Review 622: The Eternals

 

The Eternals’ ambition may overreach its narrative grasp, but its strong visuals, rich themes and terrific cast make it of the MCU’s most unique and daring films and impossible to resist.

Based on The Eternals by Jack Kirby; After half the population returns in Avengers: Endgame ignites "the emergence", The Eternals - an immortal alien race created by the Celestials who have lived secretly on Earth for 7,000 years - reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.

The Eternals is a very ambitious film, possibly one of Marvel's most ambitious endevours to date. Telling a story that spans 7,000 years and introduces 10 new characters and has one foot on Earth and one in the cosmic side of the universe.

Prominant themes in The Eternals are Power, Responsibility, Loyalty and Unity.

Power:

Responsibility: The Eternals have a responsibility not to interfer with human events unless the Deviants are involved because their involvement could impact on the natural course of things. Ultimately, its Sersi's responsibilty to her fellow Eternals and humanity itself and how she grown to love them that fuels her role as the eventual leader of the Eternals.

Loyalty: Ultimately it's Ikaris' loyalty to the Celestial, Arishem that propels him down the path that he takes.

Unity:

Creation: The film opens with the words "In the beginning..." which are also the words of the first book of the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Genesis. The book is about creating the universe, the heavens, the Earth, animals and the Garden of Eden. By beginning this moive with texts that reads "In the beginning...", Director Chloe Zhoa established the films biblical themes. Opening with a shot of the sun, as if to imply that the sun is the Celestial's original funrace of creation, an orb flies into Ajak who subsequently wakes up the other Eternals.                                                                                                                                    The film takes place over one week, much like how in the Book of Genesis the world was created in 6 days and God rested on the 7th. In this case, the Eternals are trying to create a new post-Blip world in 7 days, a world where mankind is freed from Celestial interference and they become the new Gods of humanity. In the Book of Genesis, God creates the Garden of Eden, a biblical paradise where Adam & Eve were free to frolic and live in innocence. The Eternals also experince their own Garden of Eden in Mesopotamia; as humanity begins to thrive.

Director Chloe Zhoa's direction is elegant, the cinematgoraphy is gorgeous, the locations are stunning, the score by Ramin Djwadi is beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking, the special effects are spectacular, the production design is excellent, the costumes are majestic, the action scenes are  In particular, a spectacular opening battle against the Eternals and Deviants in the 5th Millennium showcasing their powers in exciting and creative ways.

When The Eternals was first announced, I could not believe the cast that Marvel had assembled for this film; Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Selma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Kit Harrington.

Whilst The Eternals is, at its core, an ensamble film, Gemma Chan's Sersi is easily the lead of the film. Sersi has a strong connection to humans and she has a lot of empathy for them. In keeping with the films theme of Creation, Sersi has the gift of Matter Transmutation; she can make water to help grow crops and create animals out of solid mater.

Richard Madden  Ikaris is very much a deconstuction of the Superman archetype; In any other story, he would be the clean cut protector of humans alongside his fellow Eternals but he's so dedicated to their  cause that he cannot abandon it even if it means going against his fellow Eternals.

Lia McHugh is a real find playing Sprite, an Eternal with the ability to cast illusions and has  Her friendship with Sersi hides a world-weary sadness because she’s been treated like a child by humanity for centuries. Sprite is almost like the Peter Pan of the Eternals; The Girl who Never Grew Up.

Kumail Nanjiani is a lot of fun playing Kingo; Whereas in the comics his powers are not clearly defined, in this film, Kingo is able to project cosmic energy projectiles from his hands. Whereas his fellow Eternals decided to stay under the radar after disbanding, Kingo is enamored with fame and has carved out centuries long career as Bollywood actor

Angelina Jolie is very powerful playing Thena. Thena suffers from Mahd Wy'ry, a psychological condition which causes her to loose control and attack her team mates spontaniously. So much of the role hinged on Jolie conveying Thena's disorder and she nailed it. her body language does a lot to convey the years of trauma that she's had to deal with.

Selma Heyek is only in a handful of scenes playing the Eternals leader Ajak, but she certainly makes an impression. Ajak serves as the Eternals spirtual leader and maternal figure in  Ajak can also be interpreted as an Eve figure as it she who leads her fellow Eternals into Rebellion against their God, Arishem the Judge. Later, she passes this on to another Mother proxy, Sersi who becomes the new leader of this rebellion against Arishem. 

Barry Koeghan playing Druig, an Eternal with the ability to manipulate the minds of others. Koeghan expertly captured Druig can be interpreted as the Lucifer of the Eternals, the first angel to lead a rebellion against papa God Arishem. He defies Ajak's will to interfer with human events and creates his own communtiy of humans. Just as Lucifer 

Lauren Ridloff is a marvel playing Makkari, an Eternal with super speed. She only appeared in a handful of scenes scattered across the film (mainly in flashbacks before coming back into prominance towards the climax) but she shines in every one of them.

Brian Tyree Henry is very likeable playing Phastos but doesn't really have an opportunity to come into his own as a hero. Phastos is very much the brains of the Eternals, he has the power to invent whatever he can imagaine  When Sersei, Ikaris and the other Eternals find him in the present day, he's settled down and started a family and wants no part of "the Emergence", so he's turned his back on humanity...  except for the two closest people in his life. How he went from feeling depressed after seeing that his inventions were being used for destructive purposes to a dedicated family man with a husband and son is completely glossed over and left something to be desired.

If there was one Eternal that never got the attention that they deserved it was easily Gilgamesh (Don Lee). While his partner Thena was forced to deal with some extremely hard hitting mental problems, Gilgamesh never really seemed to get an overreaching arc over the course of the film. As a result, her ultimate fate didn't really pack the emotional punch that I think the writers and Zhoa were going for.

Where The Eternals also falls short is in the villains department where, unfortunately, too often, the Deviants are too often portrayed as vicious, mindless CGI monsters and Bill Skarsgard is given very little to do other than glare and sound menacing as the Deviant general Kro.

Unfortunately, Kit Harrington is little more than a cameo and a love interest for Sersi in this film playing Dane Whitman, but from what little there is to him, Harrington is very likeable and charasmatic in the role and is nothing more or less than accepting when he discovers the truth about what Sersi is.

4/5.

The Anonymous Critic.