Marvel has been nailing things right from the very beginning. Picking up Chloé Zhao for directing one of their superhero movies was another one of those big moves that helped them put another great origin story into their backpack. Eternals movie is exactly what you would expect from an Oscar-winning director. It is an epic narration of the origin story of a group of humanoids destined to fight their counterparts, Deviants, as fantastically imaged by Jack Kirby.
What grabs your immediate attention is its poignant storytelling mixed with brilliant action sequences. I expected no less from Chole who goes on to nestle on important aspects like emotions, loyalty, and trust to feed you a brilliant watch time.
The fact that Eternals take you back to the origins to tell you a thing or two about Celestials and their import in the whole of MCU is what makes this movie one of a kind. It also opens up new branches of stories, creating a stepping stone for even more good things that are imminent.
Powerful Direction of Eternals Movie
Almost immediately what you notice is the style of filmmaking used in Eternals. Very much nostalgic of Nomadland, Zhao’s previous work. She takes you on a slow and steady story-building ride, before wreaking havoc in the form of a beer-spilling action joyride.
When it comes to editing, Eternals follows a path. It breezes through time smartly, comes back and forth from past to present, informs the viewers when the transition happens, and explicitly changes gears through phrases. So when the present is talking about something from the past, you are actually taken to the past to show what it was that was being talked about. This style of editing keeps the spectators engaged and informed.
While most directors tend to speed up things towards the ending, Zhao pays a lot of attention to character development. The fact that you end up knowing the characters played in the movie so well is because each one of them have been properly crafted. When you go home you would remember who Druig is, who Sprite is, even Dane Whitman who Kit Harington portrayed. They wield the camera for just the right amount that it makes you long for more.
None of the superhero powers are leveraged enough in the beginning, which kind of throws us off from the cool stuff. But then towards the climax, you see everyone milked properly and you get to see their roles unfurl just like you want them to one by one. Ye be warned, some spoilers ahead:
Powerful Women and Men in Movie Eternals
Since Eternals is a group fighting for a common cause, the concept of teamwork imbues naturally. The director carves the whole movie with the people entailed, all made very powerful owing to their unique characteristics. It is an ensemble of carefully chosen characters that not only have men and women from all ethnicity but also from different backgrounds. Not only that but even people with different sexual orientations.
The whole point of this exercise is to make the world aware that when you are up against a bigger threat, the what and the who doesn’t matter. The background people come from doesn’t matter. It is the fight that matters, it is the cause that counts, and not the details how a person differs from one another. The latter is a fact we often forget when we want to form our smaller groups to separate ourselves from the rest of the world. This innate human nature has forever remained the root cause of all our clashes amongst each other.
It is good to see that the Eternals are always united when it comes to fighting Deviants. This unity is portrayed many times right from the beginning of the movie. How when the Eternals work together they always manage to bring down the enemy down. If they are separated it becomes outright difficult to handle a deviant. Also, toward the end, it is very clear that it was only with the help of Uni-mind could they lull a Celestial back to sleep.
Memorable characters start right from Ikaris.
Ikaris by Richard Madden
There is something princely about Richard Madden that can’t be denied. He brings that king-like demeanor to his role wherein you can’t help but feel respect when he walks in. GOT casting choice was done right, you could easily tell. So is his portrayal of Ikaris. It deserves a nod right from the very beginning when he walks in to save Sprite (Lia McHugh) and Sersi (Gemma Chan) to the end wherein he flies into the sun.
His power, almost like superman, is unmatched in the group. You see it happen on countless occasions wherein his presence alone helps the team wade through.
Ikaris’ chemistry with Sersi is depicted to be the most palpable one. The reason I say this is because Chloé Zhao is capable of making you feel the pangs of a long-lost romance. In her final moments wherein Ikaris is unable to attack Sersi, Zhao takes you back in time to show why, it ends up being one of the most difficult decisions of his life. It is also the most painful moment in the movie.
Right after, you realize that even though Ikaris ends up turning into a bad guy, he isn’t truly one. In his essence, he himself was one of the Eternals, and his feelings for Sersi had always been truer to the core. Even though his choices had flung him into a sea of guilt, it was impossible for him to return from there. So he decides to fly into the sun to end his life thus doing poetic justice to the original story of Icarus who flew too close to the sun.
Sersi – A Conflicted Soul
Sersi is supposedly the protagonist of the movie. She is the chosen one, chosen to lead the path after the death of their leader Ajak (Salma Hayek). This interpretation brings to mind a cliched concept of heroism in many previous setups wherein the new leader has to prove their mettle. The fact that nobody believes in them or the fact that the leaders don’t believe in themselves forms a story arc per se.
Emanating from spoils of war, Sersi’s leadership is a noose of the curse since she has to face none other than a Celestial. The curse also means finding the truth about life and its purpose. When the going goes tough, since she is the chosen one, it becomes difficult for everybody to look up to her. But she proves that she was the fitting choice by delivering in the end.
Gemma Chan is a fitting casting choice as Sersi, wherein not only she checks off the beauty quotient but also the box of a troubled woman who is forever in doubt.
Kingo played by Kumail Nanjiani
The most important point that the writers of Eternals movie walk in with is that it is okay to have a difference in opinions. It is completely alright to have second thoughts.
Kingo was one such character that the movie Eternals expands on in that regard. While he stayed onscreen for a good amount of time, it should be noted that he didn’t develop into a true hero when it mattered the most. He didn’t pick up the sword to fight, figuratively speaking. His whole belief system was shaken by the very fact that he had been following Ikaris eyes closed. He chose to walk away from the fight.
The fact that almost nobody in the film industry generally takes such decisions, tells you how great the writing of the movie is in reality. They were willing to let Kingo go. Kingo wasn’t brought into the final fight just because he had a difference in opinion.
By the way, most of the jokes in the movie are delivered through Kumail, and his accomplice Karun (Harish Patel). Kumail basically mirrors none other than himself through Kingo by being an utter hoot.
Druig by Barry Keoghan
Not fighting our wars, and letting people die is what according to many, Gods have been doing all along. When you bring that equation to paper, it is only understandable that one God could flip out. Druig is a product of such thought.
Letting us have free will is the way of a God. But not intervening in any of our actions even when things go south, an Eternal could only take so much. Druig separates himself from the rest of the group when it is almost impossible for him to take it anymore.
Barry is a great industry find. I am a big fan ever since I saw him in American Animals. He gave a face and a voice to a character who is very different from the rest. His arrogance emanates from his anger for a just cause and if you think about it he feels more of a superhero than the rest. But then in his sheer wrath, he forgets that he has begun to use humans as his marionettes, making mankind dispensable in his eye. That’s where the grey area lies.
Phastos – The Creator
If you think about the powers of Phastos, you realize, he is the one handing mankind tools and weapons to progress. The fact that instead of using those tools to love each other mankind ends up hating each other even more. His gig starts with him crying over the spills of his own product in Hiroshima. It’s one of those moments of epiphany for him that ends up opening his eyes for good. He feels that immense loathing for mankind for the first time.
All this time he was trying to help mankind with his weapons and tools, but they were not utilized the way they were supposed to be. It would break anyone’s heart. Phastos, is akin to the creator, who is high on inventions, but one thing or the other always ends up backfiring on him.
That being said Phastos is also a very kind and gentle soul who is trying to lead a life with his boyfriend and kid. He is trying his best to keep them away from harm’s way, but him being an Eternal, his origins somehow cajole him into fulfilling his purpose.
Gilgamesh and Thena in Eternals movie
Both Gilgamesh (Ma Dong-seok) and Thena (Angelina Jolie) drive in with another interesting angle with the former ready to sacrifice himself to save the latter. Gilgamesh is portrayed brilliantly by Ma Dong-seok who goes on to add a great layer of drama to his acts. Watching him go is a sorry sight, and the conclusive setup kind of makes it worse.
Kro, the evolved deviant, goes on to use Gilgamesh’s control over Thena, to calm her down but gets a piece of his medicine. His end is probably the most satisfying thing to watch in the movie.
The director’s subtle name reference isn’t so subtle when Phastos’ son Jack tries to call Thena as Athena. Zhao tries to point our attention towards the existence of a euhemeristic approach which is a big thing in storytelling per se. Thena is nothing but an extract from the leaflet of Athena the Greek Goddess of War, and the movie helps us visualize how Thena is only a second away from war. How a chaotic image of madness engulfs her and takes her away almost immediately into a world that demands her to be the Goddess of War.
The Curse of Sprite
Sprite is one of those characters introduced at the very beginning of the movie. She is turned into an Eternal at a very young age by Sersi. The fact that Sprite is shown craving for womanly feelings as she constantly feels trapped inside a girl’s body goes on to build a sub-plot for herself. She didn’t ask to be an Eternal and her inability to lead a normal life feels like a curse to her.
What makes matter worse is her unrequited love. She is in love with Ikaris who doesn’t and can’t love her back. The fact that she chooses to be by his side despite the knowledge that Ikaris was wrong goes on to show a child’s brain who is willing to do anything to please her crush.
Her character is beautifully evolved right from her disagreements, her reluctance to see Sersi as a leader, and then eventually to stabbing her out of sheer hatred. Sprite had never once mentioned to Sersi how she had felt all this time as a girl, that she was never given a choice. Sersi on finding this out eventually turns her into a human, and the fact that humans are mortals and it is all about the experience, Sprite deliberately chooses to become one.
That’s one of the most powerful choices she makes which opens pores of thoughts inside your head. The fact that beauty is and should be ephemeral gives meaning to everything beautiful. The fact that it would fade away, everything would cease to be, makes the experience even more beautiful.
References in Eternals movie
Not holding on to the references, the movie makes a lot of them. Things that catch your attention are how Zhao makes DC references in a Marvel movie. The existence of Batman and Superman in the same universe just goes on to show how these characters supersede industries. They are big, bigger than the mere wall that separates Marvel and DC.
For a lot of people, Sups and Bats have been the first of their kind, even before any other superheroes came into existence. In a truer sense, they would be the real Eternals if you think about how the entire comic book world got triggered and moulded by their mere existence. That beats everything.
Zhao’s reference to them acts as a reverential tribute as they get recognized beyond the confinements of agencies and the ongoing Marvel-DC brawls. You can’t help but marvel at Zhao for her presence of mind and the fact that she is trying to bridge that gap for a better future.
The comic world exists irrespective of differences, and the fact that this movie is all about unity only aids in bolstering that stronghold. You cannot overlook the fact how each one of these characters are taken straight from the leaflets of mythology or history. The fact that Zhao makes brilliant comparisons with past lore and stories even while safeguarding their original identities is simply superlative.
The Final Verdict
Zhao’s creation is unlike you will ever see in the comic book world. The fact that it banks on emotions almost reels it in the territory of a great melodrama. It retains a solid plot with a great twist that makes it a worthy watch. There would be complaints, I am sure, in terms of how the movie becomes slow at times, but I think that pace was necessary for character development which it does beautifully.
I recommend you to watch Eternals movie yourself and let me know if you agree with the things that I have mentioned above.
Eternals
Pros
- Outstanding Direction
- Great Plot
- Great Action Sequences
Cons
- Some might find it slow
