Eternals – Film Review

The Eternals, a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers – consisting of Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Ajak (Salma Hayek), and Thena (Angelina Jolie) – have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years, and now must reunite to battle the evil Deviants.

With Chloé Zhao‘s Eternals – the twenty-sixth installment in the decade-spanning and immensely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe – the studio has struck gold and is finally treading some new ground. Look, I absolutely adored both of this year’s MCU film offerings – Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – but they certainly did feel like the tried-and-true Marvel projects that we have come to expect by now.

But Eternals is by far the most unique movie Marvel has ever created to date – and it just so happens to be the best out of the three released this year as well. Some are inevitably going to be turned off by how ambitious and bizarre this film, its story, and characters are, but in my opinion, this is absolutely top-tier MCU and a true game-changer for the franchise as we know it going forward.

At this point, we are so used to the MCU films giving us a certain formula and we have to just roll with it, whether we like it or not. They all sort of follow the same path albeit with different storylines and characters. Sometimes when you watch an MCU movie, you just get that feeling like you’re back in the universe. Back at home.

This is not the feeling one gets while watching Eternals. Everything about this film breaks the MCU mold – it doesn’t open up with the epic Marvel Studios theme song and credits but rather, a Blade Runner 2049-esque text crawl that lets us in on what we are about to watch.

The closest thing I can compare this movie to is this year’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League (which, to me, is still the best superhero movie offering of the year so far), and that’s a very, very good thing. Zhao was honestly the perfect choice to direct this movie coming off the heels of the highly successful, Best Picture-winning Nomadland. Zhao clearly had some bold ideas in mind when it came to the story here, and personally, I feel like all of these ideas paid off.

Whenever you see four writers attached to one movie, it’s never a good feeling. Usually, that means there is going to be some strange tonal shift that doesn’t work or simply a movie that feels totally directionless. Thankfully, that is not the case with Eternals whatsoever.

The story was quite clearly thought-out with a massive sense of intricacy and delicateness. Nothing about the story feels manufactured. It’s quite a long story to sit through, clocking in at two-hours and thirty-seven minutes, but it’s a story that honestly had my eyes glued to the screen the whole time.

And boy oh boy is this movie ever trippy and plot-twisty. The story may seem very clear one second and then the next, the screenwriters throw quite the wrench into the plot and take you in a completely different direction. There was one reveal in the third act that genuinely threw me for a loop, and I was so ecstatic that Marvel actually did something as ballsy as they did.

As for the Eternals team themselves, they are easily one of the best in the MCU to watch in terms of how fun they are to watch going on their adventure. The actors that were chosen to play their respective characters were absolutely perfect, as well. Richard Madden is a stellar Ikaris, giving off major Superman vibes here. You truly get the sense that if you get on his bad side, you’re going to die. Simple as that.

Kumail Nanjiani absolutely stole my heart here in the role of Kingo, one of the MCU’s goofiest and hilarious characters, but thankfully, that’s not the only thing going for his character whatsoever. The film does a marvelous job at fleshing the lead team out so that by the time the film’s credits roll, you feel like you know the team members personally.

Brian Tyree Henry was also an excellent addition to the team as Phastos, as was Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, the first deaf superhero in the MCU. How cool is that?

But my favorite here is without a doubt Gemma Chan who portrays Sersi, one of the most interesting and emotionally gripping characters this cinematic universe has blessed us with to date. Chan feels totally born to play this role, and I can only hope that we see her in tons more down the road.

The only real complaint I have with Eternals is that at times, it can be a bit muddled and sometimes you’ll be left a bit confused as to where the story will ultimately go. But once things get more clear, you will be in for quite a special treat. Eternals isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but there’s also no denying just how brave, daring, and ambitious it truly is. In the MCU, a movie this bold is practically non-existent which makes me even more glad this film even exists in the first place.