Eternals (2021) (Review)

 


Eternals powers itself into cinemas as the next chapter in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, again hoping to endear audiences towards its band of new-to-screen heroes. The Academy Awards' reigning Best Director winner Chloe Zhao is responsible for bringing the extraterrestrial heroes into the franchise but will her indie sensibilities translate well into the most successful cinematic universe of all time?

 When the Eternals, a team of ancient aliens secretly living and operating on Earth, suffer an unexpected tragedy, they are forced out of the shadows to fight the Deviants, mankind's oldest enemy. Needing to harness their individual powers to save Earth, The Eternals time to rise is now. Starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, Brian Tyree Henry and Salma Hayek, a great deal of pressure rests with Eternals.

A purposefully mediative and contemplative narrative, with theme work likely to challenge audiences more so than a typical blockbuster would, Eternals deserves to be commended for the way in which it uproots superhero conventions in search for something weightier. Drawing from Greek mythology and tackling questions of existence,  Eternals' screenplay is an ambitious attempt to evolve the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe in a new, mature direction that would benefit the next chapter of cinema's biggest franchise. It features real traces of heart and soul, with the writers' attempt to craft something with a human depth elevating the material.

The problem, however, lies in its execution: needlessly complex and increasingly convoluted, Eternals suffers in its attempt to introduce so many characters, while never developing any of them with enough depth to truly satisfy audiences previously unfamiliar with them. At a sizeable 157 minutes, its bloated runtime and uneven pacing as a result of confounding flashbacks test audiences patience, particularly given that you leave the film without feeling like you've developed an emotional connection to the new team of heroes.

Eternals lands on some solid imagery at times, infusing Zhao's raw visual tendencies into the blockbuster template in a way that sets it apart from its counterparts. Where it trips up mostly, however, is in the colouring of these moments -- where the colour should shine, it can instead be visually boring and overridden with greys and beiges that fail to interest or excite. Combined with the film's weak action set pieces typically the genre's bread and butter, Eternals falls so flat despite the talent behind it.

In the most ensemble-driven Marvel movie outside of the Avenger films, Eternals is responsible for having to introduce ten new heroes, each with their own personality and powers. As such, the ensemble assembled is a mammoth one, but their success is mixed: Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie and Barry Keoghan are the standouts, the former pair anchoring the narrative well, with the latter using his limited screentime to craft an interesting character we can look forward to meeting again. On the other hand, Kumail Nanjiani is a frustrating addition whose temptation to wade into comedic territory exaggerates a larger problem with the Marvel formula, and Salma Hayek fails to convince. Still, the standout is Harish Patel, who is genuinely amusing and a pleasure to have on-screen.

This is the film MCU feature in a long while that, in my opinion, does not demand or require a big-screen viewing experience. In fact, it could be argued that a smaller screen may be much better suited to the type of story Eternals is telling: a television format would give the space to evolve these heroes in the more character-focused manner required for such a range of characters. For instead, we are left with a film that misses its potential by disappointing lengths, delivering a franchise entry hindered by lacklustre action, a bloated runtime and wobbly pacing. While admirably able to stand out from its stablemates in its maturity, such contrast also highlights its failure to entertain or massively interest. Chloe Zhao's talent is undisputed and while she did far better to fight the Marvel template than perhaps anticipated, Eternals misses the mark in ways it shouldn't.