Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ Review: Chloé Zhao’s Superhero Film Is Beautiful, Human, Different, But Lacking
The thing I’ve understood about movies directed by Chloé Zhao is that even though you might like them instantly, you need to give yourself time to process beyond the visual beauty. Eternals is a film that, in my opinion, deserves that reflection even more. A friend, who had read enough of the negative reviews asked me to sum up the film in one word. I said, “Different.” Because it is so different from any comic book movie you might’ve seen. I remember smiling to myself during the movie as I thought, “Oh this just might be a Marvel film that Martin Scorsese could get behind, you know?” However, as different, human, and beautiful in Zhao’s trademark way Eternals is, it could definitely have been better. The third film in Kevin Feige’s ambitious MCU Phase Four stars Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, and Harish Patel.
View this post on Instagram
The screenplay is by Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo and Kaz Firpo, and the story is by Ryan Firpo and Kaz Firpo. The cinematography is by Ben Davis, edited by Craig Wood and Dylan Tichenor. And the score is by Ramin Djawadi.
The Eternals are an immortal alien race created by the Celestials to fight and protect humanity from alien creatures called the Deviants. For 7000 years now, the Eternals have been living on Earth in hiding, mingling through different civilisations across the planet, annihilating every Deviant threat but forbidden by their leader, Ajak, from interfering in the affairs of humans. However, when Thanos snapped half of the human population of Earth and the Avengers brought them back, it triggered a cosmic event that will require the Eternals, currently scattered all over the world in their ‘normal’ lives, to return to their purpose. There are ten Eternals: Ajak, Ikaris, Sersi, Sprite, Kingo, Druig, Phastos, Makkari, Gilgamesh and Thena.
Also Read: The First Reactions To Marvel’s ‘Eternals’, Directed By Chloé Zhao, Are Here, And It’s Different!
With the news about the not-so-fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating for Eternals doing the rounds, it was hard to not worry about how I’d like the film. I was invested with this being one of the big superhero franchise films directed by an Asian woman, and one of the cornerstones of Marvel’s Phase Four. Not to mention, the ensemble cast had some marquee names too. And knowing that Zhao would bring a different storytelling style, how often this experiment would be done again by Marvel Studios would depend on the success or failure of this film. Clearly, the stakes were staggering.
View this post on Instagram
And did Eternals hold up those stakes for me? Well, in several ways, yes. Yes, it did. I liked Eternals for many reasons, the biggest being that Chloé Zhao really tried to create something so different from anything I have seen from Marvel, or for that matter, any superhero CBM (comic book movie). For starters, Eternals is beautiful to look at and has the Zhao touch, with those picturesque shots of powerful characters being dwarfed by the stunning landscape around them. I don’t think superhero movies give us a lot of that… time to breathe and take in the surroundings, tarry a little while you’re on your way to defeating the big bad. Considering the Eternals have been around for 7000 years, the timelessness of these moments is a really nice touch. Djawadi’s music keeps pace with the visual storytelling, and elevates it rather well, particularly in the climax.
The Eternals have strong family dynamics, with very familiar themes like a mother figure, favourite son, envious sister, brotherly rivalry etc. This is what gives the film some naturally fun banter (with some ‘dinner table conversations), as well as emotional depth, because these characters’ strengths, vulnerabilities, insecurities and relationship to each other, and what makes you care for these characters eventually, lies in these very moments. They’re immortal powerful beings, but not so different from us after all, perhaps even envious of our humanity and mortality in many ways. Eternals also gives us something that has been rather conspicuous by its absence in Marvel movies: Sex. Again, a way to make the superhero a tad more human, which I’m absolutely on board for more of.
Speaking of what I like, my absolute favourite part of Eternals is just how much I as an Indian had to look forward to in this movie in terms of cultural representation. No spoilers here, but Kingo’s (Kumail Nanjiani) valet Karun, played by Harish Patel, actually has a lot more than just a token appearance in the film. And I loved every minute of it! Although, I just wish they paid just as much attention to the Bollywood song and dance sequence in the film, as they did to represent other aspects of Indian culture. It was a huge disappointment. I am surprised, despite the inroads that Bollywood celebs like Priyanka Chopra Jonas have made, why are there no consultants who can help Hollywood get the Indian movie industry’s depiction right? They’re saying Kingo is based on Hrithik Roshan, so why didn’t they just make him dance to ‘Baawre’ from Luck By Chance instead of that random song which was something Michael Scott from The Office would sing at the Diwali party?
Also Read: Eternals Filmmaker Chloé Zhao Talks About Excitement Of Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo Doing A Bollywood Dance Number
Eternals also gives us MCU’s first Korean superhero in Don Lee’s super strong Gilgamesh (who I absolutely adored!), its first deaf superhero (okay, yes, Hawkeye in the movies is not partially deaf so) in the charming Lauren Ridloff as the speedster Makkari and the first openly LGBTQ+ superhero in Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos who in the movie is married and has a kid too. Since the comic books by Jack Kirby don’t exactly have these distinctions, I give huge kudos to Chloé Zhao for bringing such diversity to the Eternals.
All of the above makes Eternals stand out far from the throng, and a film whose description as ‘different’ is actually a positive compliment all the way. That being said, I found some of the criticism around the film to be rather justified as well.
Personally, for me, the dialogues were a huge problem. I thought they were slightly awkward, very basic and it made some of the humour seem very obviously spelt out instead of flowing organically. These are powerful, almost timeless beings who’ve lived through seven millennia, but while they do hold themselves stoically, they don’t exactly talk like that. My biggest concern was they even though they’d seen so much of the world, it somewhere felt like they were a little too naïve and clueless, and hadn’t evolved much. Now, I was prepared for copious amounts of exposition, because how else do you set up a story spanning 7000 years, but even though date after date flashed on the screen, I couldn’t feel that passage of time reflected in these characters’ behaviours, emotions, understanding or knowledge.
This can in so many ways hamper the connection you’d build with these characters, enough to care about them and their somewhat tragic origin story. And this is why, I felt two things very strongly: First, even though the film really tried to slow it down and give us a decent enough runtime, the number of characters—10—was just too huge to do justice to. There were clearly some who got more screen time and story than the others, and it left me as a viewer a little unsatiated in my need to know more about all of them and what they’ve been up to for all this time and how they’ve changed/if they’ve changed because of their time on Earth amidst humans. There were small glimpses of this, yes, but I wish there were more.
View this post on Instagram
Also Read: Here’s Why Marvel’s Eternals, Directed By Chloé Zhao, Is A Pretty Big Deal For Women In Comic Book Movies
This brings me to my second thought, which is that this should’ve probably been a story told over more than one film. Perhaps two, or even three. It would give the writers more time to do justice to the stories of each of the Eternals, and help us understand where they’re coming from. I, for one, would’ve loved to know more about Druig and his time on Earth, or why Kingo is such a pacifist, or what Makkari was up to all this time.
And finally, I do think that there were some rather convenient solutions available to the team when they wanted. For example, Phastos (the technopath) whipped up a solution so easily, or Thena’s ‘problem’ conveniently disappearing and reappearing when it suited the team’s needs. A lot of things happen that are left unexplained, which I suppose might be unravelled in the next film.
Performances and Action
No complaints here, I thought everyone was well cast and a delight to watch. Harish Patel’s Karun is a total favourite, of course. But I was (no surprises there) impressed by Barry Keoghan’s Druig, and loved the bond between Don Lee as Gilgamesh and Angelina Jolie as Thena. Speaking of Thena, Angelina Jolie is a fearsome white-and-gold angel who has some of the best action scenes in the film. I want to see more of her, please! I thought Richard Madden and Gemma Chan as Ikaris and Sersi had great chemistry, so did she and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman. I just wish this love triangle had better dialogues to play up their emotions. The action in this film is fluid and like a slow crescendo. My favourite sequences happen in a forest and on an island, but every sequence is breathtakingly shot.
Verdict
I liked the Eternals, and really enjoyed watching it. I am here for Harish Patel’s Karun, just how hot Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie look while they’re fighting Barry Keoghan’s mischievous but enigmatic Druig, and the CGI that is all so stunning to look at. I also loved all the pop-culture references, both internal as well as from other popular franchises and literally gasped at that one shot of Ikaris in the end and how it ties into a joke from earlier in the film about a certain caped superhero.
View this post on Instagram
While I can’t understand some of the extremely negative reviews that this film is getting, I do stand by my belief that this is too vast a story to be told in a single film. It delves into themes that haven’t been broached much in the previous MCU films. Having watched the film, I understand why Marvel chose to go for someone like Zhao to direct it, and try and usher in a new era of MCU movies.
Eternals, bu Chloé Zhao, is different, but I think it is the good kind of different, the kind we need actually. It brings such diversity, inclusion, and an interesting layer of philosophy pertaining to free will and the grander designs of the cosmos to the MCU, which I am very interested to see explored. With a little more fine-tuning and focus on the writing and pacing, this could actually elevate superhero movies to a whole new level.
Most superhero CBMs are all about style, slickness and spectacle, like a rap song. Whereas Eternals is slow-burning, serene, and calm, like reading classic poetry. But the problem with that is that not everyone can come around to liking classic poetry, and it can also be too restricted by its form. I am not quite sure if this is the reason, but the audience is a bit too attuned to the male gaze on superhero films, so a female gaze is a welcome change, methinks.
Marvel’s Eternals is in theatres from November 5, 2021. Stay for the mid-credits and end-credits scenes, please!
