But her role as the film's heart takes time, patience, and nuance to develop-all while facing interruptions in the form of the rest of the cast.Īs a slew of panels on a figurative comic book page, the combined Eternals are pretty cool, though depending on your experience or fatigue with the genre, you may find them derivative. As an example, Joss Whedon's version of Justice League focused on an awkward, stitched-together relationship between Batman and Wonder Woman, which paled compared to original filmmaker Zach Snyder's longer vision.Įternals reluctantly chooses Sersi (Gemma Chan, Crazy Rich Asians) as its anchor, and she handles the honors with aplomb. While I avoid major spoilers, if you want to go into the film completely blind, you have been warned.įurther Reading Justice League’s Snyder cut review: No longer Whedonesque-and all the betterThe past decade's biggest superhero ensemble films have often focused on a single 'anchor' hero, and that creative decision can make or break a movie's emotional arc. The rest of this review includes explanations of Eternals ' events to make critical points. This breath of fresh air has been smothered by its theatrical ambitions. As a result, this is easily the most heartbreaking feature-length Marvel film yet. The journeys of ten heroes toward a megaton climax don't get reduced to fewer than three hours without some brutal trimming. I would still recommend it as an intriguing addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.īut I don't recommend rushing to theaters for Eternals. To its credit, Eternals regularly snapped me out of that daydream. I was so disengaged and disappointed by the new Marvel film adaptation-premiering exclusively in theaters on Friday, November 5-that my mind wandered into a different kind of 'what if' than Marvel Studios likely intended. Each episode focused on one or two of the lead characters-and juxtaposed those stars' current-day relationships with beautifully rendered, historically accurate callbacks to their adventures in other epochs. This dream series felt like a more Lost-ified version of the old TV show Heroes, where mythological icons contended with a mix of global stakes and emotional bonds, then had to unite with both purpose and superpowers over a complicated span of thousands of years. There, I saw myself gripped by weekly installments of my new favorite TV series, itself based on Marvel's Eternals.

Sersi has a heart-to-heart with her human romantic interest, Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington).įor much of the 2 hour 37 minute runtime of Marvel's Eternals, I found my consciousness floating out of my body, through the lobby doors of the theater, and into an alternate reality version of my home.

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