★★★★☆
Marvel has released a new movie. Who would have thought? This one is new and different though I swear.
Look, I'm a Marvel Fanboy. I see that a Marvel movie is coming out, I see it and enjoy it. The sheer constant level of Marvel movies is unmatched by any studio, so each new release is an event and Eternals is no different.
The story is all about the Eternals, a race of immortal beings who lived on Earth and shaped its history and civilizations. The group, which is initially led by Ajak(Salma Hayek), is sent to Earth in the year 5000 BC to watch Earth develop, giving it gentle pushes when it comes to technology, but not interacting in any when it comes to battles or wars of any kind.
Both the main appeal and main strength of this movie is the fresh slate it has to see a whole other side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. MCU regulars don’t appear at any stage throughout the movie(outside of conversation), meaning that all 10 members of the new Eternals team are introduced in this movie. Director Chloé Zhao really had her work cut out for her when you consider this fresh slate, as well as covering 7000 years of history, and also managing to fit in a solid story at the same time. For context, imagine how hard it would have been to introduce all six of the original Avengers, and their stories and all the events of The Avengers in one movie.
While these characters are only introduced here, Zhao does a fantastic job of creating a team that not only feels like they have known each other for 7000 years but also that feels incredibly human. Each character talks in their respective actor's native accent, so yes that means a big Irish accent on Barry Keoghan, but also it feels more natural. Every single one of the actors brought something with them from their previous roles, as if presenting a skill they had from a lifetime of learning. Angelina Jolie is a fighter with almost historical fame, on par with Jolie’s own fame, but also her character Thena tends to sometimes lash out, akin to Jolie’s performance in Girl, Interrupted. Barry Keoghan carries on his trend of being on the verge of a mentally intense character, by actually being able to control people's minds. Kumail Nanjiani is as lighthearted and fun as you’d expect him to be, Gemma Chan is the strong yet vulnerable character, similar to her role in Crazy Rich Asians and Ma Dong-Seok is as honourable as he was in Train to Busan. The cast goes on but with arguably 12 main characters that all fit in. Everything just seems so natural to them because we see the characters in environments we are used to seeing them in. Even Salma Hayek tends to be almost a mother to the group, arguably resembling her performance in the Grown Ups movies.
Lastly, the world built in the movie was simply brilliant. The characters were all over the world, but for the first time in a big-budget movie it felt justified that the characters would be all over the world, and unable to contact, because they have been on the planet for 7000 years, and don’t exactly use phones. Well most of them.
Overall I think it’s a really great movie. I laughed, I almost cried, but most importantly I didn’t even notice that I sat through the second-longest Marvel movie. I truly don’t understand all the negativity surrounding this movie because, by my standards, it’s a damn good time.
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Director: Chloé Zhao(Nomadland)
Writers:
Chloé Zhao(Nomadland)
Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway)
Kaz Firpo (Feature Debut)
Ryan Firpo (Feature Debut)
Cast:
Gemma Chan (Humans + Crazy Rich Asians)
Richard Madden (Game of Thrones + Rocketman)
Angelina Jolie (Maleficent + Girl, Interrupted)
Salma Hayek (Frida + The Hitman’s Bodyguard)
Kit Harington (Game of Thrones + How to Train Your Dragon 2)
Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick + Stuber)
Lia McHugh (Songbird)
Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta + Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)
Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead + Sound of Metal)
Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk + The Green Knight)
Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan)
Harish Patel (Run Fatboy Run)
Running Time: 2h 37min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
