“Eternals” offers a Marvel movie like no other

Illustration by Stephanie Perez

By Savannah Cooks | Entertainment Editor

           Savannah Cooks

Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest movie, Eternals, is not as bad as the critics say, but it could still use some work.

On Nov.5, Marvel theatrically released Eternals and it was said that the film differed from any other thing Marvel had produced before. The Eternals are an immortal race consisting of 10 members, who were sent to Earth to eliminate a predator called the “deviant”. The film shows their journey through love, friendship, jealousy and betrayal. 

I was very skeptical going into the movie because of all the bad reviews surrounding it. Just from the critics reviews, it sat at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was in fact lower than Thor: The Dark World and if you are an avid MCU fan, you know just about everyone has strong feelings of hatred towards that movie. So you can understand the concern I had as time ticked closer to the start of the movie. 

The first act starts with an opening crawl, similar to iconic Star Wars, that tells us the backstory on the Eternals. Then the actual movie begins . For the first two acts, there seems to be no plot. It jumps back and forth from flashbacks and present day, which leaves no room for the story to develop into something greater than it is. It also leaves no room for character development; out of all 10 of the Eternals, only about three of them have actual character development but it  is very weak. 

The movie is very face-paced, which seems to be a theme for most Marvel movies now-a-days. I understand why they had to do this, it‘s the fact they had to fit in 10 individual stories while also having a couple of side characters that they had to introduce. So I have no judgement on them for it, unless we all want to watch a four-hour movie just on the life story of each character.

I expected the movie to have a certain feeling, like a cloudy day on the beach. I also expected the group to be more like a family that has been together for thousands of years, but that is not the case. They all have love for each other, some of them are closer than others and when they come together it does feel like a family, but I expected more of an ‘unbreakable’ bond between all of them.

The movie doesn’t end with an ultimate fight scene, which kind of puts you on edge because that’s how most Marvel movies end. I definitely agree that the film is nothing like any of the MCU movies before. 

With all the bad comes the good. It is comedic, every five minutes the whole theater was laughing. They introduce a character named Karun, who is Kingo’s valet driver. Similar to Trevor in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, he is just always there and it brings a smile to your face. One of the Eternals named Gilgamesh is definitely made to be a comedic character, he is written to be one of those characters that is unintentionally funny. Whenever he is on the screen, you will clench your stomach in a fit of laughter. He also has some serious scenes that make your heart melt, especially if they are with Thena. 

The cinematography of the movie is breathtaking, from the amazing camera angles and shots to the beautiful CGI, it really outdoes all the previous Marvel movies. The deviants look so realistic and beautiful, you almost think they are a paid actor on set. The powers of the Eternals are astonishing from Ikaris’ laser eyes to Makkari’s super speed, even Thena’s, Gilgamesh’s and Phatos yellow beams of weapons, it all looks so real. 

The costumes in this movie are not like anything Marvel has done before. They are stunning, the costume designer actually hand painted each of the 10 Eternals outfits which makes you appreciate their beauty even more. They look very antique, but you can’t quite put a time period on them because they are that unique. 

It wouldn’t be a Marvel movie without the mind blowing mid-credit and post-credit scenes. The mid-credit scene left the whole theater screaming and in a fit of laughter, you were either surprised or you weren’t. I feel like a lot of people will enjoy that one. The post credit scene left a lot of us confused because there isn’t really that much context surrounding it. We will just have to wait and see. 

The film doesn’t deserve the critical score of 58%, it definitely isn’t as bad as they make it out to be. I also know that the score was affected by people who heard about (but never saw) the scene between Phatos and his husband and didn’t like it. As of the time I am writing this, the film now stands at an 84% audience score, which I think is more suitable.  I am excited to see what Marvel decides to do with these characters in the future. 

I recommend going to see Eternals, specifically in theaters. Although it didn’t live up to my expectations, it is a great movie. It has a lot of things that Marvel hasn’t done before, from a racially diverse cast to Phatos being the first openly LGBTQ+ character in the whole MCU. The movie is beautifully displayed, and I hope that Marvel continues to work on this style to see where it can take us in the future.