EternalsSo much of our world carries the imprint of those who came before. Eternals is a sci-fi/fantasy action movie set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) about a group of aliens who look like us dubbed "Eternals" by their "Celestial" creator named Arishem (voiced by David Kaye). This proto-pantheon is tasked with eliminating another alien species of predators called "Deviants" from the Earth, a mission the Eternals have conducted time and again on countless worlds. As time passes, their heroics spawn legends that become the basis for the Earth's mythology.
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Eternals is adapted from the comic book series of the same name by Marvel Comics, originally created by Jack Kirby. It is a story that seeks to reinterpret mythology from an alternate viewpoint, that is "what if the gods and heroes from history were really aliens"? More than that, these aliens share a vast amount in common with humanity, and the story asks how the influence of these extra-terrestrial demigods has molded our world as we know it. The characters in Eternals are overt takes on various gods and heroes from around the world, with powers and personalities to match, albeit with more than a few alterations. The leader of the Eternals who communes with Arishem is Ajak (Selma Hayek), who councils the other Eternals with a level head and possesses the power to heal wounds with her touch. Other members of the group include Sersi (Gemma Chan), a woman who can transmute matter through touch, and Ikaris (Richard Madden), a man with superhuman strength, nigh invulnerability, flight, and beams of fire which he radiates from his eyes. These two Eternals have fallen in love during their tour of duty on Earth, marrying millennia ago; yet in the present day, they live apart. Sersi works as a teacher at the National History Museum in London, alongside her boyfriend, Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington), and lives with another Eternal named Sprite (Lia McHugh), who can create illusions and tells the stories of the Eternals throughout history, even though she is trapped in the body of a teenager. While mysterious global earthquakes begin occurring, a lone Deviant--credited as "Kro" (voiced by Bill Skarsgård)--attacks Sersi, Sprite, and Dane after a party on the streets of London, resulting in Ikaris's intervention and a tense interaction between Sersi's former and current lovers. As the Eternals had disbanded five hundred years prior on the basis that they believed that they had wiped out all of the Deviants, Kro's attack serves as the catalyst to reunite these disparate mythological figures, which leads them to discover a far greater mystery about themselves than they could have imagined.
The MCU's "Phase Four" lineup of TV shows and movies follows the capstone film, Avengers: Endgame. Subsequently, many of these stories straddle the line of trying something "new" while adhering to the tried-and-true formula of superhero movies established by Iron Man that has essentially become a license for Disney to print money. Eternals moves with a pacing that affords more quiet, intimate moments than some of its counterparts, but only occasionally. It raises important questions about whether traditions--even destructive ones--should be upheld just because they have the potential for greater things, regardless of the sacrifice to the unwilling. (This speaks to a major plot reveal in the film.) Yet Eternals--like all superhero movies--finds itself compelled to resort to a massive action set piece to close the film with a bang, as though it lacked confidence to let the quiet contemplation of these themes sink in. One of the most significant of these themes is "choice", and whether we are entitled to have a choice about how we live our lives or if this choice is just an illusion. The Eternals are credited for fueling human innovation notably by way of one of the group named Phaestos (Brian Tyree Henry). In the most telling scene of Eternals, Phaestos is considering introducing the steam engine to humanity, even though it is more than two thousand years before it was actually invented. Although he is begrudgingly talked out of it, it becomes clear that in the world of Eternals, humanity must credit modern civilization as we know it with the secret input of these extraterrestrials. Furthermore, the Eternals--at every point in history--speak and comport themselves just like people in our modern day would. This also suggests that our language and mannerisms have gradually come to resemble those of these "demigods" as humanity evolved, representing yet another way that they have influenced the world. In a sense, Eternals posits that the titular Eternals represent the "apex" of civilization...and yet their group is hardly cohesive. One of the Eternals named Druig (Barry Keoghan) balks at the idea of letting humanity engage in horrific displays of violence, defying Ajak's will to let humanity evolve organically while they bear witness to the Mayan genocide. For Druig, unfiltered choice means running the risk of making calamitously evil decisions, which Phaestos comes to appreciate in the wake of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Conversely, after Sersi discovers Arishem's plan for Earth, her assessment is that the only way to preserve humanity is by way of making a difficult choice, even if it is one that comes at great risk and may result in terrible punishment. Ultimately, viewers of Eternals should walk away from this movie with an opinion either way about what choices are acceptable and which ones are not, lending itself to engaging dialogue.
Recommended for: Fans of an often thought-provoking action movie with colorful characters and elaborate special effects. Eternals wears its themes on its sleeve, and it might have been a more standout example of what complex stories that happen to feature superheroes as the main characters can be if it were not so fixated on checking all of the proverbial boxes to fit into the genre formula. Despite that, the movie makes for an enjoyable mix of action, philosophy, and discourse on myths and heroes.
The MCU's "Phase Four" lineup of TV shows and movies follows the capstone film, Avengers: Endgame. Subsequently, many of these stories straddle the line of trying something "new" while adhering to the tried-and-true formula of superhero movies established by Iron Man that has essentially become a license for Disney to print money. Eternals moves with a pacing that affords more quiet, intimate moments than some of its counterparts, but only occasionally. It raises important questions about whether traditions--even destructive ones--should be upheld just because they have the potential for greater things, regardless of the sacrifice to the unwilling. (This speaks to a major plot reveal in the film.) Yet Eternals--like all superhero movies--finds itself compelled to resort to a massive action set piece to close the film with a bang, as though it lacked confidence to let the quiet contemplation of these themes sink in. One of the most significant of these themes is "choice", and whether we are entitled to have a choice about how we live our lives or if this choice is just an illusion. The Eternals are credited for fueling human innovation notably by way of one of the group named Phaestos (Brian Tyree Henry). In the most telling scene of Eternals, Phaestos is considering introducing the steam engine to humanity, even though it is more than two thousand years before it was actually invented. Although he is begrudgingly talked out of it, it becomes clear that in the world of Eternals, humanity must credit modern civilization as we know it with the secret input of these extraterrestrials. Furthermore, the Eternals--at every point in history--speak and comport themselves just like people in our modern day would. This also suggests that our language and mannerisms have gradually come to resemble those of these "demigods" as humanity evolved, representing yet another way that they have influenced the world. In a sense, Eternals posits that the titular Eternals represent the "apex" of civilization...and yet their group is hardly cohesive. One of the Eternals named Druig (Barry Keoghan) balks at the idea of letting humanity engage in horrific displays of violence, defying Ajak's will to let humanity evolve organically while they bear witness to the Mayan genocide. For Druig, unfiltered choice means running the risk of making calamitously evil decisions, which Phaestos comes to appreciate in the wake of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Conversely, after Sersi discovers Arishem's plan for Earth, her assessment is that the only way to preserve humanity is by way of making a difficult choice, even if it is one that comes at great risk and may result in terrible punishment. Ultimately, viewers of Eternals should walk away from this movie with an opinion either way about what choices are acceptable and which ones are not, lending itself to engaging dialogue.
Recommended for: Fans of an often thought-provoking action movie with colorful characters and elaborate special effects. Eternals wears its themes on its sleeve, and it might have been a more standout example of what complex stories that happen to feature superheroes as the main characters can be if it were not so fixated on checking all of the proverbial boxes to fit into the genre formula. Despite that, the movie makes for an enjoyable mix of action, philosophy, and discourse on myths and heroes.