Eternals is a Chloé Zhao movie about an undying group of super-beings that are sent to Earth to help shape human history and our civilizations. They live quietly among us, protecting us from evil creatures known as the Deviants. Eternals is a big swing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that they had not ever taken before, and though it may not be a home run, it is still trying to do something entirely different from every other entry.
There have been a lot of stories in the news recently about how audiences are getting tired of the constant bombardment of white guys in tights fighting universe-ending threats that are coming from the other side of a big blue portal that has to be closed.
These were novel concepts when Robert Downey Jr. stole our hearts (pun intended) as the titular Iron Man in 2008, but the MCU has never gotten past that, nor have they gotten past the success of The Avengers back in 2012. Furthermore, with the iron fist of quality control of a human being, which is Kevin Feige, all of these movies are under a ceiling that none of them will be able to go through.
This movie, just like all the other movies in the MCU, has third-act problems where all the human emotion that had been built up is suddenly sidelined for them all to be able to use their powers to stop a big guy from coming out of the Earth. Yet, everything leading up to the third act is outstanding and is the blueprint for what the MCU should be doing in order to combat the superhero fatigue that is plaguing their box office returns and is permeating culture at the moment.
Beautifully Shot
Easily the most visually striking film in the franchise, Chloé Zhao teams up with cinematographer Ben Davis, who has had a very interesting career. Mostly working on Marvel movies on and off since Guardians of the Galaxy, and has done excellent work on plenty of movies in between. From Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to The King’s Man and The Banshees of Inisherin.
All are absolutely stunning films, each one more visually unique than the last, which makes it difficult to ever get tired of them. With actual shot construction and paying extreme attention to framing, Davis is able to achieve a visual style that feels a lot like Zhao’s other films.
Shooting on a lot of mid-western open plains that Zhao absolutely loves to use to give a sense of isolation and explore themes of loneliness, similar to her other films, The Rider and Nomadland. Though this movie has actual gods fighting CGI monsters that aren’t really there, a majority of the movie is shot in real locations and sets with a lot of natural lighting that somehow grounds it in reality. Filled to the brim with gorgeous landscapes shot at a magic hour that would make Terrence Malick blush, Eternals is a visual feast.
Stacked and Diverse Cast
The MCU has always been criticized for its diversity problem, as well as for not having enough female characters in its endless roster of heroes to choose from. Kevin Feige decided to kill two birds with one stone. Gemma Chan, Salma Hayack, Angelina Jolie, Lauren Ridloff, and Lia McHugh all do amazing work, each of them with their own distinct powers and personal struggles that feel extremely human.
All of them effortlessly portray immortal beings tortured by their infinite life spans and even more infinite power that they are told that they cannot use to stop humanity from destroying itself, per their instructions from Arishem.
The rest of the titular Eternals are composed of Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Richard Madden, Barry Keoghan, and Ma Dong-seok (credited as Don Lee), all of whom are absolutely killing it from beginning to end. Casting Jolie and Nanjiani was very unconventional, as it felt like Jolie was an actress who would never do a Marvel movie and Nanjiani, who had gained a strong following over the years as a stand-up comedian.
Choosing Chloé Zhao to direct was a bold move as well, as she is an amazing auteur, and Feige tends to like people he can control, so that they all feel the same as the other movies in the franchise. Eternals has an ensemble cast of 10 distinct performances from 10 very different actors, each of whom has time to shine on screen.
Brian Tyree Henry
One of our finest actors working today,Brian Tyree Henry, is an absolute star whose career has been on a meteoric rise since his breakout performance in Atlanta. Henry gives a powerful performance as “Paper Boi” in the Donald Glover-created show, and has only turned in more and more amazing performances. He steals the show in If Beale Street Could Talk even though he is not in a lot of it and has more recently been recognized for his amazing performance as Lemon, opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tangerine in Bullet Train.
In Eternals, Henry plays Phastos, a superintelligent weapon and technology designer who is supposed to help humanity advance in those respects. Phastos eventually loses all hope in us when we inevitably create the technology to destroy ourselves with the atom bomb, and he hides away until Sersi finds him again to help delay the Emergence. He has such a loss of faith in humanity that when he is recruited, he refuses to do it for us, but rather to ensure his family lives, which is the complete antithesis of the usual plucky outlook of the heroes in the MCU.
Regardless of how much back-patting Feige and Disney did for making his character gay, even though it is only ever implied except for a kiss that happens for half a second, Brian Tyree Henry is still giving an immensely powerful yet sensitive portrayal of the despondent immortal.
Gemma Chan
The ever-beautiful Gemma Chan plays Sersi, who is trying to stop the Emergence because of her love for humanity. Sersi is consistently seeing the best of humanity despite our countless flaws and boundless stupidity, and Chan plays it with extreme sympathy. Sersi’s power is that she can change matter through her touch, which the movie shows her using in very distinctive ways to demonstrate just how powerful she is.
She is the lead of the movie, which is huge for the MCU, and she is not constantly throwing quips around every five minutes in an effort to undercut any sort of emotion or fear that the audience will be bored. Chan seems like she is on the verge of bursting into tears in order to portray the genuine warmth and empathy that Sersi has for the human race. The movie opens with her quietly living among us as a human because she sees what makes us special, even if we don’t. Gemma Chan turns in an elegant performance as the benevolent Eternal, who sincerely loves humanity despite our many flaws.
Barry Keoghan
Barry Keoghan once again turns in a powerfully intense performance as Druig, the Eternal, who has the ability to control minds. Keoghan first popped up on a lot of people’s radar with the Yorgos Lanthimos movie The Killing of a Sacred Deer, in which he plays an orphaned teenager who is taken under the wing of a very successful surgeon. Suddenly, it is revealed that Keoghan has more inauspicious plans for the surgeon and his family. Though Keoghan is much more deadpan in the Lanthimos movie, as that performance fits the tone of that movie, in both of these movies he is dialed into the exact performance that he needs to give in order to make the movie work.
He is the one of the Eternals who is the most upset at their orders to not interfere with human affairs, because he also cares about us but is confused by our determination to destroy our own species. Druig is a rather complicated hero, as his ability to control our minds does remove our free will. However, he does stop us from killing each other.
In the horrifying scene in which the Spanish are systematically killing the Aztecs, Druig has enough and decides to use his power to stop the genocide himself, since the rest of the Eternals refuse to do anything. Keoghan gives an emotional performance and holds his own against a cast of heavy hitters who are each amazing in their own right, but he is able to steal the show despite his little screen time.
This movie also has a unique costume design that makes the Eternals feel less like superheroes and more like ancient warriors, which is what they are. The Eternals’ costumes are more like the armor of a warrior than the constricting and suffocating spandex of characters like Captain America and Spider-Man or a complete CGI creation with an odd floating head like Iron Man. Rather, they decided to opt for costumes that were completely practical that the actors are actually wearing on screen, which makes a huge difference.
Each one has a distinct color and motifs that feel like they are as bright as a comic book movie should. However, the colors do feel washed out at times, which might have been a Feige request to do in post.
The costumes are designed by Sammy Sheldon, who has done work in the MCU before with the first and third Ant-Man movies, as well as working on the costumes for X-Men: First Class, which has amazing costumes that give the design from the comics a practical reason for them looking that way. With a costume design that sets itself apart from not only the rest of the MCU, but from the DCEU as well, Eternals is a very interesting take on the superhero genre.
Compelling Characters
A movie that is overflowing with characters, each more compelling than the last, would normally overwhelm another director, but Zhao handles them pretty well. Each of them has their own development and character arcs that are especially delicate and subtly done. Zhao and the rest of the writing team, including Patrick Burleigh, and Ryan and Kaz Firpo introduce characters that are completely new to the MCU, giving the audience a nice respite from the rest of the usual characters that are in these movies.
A lot of them end up feeling the same, as most of them are cracking jokes left and right, never allowing for any of the genuine moments to breathe. Eternals is chock-full of genuine human moments that the characters are allowed to feel and contemplate even though they have a deadline to stop Tiamut from destroying the Earth. Every decision that is made in Eternals feels completely motivated by their character, none of which is confusing or muddled by the action or a constant barrage of quips.
Somber Tone
This might be the biggest reason why the movie did not perform very well at the box office, as it is a Marvel movie that feels the least like a Marvel movie. Eternals at the end of the day, is still through and through a Chloé Zhao film that deals with them struggling with how powerful they are and them trying to live among humans.
Every single one of them is an actual god, but they are intrigued by us because of our complicated lives and short life spans, where they are the exact opposite. It is the same reason why the Doctor in Doctor Who always has a human companion around to remind them how precious and important life is and why they need to keep fighting for not only life on Earth but life on other planets as well.
This is a concept that none of the other movies have really had to contend with, as Feige tries to keep things light, as this franchise’s primary goal is to entertain instead of having the audience contemplate the meaning of life for two and a half hours. An interesting experiment as to what a Marvel superhero movie could be, Eternals is a fascinating detour into unknown territory for this franchise regarding both the narrative of these movies and the direction Feige could take them post Avengers: Endgame.
A perfect thematic choice for this movie is to have “Time” by Pink Floyd from their iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon to play over the Marvel logo at the beginning of the film. All the Eternals have to deal with their never-ending lives while humans are constantly dying in an ever-changing world that they themselves helped shape, which would be a heavy burden on anyone’s shoulders. Time has stopped for this group of long-lived, all-powerful super-beings, but time has not stopped for everything else.
The hardest person to watch go through this is Lia McHugh as Sprite. She is an immortal being, just like the rest of the Eternals. However, she is eternally trapped in the body of a child, which means that she is never going to be able to experience things like love and grow old.
At the end of the movie, after having defeated Tiamut and retaining some power from the Uni-Mind, Sersi is able to turn her human so that she can experience those things. McHugh plays this beautifully, as it is totally obvious how long she has wanted to no longer feel trapped in that body and is going to be able to actually live a proper life. It is an incredibly cathartic moment for the character because the movie does a pretty good job of weaving this story line through the entire movie.
It is a bold and unique choice to have this song playing over the Marvel logo instead of the usual fanfare that instantly sets this movie apart from the others in the franchise and represents how time has been wasted upon them, as they do not interfere in our problems despite their immense power.
Heart
Every reason that has been listed is everything that the MCU should be doing to combat superhero fatigue, because it all adds up to the movie having a tremendous amount of heart. Every actor is incredibly well cast, and each of them brings the gravitas that the movie needs, as every single one of them is an immortal being imbued with unparalleled power that is trying to stop a giant being that is going to emerge from the Earth. They understand the seriousness with which they should be playing every scene, which gives the movie actual stakes that feel like they could be permanent, unlike certain movies in the franchise that just feel hollow.
Captain America: Civil War is the perfect example of this in that even though Tony and Steve end up having a falling out at the end, Steve still sends him a cell phone so that Tony can call him if he needs him. Feige is so afraid of the audience not being on board for any sort of permanence that five minutes after Captain America puts his shield through Iron Man’s chest, they basically make up. Characters die in this movie, which feels permanent, and the movie does establish that while they are immortal, they are not invulnerable.
Eternals is a movie about immortal beings with awesome power fighting another very big immortal being with even more awesome power, yet it is the most human entry in the MCU, as it acknowledges our past atrocities and deals with what it means to be human.
In a world where Disney is plagued by superhero fatigue, Eternals could provide a roadmap for how to proceed. Read More