Eternals: Visually Stunning but Emotionally Vacant
Before there were Avengers, there were Eternals.
With an ensemble cast of movie stars, Chloe Zhao brings her unique aesthetic of vast landscapes and nature to expand the MCU. In the ned, audiences experience a gentle blockbuster with visuals that could kill and an empty soul.
Before diving into the main plot, a lot of exposition takes up space to firmly establish a large, diverse ensemble of Hollywood A-Listers. While taking time to provide explanations it results in a rushed second half when the action starts to take place.
Moving from indie films to comic books, Zhao finds her trademarks of magic hour and rolling plains across middle America. She heavily focuses on the nature of the world she creates almost as it is the main character. It creates a calm atmosphere in the midst of the world ending. Although different from its predecessors it keeps the theme of witty banter and funny moments to break any scenes that might feel too deep.
The main problem of this film is the writing. It is told through a non-linear timeline that doesn’t allow the audience to spend too much time with the characters or the setting they are in. The Eternals are a group of super-beings sent to Earth to fight the deviants. They have been apart for 7,000 years and reunite to fight the resurgence of the creatures they thought were gone. This ensemble feels different from other Marvel movies with the inclusivity of a gay couple and a character with a hearing impairment that is her superhero. Each actor does a good job to work with the limited material given to make them stand out in scenes.
At times there is so much visually happening that you miss out on the smaller moments between characters. The film features the first Marvel sex scene which displays one of the deeper romantic relationships in the entire cinematic universe. It reminds viewers that the heroes they watch onscreen are people that have the ability to connect with others and feel. It feels like experimentation in different styles and tones to explore in future MCU projects.
Eternals has its moments but its massive scale never allows the characters to live in their world. It is successful in using the other to examine moral and humanity but the lack of interaction between the Eternals and the world they live in makes it hard for this theme to be communicated. Visually it is stunning but barely has a soul due to its dense material. It does leave a cliffhanger that leaves audiences excited to explore these characters and their world more.