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As a group of heroes, the Eternals don’t have the most robust or consistent of publication histories. Since their inception by Jack Kirby in 1976, excluding the relaunch to coincide with this movie’s release, there have been 47 issues of comics that have headlined with these characters. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a ton of source material to work off and that would allow the people behind the movie a great deal of leeway to develop the characters how they see fit.
Chloé Zhao takes full advantage of this near blank slate, and what appears to be complete creative liberties to do whatever she wanted with the narrative backdrop of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to tell an intimate story about family. Unlike conventional comic-to-screen adaptations where the villain is someone or something with a traditional morality, the antagonists of The Eternals are something far more primal and more of a force of nature. In the same way that the weather, animals, and forest in The Revenant are not inherently evil, the forces that the titular team here face off against are not inherently evil either.
This movie introduces new grand concepts while also expanding on others. While Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 introduced the concept of Celestials, The Eternals expands on them, turning them into god-like creatures of creation and destruction as a universal force. While Ego had hints of that, the idea that the Celestials are a race so old that they pre-date the Infinity Stones and have the cosmic power to create and destroy entire worlds without prejudice is an interesting addition to their backstory.
Throughout Phase Four (the Marvel Studios entries from WandaVision to present), there has been a running theme about the role of free will in decision-making and just how much power any one person has. Black Widow played with this through mental conditioning and overcoming what a person is literally programmed to be, Loki explored the idea of free will in the face of pre-destination and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
deals with the concept of identity when that identity conflicts with one’s family. Similarly, The Eternals deals with the idea of free will in the face of an assignment that they seemingly cannot alter the trajectory of. This forms the emotional core of the movie that leads into the third act.
The visual effects are totally unique and unlike anything seen elsewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The running effects on Makkari and the flight effects on Ikaris are top notch. The effects when Sersi uses her powers to change things from one form to another also look unlike anything seen before. Beyond the physical effects, the designs for the deviants and for the celestials elevate the concepts and bring them to the screen in a realistic way.
The ensemble cast brings their best to the material. From small roles like Salma Hayek’s team leader Ajak and Don Lee’s Gilgamesh to larger roles like Richard Madden’s Ikaris and Angelina Jolie’s Thena, everyone gets something to their character to bring some nuance to the role. This brings the movie to a whole new level and elevates it beyond anything Marvel Studios has done before.
In fairness, this movie is totally unique from Marvel’s past outings. It seems that Marvel has listened to a vocal subset of the fanbase and allowed a director free reign to take a big swing and tell a story that they feel strongly about. This movie also does not follow the standard conventions of the usual comic book movie and feels closer in layout (not tone) to Deadpool which flashes back and forth between present day and a relevant flashback to add context. It’s not a typical family adventure movie, it is ponderous and deep. It is a story about loss and how a family deals with said loss and what impact that loss has when the deceased held a secret. In this regard, the movie accomplishes what it sets out to do. This movie is worth the price of admission and worth seeing in theaters as soon as possible, not for spoiler reasons, but because it is that unique an experience. The best way that one can tell a major studio like Disney that they want more filmmaker-driven content like this movie is to see the movies like it that are released.
Rating: 8.5/10
