter promises more to come for a certain character/actor who felt a bit underutilized in this film.
I’m annoyed at the fact people have been badmouthing this film (some giving it 1/10 star ratings without even having
seen it). Yes, the movie’s ‘different’, but that’s not a BAD thing. Some had complained about the MCU being ‘formulaic’, yet when it tries something new/different, they complain about that too. I
like the fact that this movie offered something we hadn’t seen before. It was refreshing. Quite a few of the MCU films have been popular with the 'majority' whilst I personally haven't liked them, then there have been a few ones that haven't been that popular that I've actually
liked. So, this criticism
Eternals is receiving means very little to me. Also, you have to factor in that this movie features some things that will make a certain group of individuals biased against it/rate it far lower than it deserves. I honestly don't know why anyone puts so much faith in one website and its ratings to determine whether a movie is 'successful' or not, when really what EVERYONE should be doing is
seeing it for themselves before they judge instead of bandwagon-jumping. I, for one, hope we get to see
more of these Eternals and that the negative reviews/haters don't rob us of that.