Marvel’s Eternals Review

By Vibhas S.

December 17, 2021

Spoiler-Free

Marvel’s Eternals starred a diverse cast of characters, with an ultimately unfulfilling story. 

The story follows 10 distinct “Eternals” who have been living on Earth for thousands of years. Ajax, played by Salma Hayek, is the leader of the ten, whose power is the ability to heal herself and others. They were sent down by a higher power to extinguish the Earth of the lethal monster Deviants. Each Eternal has their own distinct power and personality traits, Ikaris can fly, Makkari has intense speed, etc. It is established early in the film that the powers within the Eternals can rarely be used independently, and each character has to work together for their force to make an impact upon their enemy.

The film had successes that were noticeable and made a positive difference to the experience. The visual effects were fantastic and did not disappoint. Marvel clearly had a vast budget which was utilized to create enormous effects and thrilling action. The editing was another positive aspect of the film. There weren’t many abrupt cuts from angle to angle, nor from scene to scene. Although the movie’s plot had many confusing elements, the editing didn’t contribute to the amount of holes that were there by default. Chloe Zhao does a great job directing the film, by adding visual elements that foreshadow coming events. Sadly, she suffers from a plot-hole filled story, which overshadows her great directing. The cinematography is fantastically executed by Ben Davis, who is a Marvel veteran with experience in many previous films including, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The film focuses on two of the ten Eternals, Sersi and Ikaris. Although there were 10 characters who were part of the “Eternals,” the film does little to make us understand them. This results in an unfortunate lack of character development which caused the audience to feel bored when certain characters were on screen, and overall not making the audience care for the characters within the film. In the story, the Eternals have been living on Earth for thousands of years, which are told by these flashback sequences which attempt to educate the audience about each character, and the dynamic between them and how it has changed over time. In the end, the flashbacks end up being abrupt and confusing, which contributed to the lack of character development. The stakes in the film are much higher than other Marvel films this year, yet the film doesn’t have a great climax which ends up resulting in an underwhelming ending. 

Overall, I would rate this film a 6.5/10, and would recommend this film to anyone who appreciates the Marvel lore and wouldn’t mind an underwhelming story, but likes a talented cast with great big budget effects. 

Spoiler-Full

At the end of the film, the Eternals are burdened with the duty of destroying the seed for the human-fed celestial, Celestials being a higher form. We learn that the Eternals have been sent to Earth to progress and preserve humankind, not save it. This is a very interesting twist and that has high potential. Alas, the film still has trouble finding itself with the difficult task of developing ten distinct characters in two and a half hours, which contributes to the poor story development. The main villain ends up being Ikaris an Eternal, who turns on the Eternals, because of his undying loyalty to the celestial. Sprite, who has the power to project duplicates of herself, ends up turning on the Eternals, because of her love for Ikaris. The motivations of these characters don’t seem to be worth the build up, especially with the Eternals forgiving Sprite at the end. It is understandable that a film with ten very distinct characters suffers from a lack of character development and that I believe this story is better suited for a 6-8 part television series, for the audience to completely understand and appreciate each character. A 6-8 part television series would give the writers a lot more freedom in creatively exploring the origins of each and every Eternal, without making the audience feel bored and rushed.