the Eternals - MCU Movie

[Ru_1977]

Totally. But I loved Thena and Phastos both embracing the chance to fight him too.

[H-bird]

I also really, really disliked the way they chose to portray Arishem communicating with the Eternals. Completely devoid of mystery, or majesty, or alienness.

Agree about the action scenes though. Some of the best on-screen portrayal of various power sets (laser vision, flight, super speed) that I’ve seen!

[fac]

They definitely used Arishem as an info dump for the audience.

Thinking more about the film, I get the sense that if not for Deviants thawing out and attacking Sersei in London, most of the Eternals would not have known what was going on with the Emergence except Ajak (and Ikaris, who she told) - which explains why maybe an insurrection due to having some affinity for the planet they were on hadn't happened in the past.

Related to that, might have been a more interesting story choice to have all the Eternals a few days before the Emergence learn the truth instinctively and have them reconvene on the ship. See how they react to the news that the lives they had been leading were ending, and react to their beliefs being upended that the mission to protect and evolve the people of Earth was all in service to the birth of a new Celestial. Could have still had the Ikaris - Ajak plot, some Deviants coming out of hibernation, etc., but not rely on Sersei getting an info dump and then looking for everyone else.

[K_Steel]

This was essentially the closest Marvel Studios has come to a Zack Snyder DC film.

The visuals were well done, I'll give the film that.


It was just everything else that lacked the ingredients needed for mass audience appeal. It wasn't a 'feel good' movie.

I also really, really disliked the way they chose to portray Arishem communicating with the Eternals. Completely devoid of mystery, or majesty, or alienness.

I would have preferred Arishem be left out of this. Leaving some mystery for the audience.

Literally telling us that Arishem created the planets and all life, putting any religious controversies aside, was really jarring.

This is a character the audience had no prior strong connection to, and suddenly this is the most important character to ever exist in the MCU..


Also, a being who has the ability to create planets, all life, pull characters off planets, create alternate realities etc... near omnipotent.. doesn't have the ability to teleport the Tiamut out of the Earth?

[KnightDamien]

Just watched this today with the wife and son (my daughter is on record as hating all superhero things... honestly, if it's not a K-Drama, she's not interested).

As a person who is on record as thinking Dark World is a good movie..... Eternals is a dumpster fire. In quick fire mode, here's what I liked:

Most of the actors
Dane Whitman exists and is hinting at his ancestry
THE EBONY BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADE
Superpowers looking cool on screen


Here's what I didn't like:

The actual movie.



Deeper thoughts, with spoilers:

Warning! FRAT! :

Why was it so [email protected]#$ DARK?! I'm at the point where I'm just going to turn off the next film where they insist I strain my goddamn eyes just trying to see what's going on. Like.. not even the night-time stuff. The DAY TIME scenes were so dimly lit I briefly thought my television was dying. [email protected]#$ you whoever pulls this bullshit and [email protected]#$ every single person involved in a film's development that doesn't put a stop to it.

While I really like almost every actor in this film... none of them were used very well except maybe Kit, because he barely did anything. There's so many character issues here, though. It's such a large cast to all be introduced at once that, even with the ridiculous runtime, we don't really get to invest in any one of them. We just get pieces. The characters, as a whole, barely react to the idea that they just killed what is effectively a god. Just some very minor 'oh, we shouldn't do that' and then 'okay, guess we have to' followed by 'well, that's done.'
Just.. there's no [email protected]#$ depth to ANY of this. The characters just DO things for 2-and-a-half hours.

And who the [email protected]#$ read this script and said 'yeah, this makes sense?' Eternals can literally shape our entire species, right down to handing humanity some of its most important discoveries EVER, but are forbidden from 'interfering in human conflict.' Like.. what the [email protected]#$ are you talking about? Even the movie contradicts itself by saying they can't stop war because war is good for innovation and their WHOLE REASON FOR EXISTENCE is to be a planet's mid-wife while it gives birth to a celestial. So, by the actual dialogue of the movie, they SHOULD have stopped Thanos because Thanos's bullshit actually stopped Tiamut from being born when he was supposed to be.

Just.. none of it makes sense.

On top of that, as a personal quibble, I [email protected]#$ DESPISE, down to my very core, the inclusion of the idea that humans are basically useless and can't do anything for themselves and every innovation and important discovery in human history was just handed to them by aliens. It makes human beings utterly worthless in the grand scale of the MCU - in direct contrast to characters like Tony Stark. Like, we can produce dudes like that, but we couldn't figure out bronze, plows, or nuclear power without it being slowly drip-fed to us by synthetic space angels? [email protected]#$ off. That's shit writing.


So yeah. It was an absolutely atrocious pile of shit and is EASILY the worst thing that's MCU canon. And I'm including the Venom movies in that statement.

[september_death]

I think this movie works the similar plot to TDW, with better success. You have villains that don’t really factor into the climax (I’d say Malekith is akin to Arishem as the architect of the plot and Kurse is Kro as the void of “bad guy” energy). Ensemble cast with major to minor rolls (Druig is basically just there the whole time, only serving as the initial voice of dissent). The heel turn from Ikaris/Loki, death of a mother/leader in Ajak/Frigga.

Even having spent more time with Thor by the time TDW happens, I’d say Sersi is comparable. That’s more a statement of why Thor struggled in Phase 1 & 2 than Gemma Chan having more to work with though.

I get a lot of the complaints. I think the exposition dump is a victim of the cutting room. I’d even say Arishem may have featured less (and without English) if that exposition unfolded in sections, through Ajak. I wouldn’t be surprised if they filmed Ajak telling it all to Ikaris. I think the ending with Arishem capturing the remaining Eternals would have been more impactful if he hadn’t spoken earlier, though the scale and framing of the shots with Ajak and Sersi against Arishem definitely still worked for me as keeping him threatening.

I think they’re going to retcon Thanos to knowing of the emergence on his planet and wanting to kill half the population to stop it. You would think the celestials would then try to stop him during the Infinity Saga, but it honestly doesn’t matter much. They could see the stones as trifles and by the time Thanos snapped, it may not have been able to be stopped. As for Starfox, I’m sure they’re just on the same group and viewed each other as “brothers,” rather than bogging down a future story trying to sort out how they’re actually related. Hell, the robot nature gives us potential for Thanos to reappear in future stories if they really want.


I’m curious what the future holds. GotG3 (likely) featuring Adam Warlock, I feel like an Infinity Watch style story for the Eternals makes sense. But the stones being destroyed in this universe makes that a weird question. Either way, I could see Silver Surfer aiding in the quest to reunite our Eternals plus whatever others are out there. I could also see a (for lack of a better understanding) frozen Celestial as the reason Galactus comes to devour earth. The idea of celestial seeds plays nicely into why Galactus chooses certain planets. Not sure I see the connection between Black Knight and Blade, and it seems like a big leap to have just gone with Mahershala’s voice considering he’s not appeared on screen. I’m curious, but it’s more out of excitement to see those characters than anything the stinger built.

[Prophet924]

I still feel the destruction of the stones is as temporary as them being useless rocks in Loki. Now that they told the stories they wanted they are down playing their importance.

They can come back just the same. Besides if Ancient One has a clue then the stones hold together all reality in the respected time/space/dimension.

The Celestials being the creators and smackers of sentient life makes you wonder how one ended up a severed head. The Celestials pretty much played out the Galactus story. Loyal servant turns on master to save a planet they become beholding to. Only instead of a quick feed they went with a gestation over centuries.

I am interested in seeing the Eternal characters again but do a more interesting story. I thought the comics Dreaming Celestial was much more interesting. Is Tiamat a mineable source now like Nowhere? Surely that draws unwanted galactic attention.

Eh.

Thwipp!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ru_1977]

I am interested in seeing the Eternal characters again but do a more interesting story. I thought the comics Dreaming Celestial was much more interesting. Is Tiamat a mineable source now like Nowhere? Surely that draws unwanted galactic attention.

I wouldn't think so if he is completely marble now. Not like that doesn't have value though, heh.

I wonder if Galactus could be portrayed as the thing Celestials fear. Or maybe Love & Thunder will tie in with Eternals/GOTG and show Gor killing the one that became Nowhere.

[Ibentmyman-thing]

Watched this the other day. This might be the first MCU movie where it ended and my entire thoughts are "is that it?" I didn't dislike it at all and I wasn't bored with it, but it still felt a little empty despite the length. The use of their powers and the technology associated with the Eternals was well-executed. The fights with the hentai monsters were okay but repetitive. It felt like a movie that wanted to be thought-provoking but also appeal to as wide a demographic as possible, so the thoughts it was trying to provoke weren't anything that haven't already been thunk in hundreds of other movies. Which isn't necessarily a criticism nor is it a prerequisite to be original since that's impossible, but the characters themselves were written too flat to make the thoughts leap off the screen. I think Sprite's internal crisis might have been the most interesting storyline of them all. They said she was the Tinkerbell of the story, but she's really Pinocchio.

Also it made me have to watch Angelina Jolie performance. Stop that.

So I liked it but didn't love it and wish that the entire thing had been a little bit "more."

[Ru_1977]

I did love it, but I also totally get what you mean by wanting more. And not just in a "Oh man, I love it, give me another bowl!" way either. I think the past stuff in particular could have used more time. Showing their powers more, their team work, and their strife. That stuff, I feel like it came across well enough but more could have been better. The flashbacks I feel like they cut down to the barest they possibly could.

[GrumpyMatt]

Watched it this weekend — kind of a mess. My two favorite scenes were the credit scenes.

The Zach Snyder comparison is pretty good — looks great but when you start thinking about anything it starts to fall apart a bit.

Deviants were terrible.

As usual, though, Marvel nailed the cast. Really great job there. I just wish the story wasn't so lacking. I hope they bring Don Lee back somehow.

This takes over for Iron Man II as my least favorite MCU movie. (Not saying they're terrible, just my least favorites.)

[DerRabbi]

Not sure I see the connection between Black Knight and Blade, and it seems like a big leap to have just gone with Mahershala’s voice considering he’s not appeared on screen.

Seems a pretty easy interpretation to connect the Ebony blade to vampirism.

[KnightDamien]

Not sure I see the connection between Black Knight and Blade, and it seems like a big leap to have just gone with Mahershala’s voice considering he’s not appeared on screen.

Seems a pretty easy interpretation to connect the Ebony blade to vampirism.

It's... it's really not, though? Unless I've missed or forgotten something key - which hey.. I'm getting old.
Even the darker revamps they've done with the Ebony Blade hasn't really done anything to link it to vampirism anymore than virtually any other cursed or semi-cursed sword in the realm of fiction.

[DerRabbi]

Its been awhile since I've read much of it to and I'm not saying the comics version is a direct analog to vampirism. Obviously its primarily fictional analog is the sword Stormbringer in Michael Morcock's Elric series. But the comic version of the blade possesses a dark curse that makes the user crave blood and violence; sometimes even shielding them from death. Doesn't seem a far thematic stretch to connect it to vampirism; especially in an MCU that might risk tonal whiplish in introducing dozens upon dozens of fantasy elements one on top of the other. Economizing their fantastical elements seems a logical step for their audience.

[sepster]

"ETERNALS Scores Biggest Disney+ Debut For MCU Movie Topping SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS"

https://comicbookmovie.com/eternals/ete ... #gs.mg1r3w

Strange, since this movie sucks and word of mouth has doomed it to scorn and shame..... according to one rather insistent and vocal naysayer.