Eternals (2021)

Eternals, the latest blockbuster in the MCU and the first big action flick to be helmed by Chloe Zhao, is a film at odds with itself. Struggling to maintain a coherent narrative while also introducing ten major characters, the result is overwrought and messy. In moments that are all too brief, Zhao manages to instil the characters with some emotional depth and nuance. Unfortunately, her direction is stifled by the onslaught of heavy exposition and MacGuffins which make up too much of the film.

Eternals tells the story of heroes from another universe who have protected an unwitting humanity from 5000 BC onwards. After disbanding at a time when the team became fractured, these immortal beings are brought back together in the wake of tragedy and the return of their beastly enemies. Told in both the present day and with flashbacks to the group’s prior history, the story and even individual scenes are disjointed and flush with expository dialogue that always feels squeezed in. There are moments that are not only underwhelming in terms of the narrative complexity, but also as if they’ve been edited in a way to shorten the run time. This is odd, considering it might’ve helped to have one less action scene and a bit more time to flesh out the drama in a film that still runs for two and a half hours. The character development is hurried along for the sake of too many of these computer generated smackdowns, making the Eternals themselves hard to care about.

Zhao brings to the film some moments that hint at her strong track record in human drama. There are quiet and reflective scenes that develop certain characters in a way that is relatively fresh for Marvel, but they come across as mere lip service in a film that is barrelling along at an unwieldy pace. While real world exteriors do count for a lot in making Eternals look better than quite a few previous outings, they are too often overpopulated with CGI phantasmagoria, demeaning the value of their inclusion in the first place. Terrence Malick (if he’s even aware of the film and the way his name has cropped up in marketing babble) is likely not going to be a fan. In saying that, however, some of the more cosmic sequences are handled well.

Above all, the film is long-winded and action packed. This might be a reason why it matters less that a great deal of it doesn’t make total sense. Gemma Chan does good work in the lead role and some of the narrative turns do compliment and highlight a worldview that is less black and white than a traditional goodies and baddies set up. Zhao is an interesting, though potentially unnecessary choice as director for this type of material, but elements of her talent do shine through here and there. Eternals certainly won’t be remembered as one of Marvel’s home runs, but the experiment will hopefully remain a touchstone for future projects.

2/5