Film Eternals is the film most constrained by the "Marvel Formula"
Love it or hate it, we all know the Marvel Formula. Intro good superhero(es). Intro bad guy. Insert funny quip. Superhero(es) runs around fighting some mooks, escalating eventually fights bad guy in big climactic CGI fight, bad guy dies, the end. Despite how predictable it is, it makes for reliable entertainment that's a good time at the theater, at minimum.
Eternals almost wasn't that. It tried to have some interesting moral questions and self-doubt and questioning the very concept of being born for a purpose, or finding a new purpose in life. It sort of explored how complex the concepts of family and duty and love and empathy all framed against a cosmic perspective.
And then there's CGI fights.
For a second, I almost thought those CGI fights could have meant something. They could have given something the MCU has basically never seen before, a villain that truly was on the "right" side this whole time, and have the heroes realize they've been doing the wrong thing and realize they really should be on the same side, then... wait, never mind.
Chop chop chop, CGI villain's dead, all good now. Back to the formula.
Honestly, the ending of the Deviant arc is such a letdown that it honestly should have just been removed from the film entirely. There's enough conflict among the Eternals themselves without the deviants. And given the main Deviant's pointless and unceremonious death, they could have just saved us the disappointment and used the extra runtime to develop the perspectives of the individual Eternals more.
But we gotta have those CGI monster fights. The Marvel Formula, despite how repetitive and predictable it is, is entertaining. And it really is great for a simple, beat-up-the-bad-guy superhero movie. Which makes it great for the MCU. And what makes it bad for Eternals.
I really feel like this is a film that COULD have asked some really hard questions, had really emotional and personal conflicts, really tough choices among the main cast. But the train has to travel on the tracks and stop at the stations of the MCU. It could have been an 9/10, a heartfelt and hard-hitting drama that just happens to feature immortal superheroes. But, I can honestly point the finger squarely at the "Marvel Formula" this time for dragging the film down to a 6/10 - now it's just a typical beat 'em up where the main characters cry sometimes.
Film Interesting concept constrained by the medium
As someone who desperately wants Disney to branch out instead of flirting with Genre Mashups a little bit for the art, I really wanted to like this film. I perhaps did not like it as much as Marvel obviously wants the Oscars to like it — in truth, it's a mixed bag.
To start: It is a very well-made film. ChloĆ© Zhao's eye for scenery is in full force here — the cinematography is stunning. Kevin Feige got dunked on for praising Zhao's on-location shooting, and fittingly for beings who've been around since the dawn of civilization, the locations in this film are shot and framed on a higher level than other MCU entries. The scenery is sweeping and beautiful, and those final shots of the Emergence will stay with me a while. The CGI used for the Eternals' powers is flawless and a lot of fun, with Sprite's illusions and Thena's Spontaneous Weapon Creation being high points for me.
However, beautiful visuals can't save a clunky script. Eternals drew a lot of questions for how it was going to introduce a dozen comic book D-listers all at once to a casual audience. Indeed, the first act (re)introducing the large cast is uneven. Loads and Loads of Characters in a film's main cast is not, by itself, a death knell, and a lot of modern films balance them very well, either by introducing them as one big group (eg. Knives Out or Ocean's Eleven) or if they must have separate arcs, in groups (eg. Love Actually). The problem here is that instead of doing either of these approaches, the Eternals are added sequentially in something of a Debut Queue to Sersi's merry band. This causes the tone to zigzag as well, one minute you're enjoying a gratuitous Bollywood number, the next you're watching Angelina Jolie have a breakdown in the desert. As a result of this, some characters get more exposure than others; Kingo gets a lot of lines and jokes while Makkari's introduction is extremely hurried (pun intended) since it's now time for the buildup to the climax.
These aren't the only problems. The dialogue doesn't nail the necessary balance between "exposition", "the powerful Eternals are disconnected from humanity", and "the Eternals are relatable, moral, likable guys", and the result is often stilted exposition intercut with jokes. (The Zack Snyder-DC Extended Universe comparisons are not unfounded, but for the awkwardness of its comic timing, Eternals did a better job at finding the heart in its godlike superbeings.) Furthermore, there are references to various things that end up confusing the viewer (had to google stuff like "Emerald Tablet" afterwards). And the final act does too much. After building up Kro as the threat for much of the runtime, the film takes a hard swerve with liberal telling-and-not-showing, and by the time he is finally taken down, it feels like an afterthought.
To their credit, however, the actors work with what they've got. Their characters are a genuinely diverse bunch (yay), and every character pretty much walks away with something to remember them for. This includes Phastos, whose realized Black and LGBT identity means we can now finally retire the "Disney's 10th first gay character" meme. The exception is the protagonist and Audience Surrogate Sersi, who comes off as underbaked and not as interesting. I was also not sold on Sersi and Ikaris as the relationship the plot is built on; Gemma Chan and Richard Madden don't have the chemistry to sell a millennia-long love affair (Team Dane, I guess, but he's a character who so obviously hinges on "but wait...there's more!"). Gilgamesh and Thena's mutual devotion was more compelling in their shorter screentime, to the point that I'm left wondering what a film focusing on them might have been like.
The themes land for me, personally, since I'm a sucker for stories involving faith being tested, Humans Are Special, and The Power of Love, but these aren't for everyone. I walked away from the theater reminded of Cloud Atlas, the Wachowskis' similarly ambitiously overstuffed paean to humanity through the ages, but the plotlines here don't converge as neatly (which, given the reception to that film, is something of a low bar). My final thought is that story might have worked best as a prestige miniseries. While you'd lose much of the grand cinematography to a small screen, 1-2 more hours would allow all the plotlines to stretch their legs — give everyone fully-formed introductions, deal with the Deviants in a satisfying manner, and finally, give the ideological clash at the center of the titular group the deepness it deserves. I hope the tepid reception to this film doesn't stop the Mouse House from being ambitious and trying new things, but I'm not holding my breath. 3/5
Film Empty Feelings
So...I did come out of the movie mixed. I don't completely love or hate the movie. For some positives, I did appreciate that the producers were willing to take a risk with this film as it greatly deviates from the standard formula for the MCU.
I did like the expanded world-building to the lore with learning more about the Celestials. On a cinematographic level, the visuals; creature designs; and action sequences were good. So, a well-crafted movie.
As much as I could admire their risks with changing the formula, they probably went too far. The film suffers considerably from exposition dumps making the pacing laborious to get through. Its 2 hour runtime further undermines it because there isn't much there to keep you invested.
As a more "serious " take on an MCU film, there is not much in the way of humor and even when there is, it's too dry and conflicts with the tone.
The introduction of the Eternals also presents issues. For instance, if they were around for thousands of years, then why did they do nothing to stop Thanos in IW? Sure, the film does try to say they couldn't get involved with affairs unless the deviants were in the equation. But...considering the fact that the Blip contributed to this film's conflict, it felt counterproductive.
The team themselves. None stood out as interesting and were underdeveloped. Sure, some had their own personalities and quirks, they mostly fell under the generic character types like: the Leader; the Smart Guy; the Muscle, etc.
While the film does have moments where the characters have some some "hidden depths," at best they are just informed attributes. The issue more seems that they could not decide which Eternal to focus on due to there being too many. Not helping that some characters make complete 180s with little reason.
But, ultimately, Eternals is a mixed bag. While not the absolute worst of the MCU films, it does seem that the writers were at a loss on how to convey the story.
I just felt empty after watching it.
Film Origin Story Ad Absurdum
I feel like the DVD Commentary for this film will say, "We filmed a 4-hour movie and had to cut it in half. But when we sat down at the premiere to watch it, we'd accidentally shipped all the stuff that was cut. Everything we meant to keep is what got left out."
Because that's Eternals in a nutshell: not only half a movie, but the wrong half.
The eponymous Eternals came to Earth 7,000 years ago to protect humans from evil beasties called Deviants, and have witnessed basically the entirety of human civilization. What is it like to have landed before the invention of writing and still be here today in our age of Social Media Before Reason? The movie lives adjacent to this question, but never actually asks it, nor any others.
The Eternals are Flat Characters at best. Cersi (Gemma Chan) is almost a Featureless Protagonist: She's a Friend to All Living Things and is Working with the Ex, a fellow Eternal... And that's it. Salma Hayek is even more poorly served; she almost doesn't have a character to play, just some dialogue to spout. (The acting talent is superb — probably due to the combination of "Money, Dear Boy" and "Oscar winner ChloĆ© Zhao" — but they can only do so much.) The biggest misstep is the lack of family bonding scenes. If these characters are True Companions, it's basically never shown on-screen.
Likewise, the characters' powers are never explained, merely demonstrated. This hampers the finale. The characters discuss a Superman Substitute who supposedly overpowers them, but there's no Watsonian reason to believe that; additionally, the finale hinges on the protagonist doing something with her powers that is supposedly Beyond the Impossible, except that those limits were never established. Even Show, Don't Tell must be used in moderation, and this film demonstrates why.
For a film that doesn't go far enough, it's ironic that its remaining problems are about going too far. As mentioned, the Eternals are here to deal with Deviants, and they are interesting antagonists in their own right... but they are swept aside by a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, and suddenly we're preventing a Class X Apocalypse How. Not only is this "They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot," this means that the sequel can't use Going Cosmic; a Sophomore Slump becomes more likely. And a character-focused sequel starting with Flat Characters would... Well, just ask the Black Panther.
It should have been two movies, is my point. I don't know if they actually came away with 4 hours of filmed material, but it feels like they did, and I wish they'd used all of it. What we got instead is a gorgeously-shot, splendidly-acted Superhero Origin story that forgets to connect with the characters. The Eight Deadly Words kick in... And no known superhero or movie has ever manage to defeat those.