The newest MCU installation in Phase Four, Eternals, is directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao of Nomadland fame. The storyline of the film highlights a band of super-powered aliens who have lived on Earth for thousands of years to protect it from a species of evil creatures called Deviants.
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To emphasize some positives, there is some refined visual spectacle shown in Eternals. It may not be the best work from an MCU movie, but the VFX work is impressive to gawk at. There is also some well-constructed production design with distinct convergences between alien and various human cultures. Effort was put into the movie to look good at the very slightest.
Fundamentally, Eternals is a major drag. They managed to make this cosmic wonder of a concept into the most by-the-numbers superhero story ever. The Eternals themselves, aside from their various abilities, have marginal personality traits to identify with. It’s hard enough when there are so many characters to balance out at the start, but hardly any of them are provided ample opportunity to captivate.
The performances for the most part from Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden and others are only serviceable towards these hollow shells of characters. The antagonistic Deviants feel like hardly an imposing threat in the grand scheme of this film’s universe. The dialogue hardly invigorating for the actors and the audience to be compelled towards.
The central conflict comes with the purpose the Eternals serve as heroes, obligated to not intervene in conflicts unless Deviants are involved. This conflict is the most generic type of adversity you can write for this type of story. It hurts the story and characters significantly, since we can hardly empathize with them. Worst of all, the approach to establishing the story and characters is so bland and generic that it feels like minimal effort was invested in the story at all.
Eternals is a slightly unsurprising disappointment, and is easily the worst Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date. It’s boring, uninspiring, and even it’s strongest attributes have been executed better in other films in the franchise. I will put this bluntly: this movie is f’n boring.
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