Review: Eternals (2021)

Went to see this film this morning (before picking up a ukelele) and didn’t really enjoy it. It’s such a poisoned chalice for Chloe Zhao – if it doesn’t succeed, she’ll get the blame because she’s an Oscar winner. It really does show, by the way. How some of the shots are constructed is excellent and the colour palette is muted but still vibrant (the Babylon sequence is really over-the-top saturated in a good way). The cast is all good, too, but as usual, what should have been dialogue is often Delivered In A Way Best Suited To Initial
Capitals And Possible Exclamation Marks! Again, not necessarily Ms. Zhao’s fault, it does come with the territory. I went in knowing nothing about this particular Marvel brand and so the huge info dumps that slowed down the dynamism of the film meant that while I wasn’t bored for the 2.5-hour running time, I wasn’t super-entertained either. The premise is fairly nonsensical if given any thought, there are traces of the Matrix bizarrely enough, and while the plot springs back and forth through time there’s less engagement because we’re dealing with super-powered immortals here so there’s no real sense of danger.

The film might possibly be renamed The Inclusives, trying to cram in as many types of humanity as possible, causing its own issue of not really getting to know, or caring about, some of the characters. I applaud filmmakers increasing the palette they have, but it does sometimes feel self-congratulatory and a bit checkboxy – “See? We’ve not only included someone deaf but mute! Tick, tick. See? We have gay
parenting! Tick! We have neural-diverse, too (with a name that sounds like ‘mad weary’, like some unusually verbose teenager complaining of tiredness) – tick – and not only Indian Asian but Korean as well, tick, tick!”

I’d like to make it very clear that being inclusive is in no way a problem with this film. The problem with this film is that the script isn’t great; the fact there are too many characters to give a well-rounded introduction to (why not make it a series on Disney+?); and the prosaic speed of the delivery.

The CG is pretty good, as per usual these days, but there is a dwarf that would look at home in an early Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings film and the music is Marvel standard bombast.

As usual, there’s a mid-credits cut scene and a bit right at the end teasing more Eternals. If it weren’t for the intertwined continuity and Chloe Zhao, I don’t think Eternals really needs to be on anyone’s must-see list. 2/5