The MCU has amassed quite the collection of directors of the past few years. For every new Marvel movie, it seems like they’ve plucked an up and coming director to helm their latest big-budget hero blockbuster. So it wasn’t a huge surprise when it was announced that Chloé Zhao (“The Rider,” “Nomadland”) was announced to direct “Eternals,” Marvel’s latest epic and it has her grand style and scale mixed with the MCU’s formula on full display, for better and for worse.
Following a group of immortal alien protectors known as Eternals, the film shows them living their lives on Earth over thousands of years as they protect humans from creatures known as Deviants. The film takes many twists and turns beyond this initial introduction and suffice it to say that it's not nearly as simple as that basic concept would make it seem.
The ensemble cast consists of Gemma Chan (“Human,” “Crazy Rich Asians”), Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones,” “Rocketman”), Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley,” “The Big Sick”), Lia McHugh (“Into the Dark,” “The Lodge”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta,” “Widows”), Lauren Ridloff (“The Walking Dead,” “Sound of Metal”), Barry Keoghan (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “American Animals”), Don Lee (“Norigae,” “Train to Busan”), Salma Hayek (“Frida,” “Beatriz at Dinner”), and Angelina Jolie (“Girl, Interrupted,” “Maleficent”), with Harish Patel (“Mr. India,” “Jadoo”) and Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones,” “7 Days in Hell”) in supporting roles.
A cast that large, larger even than the first Avengers film, means that there is a lot going on in the film, virtually from the start. There’s a lot to take in, and while the film is overall paced pretty well, the script can’t keep up with the lofty ambitions of the story. Zhao co-wrote the film with Patrick Burleigh (“Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway”), Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo (“Refuge”) and, as much crap as people give previous MCU films about all sounding the same, there’s something to be said for reliable writers.
“Eternals” goes from dizzying highs that explore the humanity and morality of these characters and their decisions to some of the shoddiest humor and dialogue in a Marvel film yet within moments of each other. It’s a film that works ridiculously well when these actors are emoting and working physically and yet when they open their mouths it's a fifty-fifty shot whether what they say is introspective and thoughtful or hammy and forced.
Which is a shame because the actors behind each role are clearly doing their best to deliver some lovable characters. Chan is the heart and soul of the film, beaming with hope and pure charisma. The same can be said for Henry, Najiani, Hayek, and Jolie; all are excellent thanks to their commitment to characters that are clearly incredibly optimistic and hope that they can do the right thing. Madden is also great but proves to be a bit more stoic and wooden, pulling the emotion when needed, and McHugh also struggles in some moments, delivering one of the most interesting characters with some of the worst lines in the entire film.
Patel and Ridloff provide more of the film’s comic relief, with the latter becoming an instant breakout hit. It’s always a great moment to see grand inclusivity, even more so when that character is ridiculously charming and lovable in their own right. Harrington and Lee are also great but prove to be far too underutilized. Meanwhile, Keoghan isn’t bad, really he just seems either miscast or that the film doesn’t really know what to do with his character, making him extremely important in one moment and then whisking him away the next.
Zhao has clearly worked hard with cinematographer Ben Davis (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) to make “Eternals” feel as grand as inhumanly possible, and it's a film that towers over you with its scope and scale. It’s an appropriately long, globe-trotting adventure, but Zhao smartly frames some of its larger moments in perspective to the characters. It creates a raw sense of awe that helps to show just how grand it all is and helps set it apart from other MCU films based in cities or similar locations. It’s also just absolutely gorgeous, thanks to fabulous usage of colorful and varied environments and some well-executed camera techniques. It’s without a doubt the MCU’s most gorgeously shot film yet.
With a score from Ramin Djawadi (“Iron Man,” “Pacific Rim”) pumping underneath every action sequence, Zhao crafts a kind of character driven action that smartly works to showcase each Eternal’s powers and personality throughout every fight. It makes for some unique and thrillingly engaging moments, coupled with the film’s stylized golden-weaved visuals to create a certainly distinct look compared to the heavily gray and militarized films of the Marvel past.
There is a lot to like about “Eternals” and it does clearly represent a bold new direction for the MCU going forward. However, the scope and scale proves to be too much for one film with this many characters. It's the kind of movie that crumbles under its own ambition. It doesn’t feel overly long, but it is still two-hours-and-thirty-seven minutes long and a lot of that time is spent discussing what’s going on and how the characters feel about it. It wears its heart fully on its sleeve, making no qualms with the fact that this is a tale of larger than life characters dealing with difficult emotions and situations.
Most of the time, this is great, as it puts a sharp new focus on the characters in a way Marvel hasn’t done in the past. It’s the most evident in these moments that this is a film helmed by someone with experience in character driven indie films as, for as cool as the action looks, this is where the film shines. These are three dimensional characters who are all struggling in some way, and thanks to the actors, it's enjoyable to just be with them as they try to figure all this out. It’s certainly more talking and less action than most might be used to for a film bearing the Marvel name, but it's not a bad thing. It’s an evolution that doesn’t get it 100% right the first time, but an evolution that clearly needs to happen for these films to continue.
This is a difficult movie to review, much less discuss, as there will certainly be details and moments left out that factor into the conclusion. It’s the kind of film that at one moment is working gloriously well and the next has blemishes all over the place. Yet, there isn’t strictly one “problem” with the film: the script has flaws, but it also is wonderfully dense. The performances are sometimes wooden but also a large majority are thrillingly strong. It’s a film that can inspire awe and eye-rolling in equal measure, yet is nevertheless fascinating to watch due to everything it's attempting to pull off with wide-eyed genuine sincerity.
“Eternals” will likely go down as one of, if not the most, divisive movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some will adore the gorgeous visuals, performances, and amount of time spent exploring the morality and character growth of a team as old and flawed as this. Others will bemoan the amount of talking, runtime, and lack of the trademark wit or sense of action from previous installments. It’s a messy, flawed movie with a lot of ideas that don’t all come to the same fruitful conclusions. There’s a lot to love, and also a lot to criticize, and rarely do the two not overlap in some way. Zhao has crafted a film that’s Marvel’s most unique and emotionally charged, with some of its most endearing and interesting characters as well, but not without challenges and flaws. 3.5/5
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