The first reviews are now in for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest outing, Eternals, so how do the critics feel that Marvel and director Chloé Zhao have handled this story 7,000 years in the making? We shall begin with IGN’s Amelia Emberwing, who felt that, despite the movie struggling somewhat with the epic scale, the plethora of new and interesting characters kept things afloat.
“The relationships of these complicated characters keep things as fresh as they can, but the story gets unwieldy when it shifts into a cosmic scale. Had it kept the narrative closer to home, it would have played better as a standalone film, but it wouldn’t have felt like the grand Eternals introduction into the MCU had that been the case.”
Eric Eisenberg of CinemaBlend echoed these sentiments, praising the title team of superheroes and the cast playing them, but finding a flaw in the Eternals’ attempt at telling so much story. Though they did commend Zhao for being so ambitious within the trappings of the ongoing comic book movie franchise.
“More than three years after Chloe Zhao’s hiring, “ambitious” remains an appropriate adjective to apply to Eternals, albeit with a caveat. The film has impressive scope, compelling characters, and some fascinating driving philosophies, but it’s an adventure that also attempts to bite off a bit more than it can chew.”
Eternals picks up following the events of 2019’s comic book blockbuster event Avengers: Endgame, and introduces the Eternals, a species of immortal aliens from a distant planet who arrived on earth thousands of years ago and have been protecting humans since the dawn of time. Created by the Celestials, a race of powerful extra-terrestrial cosmic beings who have secretly lived on Earth for over 7000 years, the Eternals must reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman heaped praise on Zhao’s first MCU outing, declaring that “[Zhao is] a master craftswoman, and “Eternals,” while too long (157 minutes? really?), is a squarely fun and gratifying watch.” While Robert Abele from TheWrap commended Eternals for its tackling of issues often forgotten by the superhero movie genre. “After so many Marvel movies that give lip service to the thornier ramifications of its hero narratives, there’s an earnestness to the operatic stakes in “Eternals” that somehow helps fuse what’s physically spectacular and philosophical about it,” he said.
Sadly, there are some critics who found a lot more to dislike about Eternals, with Joshua Rivera of Polygon describing the movie as “a mess”; “Films that wrestle with difficult experiences can often be difficult to watch, and intentionally so. Unfortunately, Eternals isn’t bold, merely incongruous. The simpler explanation is truer: Eternals is a mess.” Brian Lowry of CNN too found cracks in this particular Marvel effort, even wondering whether it would alienate a crucial MCU demographic saying, “‘Eternals’ simply takes too long getting to the good stuff, and its more cerebral and adult elements — including a grand romance — could harbor less appeal among kids, a not-inconsequential demo, than most recent Marvel titles.”
Unlike many of the reviews, many of whom at the very least have praised Eternals for it’s attempt at being different to the usual Marvel fare, David Ehrlich of indieWire found Eternals to be far too safe, and failing to bring anything fresh to modern cinema’s most popular genre.
“Can’t these movies do anything else? Is it too much to ask the most dominant kind of cinema on the planet to shake things up and challenge itself in a more significant way?”
The criticism that Eternals bites off far more than it can chew continues with USA Today’s Brian Truitt, who, though they too found the movie to be to overstuffed, praised director Chloé Zhao’s unique vision.
“Zhao understands the larger assignment, as the epic sets the stage for future MCU intrigue. Her attention to detail and eye for design does wonders, even if by the end it all feels like an eternal chore.”
THR’s David Rooney also took issue with the storytelling itself, but found much to enjoy in the movie’s quieter, character driven moments.
“The attention to character, group dynamics and emotional texture makes the film often feel more alive in its quieter moments than its fairly routine CG action clashes. But the depth of feeling helps counter the choppy storytelling in this new tangent in the MCU narrative.”
John Nugent of Empire Magazine meanwhile found this MCU entry to be both “assured” and “ambitious,” though, despite these lofty ideals, they still found Eternals to be constricted by comic book movie clichés.
“Director Chlo Zhao’s entry into the superhero world is assured, ambitious and told on a dizzyingly cosmic scale- but even it can’t escape the clichés of superhero storytelling.”
Finally, Jamie Jirak from ComicBook.com acknowledged that Eternals was likely to be one of the MCU’s most divisive offerings. Giving the movie 4/5, they found much to enjoy in the Marvel epic, and hoped that it is indicative of things to come.
“Eternals will likely be one of the more divisive films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No matter how you feel about Eternals, there’s no denying Phase Four is off to an exciting start.”
Eternals is the 26th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has been written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao, with Patrick Burleigh also contributing to the screenplay. Eternals stars an epic ensemble cast, including Gemma Chan as Sersi, an Eternal with the ability to manipulate non-sentient matter who has a soft spot of mankind, Richard Madden as Ikaris, the tactical leader of the Eternals, Angelina Jolie as the fierce Eternal warrior, Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, an Eternal who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, an Eternal with the gift of super-speed, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, who poses super-intelligence, Salma Hayek as Ajak, the leader of the Eternals, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh, the strongest Eternal.
So, it looks like the critical reactions to Eternals are decidedly more mixed than fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would have hoped, with the movie currently sitting at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences will be soon be able to judge the Marvel flick for themselves when Eternals hits theaters in the United States on November 5, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.
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