Marvel’s big budget Eternals is a missed opportunity
After a farewell to Black Widow, and a triumphant debut for Shang-Chi, Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe forges ahead with Eternals. The MCU’s trickiest proposition yet has the task of introducing a new team and a new world to the established order. At least with Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao behind the camera, this new chapter appeared to be in safe hands…
So, what are the Eternals? Put simply, they are a group of celestial alien beings with various powers who are tasked with protecting the world from Deviants, carnivorous beasts who share a similar extra-terrestrial origin. They have lived quietly among us for over 7,000 years, witnessing the evolution of mankind and even helping us along the way, but never involving themselves in human conflict that doesn’t involve Deviants.
With their foes defeated and the Eternals scattered across the globe for centuries, they are called back together as Deviants begin to resurface and Sersi (Gemma Chan) reluctantly becomes their new leader.
An Oscar winning director, numerous ceiling-breaking characters, and an eye-watering cast. Eternals should have fans salivating, but thus far it’s seemed like the warm up act for December’s Spider-man: No Way Home. These priorities are well placed.
Eternals is a serious film, in which serious and attractive people discuss things, often while staring across the horizon. The stakes are explained and made abundantly clear, the lore comes thick and fast as a whole new wrinkle in the universe is revealed.
How this all fits in with the upcoming multiverse, I have no idea, and the convoluted plot may alienate the more casual Marvel fan. A complex moral quandary threatens to split the superhero team in two, as they fight for the survival of our planet, all framed through Zhao’s miraculously beautiful lens.
It is a big budget movie efficiently made, but that efficiency also makes it joyless. Zhao made her name as a director who captured the human condition, and so it’s odd to find her blockbuster debut feeling so detached. The leads are serene and poised, but one dimensional – Chan is heroic, but doesn’t show much in between the big speeches to make you care about her plight.
Richard Madden’s Ikaris, who is so much like Superman it’s even mentioned in one scene, has nothing to him other than a steely stare and lifeless delivery. These two characters are the main focus of a busy film, but every time they share the screen it feels like a distraction.
Angelina Jolie is puzzling as Thena, an Eternal with a condition that affects her memory and makes her violent (a kind of space dementia). A star of her calibre would be expected to play either the lead, or a mentor role like Salma Hayek’s Ajak. Instead, she’s one of the gang, and while she has her own side plot, it is a bit jarring, like if Denzel Washington played War Machine in Iron Man, or if Leonardo DiCaprio played Vision. You keep looking at Jolie, expecting something to happen that never materialises. It also doesn’t help that Jolie looks as though she’d rather be anywhere else.
There are some gems to be found in the wider cast, which features some firsts for the MCU and Hollywood in general. Barry Keoghan is charismatic as Druig, an Eternal who can control humans’ minds and has his own ideas about their progression; while young Lia McHugh is terrific as Sprite, a Tinkerbell-like character who mixes things up in the group. Kumail Nanjiani made headlines with his dramatic body transformation to play Kingo, an Eternal who becomes a Bollywood icon, but the real praise should be for his wit, offering refreshing bursts of humour and personality in a dour film.
Far and away the most interesting, however, is Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, the Eternal with a gift for inventing machinery and weapons, who discovers with horror what mankind does with his gifts. It’s a fascinating arc that could have merited its own movie, but as it is he shines in a supporting role, which also happens to be the first gay MCU character. Considering how LGBTQ+ representation has been bungled in the past by Disney, his relationship is presented in a refreshingly wholesome way.
But this can’t overcome a film that takes an age to arrive at a familiar place. Yes, there are a plethora of new terms, species, and legends to learn, but it all boils down to heroes preparing for the big battle at the end. It’s visually impressive, particularly when the camera flies around the universe, and will be enough for those who just need something to tick them over while they wait for Spidey. However, it’s missing the sense of fun that made the biggest franchise in the world so popular.