Photo Courtesy of IndieWire
The newest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), “Eternals,” premiered this past weekend, and while it contained many firsts, it had some critics and viewers feeling as if the film’s runtime was “eternal.” Moviegoers were able to see the film starting Thursday, Nov. 4. Despite a $71 million debut, it fell short of other MCU entries. Compared to the other pandemic-era releases, “Black Widow” at $80 million and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at $75 million, the box office numbers were lackluster in Marvel’s eyes, but “Eternals” has still managed to land the fourth-best launch of the year.
The movie features Marvel’s first sex scene between superheroes, and, arguably most importantly, the first gay kiss on screen. While it feels like these came a tad too late, “Eternals” was a good pick to feature the better-late-than-never firsts. Directed by Academy Award-winner Chloé Zhao, the film’s cast includes Marvel’s first Asian American female protagonist, Gemma Chan, as well as Deaf actress Lauren Ridloff and further representation of the Asian, Black, Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. With so many backgrounds represented, as well as a notably wider age range, “Eternals” features one of the most diverse casts in MCU history.
The film is the 26th addition to the MCU franchise and introduces 10 new superheroes made up of a race of immortal beings whose only intent is to protect Earth from the human and society-destroying beasts called “Deviants.” “Eternals” is not only an origin story for Marvel’s newest superheroes, but it also creates theories for the creation of the entire cinematic universe. The movie checked the boxes for the number of action, romance and family comedy scenes Marvel deems to be appropriate, but many felt it was heavy on introductions and tried to crowd too much into one sitting.
Furthermore, critics found the characters on the intense side to lack any charisma that would have added the extra drive needed to push certain scenes, and the extensive amount of flashbacks were of no help either. The movie explores a huge timeline, ranging all the way back to 5,000 B.C., and while it aims to show the importance of the superheroes being introduced, many found it underwhelming. The greatest message “Eternals” brings to us is the question of existence and human purpose, which is hard to answer after being presented with the aftermath of Hiroshima and hearing the cries that “they’re not worth saving.”
As Marvel enters its Phase 4, diversity is proving to become an important part of the franchise’s casting decisions; however, despite the effort to make their viewers feel more seen, “Eternals” is not what many had hoped for. The movie has a low score of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, is said to have major pacing issues with the staggering two-hour, 37-minute runtime and is overstuffed and forced. It seems the most exciting and talked about part of the movie is the end scene, featuring major celebrity Harry Styles.
