It is never easy for a movie maker to step into a completely different territory and live up to the viewer’s expectation. This is more applicable when the director in question gets into a successful movie franchise. That is exactly what happened with acclaimed filmmaker Chloé Zhao, known for making the Academy award-winning film Nomadland. The film also fetched her the award of the best director, which is no small feat. So has Ms. Zhao been able to live up to the expectations of hardcore Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans and made Eternals into a larger-than-life spectacle like some Marvel movies? The reaction to her latest directorial venture has been mixed, but her efforts should be applauded.
Not all Marvel movies leave the same impact on viewers, including devout MCU fans. A few of the movies, like Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, were seriously impressive and have managed to become cult classics since their release. Eternals has been doing good business, but in terms of cinematic grandeur, it falls a tad short of these movies say the majority of critics. There is star power, but the CGI pizazz is a little less and the storyline is not as compelling either.
Eternals revolves around the theme of war between shadow warriors and their arch-rivals, the Deviants. It is not only about a colossal war between two arch enemies like you saw in the Transformers franchise, but there are some subplots. The romantic angles and complications do add some twists to the plot, but these are not very convincing. The movie has an ensemble cast including Don Lee, Lia McHugh, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, and the ageless diva Angelina Jolie.
Eternals is remarkably diverse by Hollywood superhero film standards and there are several Asian actors. For the first time, an MCU movie has an openly gay character. Lauren Ridloff plays a deaf character. However, none of the actors looks stunning or holds viewers’ attention for long barring the gorgeous Angelina Jolie, essaying the role of warrior Thena. In fact, her role is a little short to leave the full impression. The emotional continuity is disrupted by globe-hopping and incessant time tripping.
Despite the limitations and predictability of the plot, it would be unfair to say that Eternals does not have its moments of strength. The visual signatures of Zhao, including impressive shots of landscapes overshadowing the film’s characters, is there. The action scenes however are not very impressive and they may remind you of some well-known war scenes in yesteryear MCU flicks like Captain America: Civil War.
Chloé Zhao steps into the MCU world
To be fair to the director, she has tried to handle a lot of things in her first outing into the world of MCU. The storyline is not simple and it spans a long time and includes many places. She has shown the courage of using characters with amazing diversity as well. All the Eternals characters get their individual story and cause and showing them all is hard. No wonder the movie takes up 2 hours and 36 minutes of screen time. The director also explores some questions about humanity and emotions. A lot of time is spent in getting the Eternals back together and making the plot look convincing enough. So some of the characters get reduced screen time compared to others. Salma Hayek playing the role of Ajak impresses with her screen presence and acting chops.
Is Eternals the best ever MCU flick? It is not, but it ventures into new grounds and that may infuse new life into the MCU lineup. The diversity of characters is unprecedented in the franchise and so is the amalgamation of various themes. For the first time, you see an MCU flick showing a same-sex relationship and there are references to historic events like the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The director deserves accolades for daring to venture outside her comfort zone and her effort is worth appreciating.
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