It Is perhaps noteworthy, when discussing the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that it took the franchise several years to reach a place of comfort with depicting some of the more overtly weird and fantastical elements of the comics on which the films are based. It wasn’t until Guardians of The Galaxy graced theater screens in the summer of 2014, six years into the existence of the MCU, that Marvel began to introduce audiences to the cosmic weirdness lurking in the comics back catalogs of these characters. Oh how far we have come.
With the release of Eternals this weekend, the MCU has now finally gunned it full speed ahead in the direction of cosmic insanity, with what I can only describe as perhaps Marvel’s most audacious film to date. Helmed and written by Oscar winning director Chloe Zhao, the film thrusts the audience deeper into the cosmic side of Marvel than ever before, while also managing to deliver the most human story Marvel has told so far.
So who are the Eternals? Well, this is where things are going to get momentarily complicated, so buckle up. The titular team of the film, the Eternals, are a group of immortal beings sent to Earth some 7000 years ago by the cosmic gods of Marvel, the Celestials, in order to protect the denizens of Earth from the monstrous Deviants and shepherd humanity towards their bright future. The group in question consists of Ajak (Salma Hayek) the leader of the team who possesses the power to heal herself and others, Ikaris (Richard Madden) the team’s stoic powerhouse blessed with flight and laser eyes, Sersi (Gemma Chan) the empathetic emotional core of the team who poses the power to alter matter at her touch, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) the jokester of the group capable of projecting energy blasts from his hands, Gilgamesh (Don Lee) the kindhearted bruiser of the team blessed with immense strength, Thena (Angelina Jolie) the group’s most powerful warrior capable of generating weapons of pure energy in her hands, Druig (Barry Keoghan) a quite aloof member of the team with the power to control minds, Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) the deaf, fun-loving speedster of the group who communicates via sign language, Phastos (Bryan Tyree Henry) the conscience of the team and its inventor and weapons specialist, and Sprite (Lia McHugh) a master of complex illusions who was created with the body of a child and chafes against her agelessness. After a prologue set in 5000 BC, the story jumps to modern day, where the Eternals are suddenly confronted with the reality that they had not successfully wiped out the Deviants as they originally thought, throwing the lives they have built for themselves on Earth into chaos.
While this certainly sounds like a lot of information to comprehend, Zhao conveys it and the overarching narrative with a confidence and clarity that is impressive to witness.
2021 has been a significant year for Zhao, one that began in the middle of a an awe-inspiringly successful awards season that culminated in her film Nomadland winning her Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and has ended with the release of her first big budget production. In Eternals the humanity and assuredness for which her work is known is fully present, in addition to an unapologetic boldness in approaching the complex narrative and its more outlandish elements. Zhao is someone who prides herself on being a nerd and actively sought out the opportunity to make a film with Marvel and that enthusiasm is apparent in every frame, as are her myriad influences.
As both writer and director of the film, Zhao leaves her fingerprints all over the finished product, and perhaps the best compliment I can pay her as a writer is that throughout this spectacle laden tale, this titular team of immortal heroes never feel anything less than truly human. They are fully formed characters each with identities wants and desires that drive them, their motivations always clear. Each of them has their own personal relationship to the mission laid out to them by the Celestials and to the other members of their team and these relationships more than anything are what drive the story. Through heavy (and in this writer’s opinion, quite effective) use of flashback, Zhao traces their story and how their perspectives have developed throughout their 7000 years on Earth. We see them bear witness to the rise and fall of civilizations, and the best and worst humanity has to offer. We witness how through their presence and heroism they gave birth to many of humanity’s myths and legends. We see them live and love (with easily the steamiest romance to date in the MCU). And we see them struggle with the enormity of the task before them and the restrictions placed upon them as events unfold before them.
Perhaps the biggest trademark of Zhao’s career are her visuals, specifically her love of natural light and golden hour shots, and she definitely brought those with her, and much much more, when making this film. Zhao consistently seeks out natural lighting for the scenes in which the Eternals interact with each other and her signature stunning golden hour shots are dotted throughout the film, lending an otherworldly gravitas to some of the film’s most pivotal conversations. And when the time comes to transition into action and the more outlandish fantastical elements of the story, Zhao proves more than up to the task. Many of the characters and concepts in this film sprang from the mind of Jack Kirby himself and his legendary visual stamp comes to life in it in a way that it has never yet been allowed to do on film. The Celestials, the cosmic gods from whom the Eternals take their marching orders, are represented in the film by a being known as Arishem the Judge, who inspires awe in every shot in which he appears. Not wanting the audience to even once be unclear of the true scale of this nigh all-powerful cosmic being, Zhao and Co endeavor to constantly frame Arishem in the context of things much much smaller than himself, the result being a sense of scale reminiscent of the work of Gareth Edwards. When the Eternals arrive on Earth they are depicted with a truly otherworldly and awe-inspiring elegance that would leave a civilization to believe they had encountered gods. And when it comes time for the heroes of this film to fight, it occurs with an inventiveness and kineticism deeply reminiscent of the anime that Zhao has professed to being a massive fan of. Zhao’s enthusiasm for this film was always apparent in interviews and that enthusiasm radiates off of the screen.
This is the work of a director delighted to finally be able to play in a sandbox that they’ve spent years adoring.
When it comes to the performances in this film, I imagine that some of them will ultimately end up being hit or miss with audiences. While they did ultimately all work for me, there’s a very real likelihood that some will bounce off of audiences. Lia McHugh’s Sprite in particular will likely be polarizing, as the jadedness she plays her character with may read as monotony to some viewers. And while every actor is doing great work (with Nanjiani in particular having a very delightful scene in the middle of the film as it’s revealed his character has become a Bollywood star) the greatest performances of the film in my opinion are those of Gemma Chan, Bryan Tyree Henry, and Barry Keoghan. The three play the characters most deeply affected by their time on Earth.
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Chan’s Sersi is a deep lover of humanity having bonded with them in her time shepherding and protecting them, and as the inarguable lead of the film that love is central to how she moves the story forward, and Chan brings a warmth and empathy to the character that is invaluable. Henry’s Phastos is haunted by how humanity has used technology he helped them develop and has sought out peace and redemption by assimilating and starting a family (featuring the first openly gay romantic relationship in the history of the franchise) and Henry is masterful in how he conveys the character’s pain and hope. And Keoghan does yeoman’s work in dramatizing Druig’s pain, borne of being able to stop atrocities with a thought but being repeatedly commanded not to intervene. Together the ensemble manages to do genuinely affecting work and connect us to the characters in a way that is critical in a film with a core cast this large.
All this said, Eternals will almost certainly not be a film for everyone. The weirdness and audaciousness of this film will most definitely put off some audiences, as Zhao does not endeavor at all to pull back on the insanity. This movie is steeped in deeply obscure Marvel lore and as a result may prove inaccessible for some for whom that is an area where they have little to no interest.
More than any film in the history of the MCU, it turns the comic craziness knob to eleven, and that will not be everyone’s thing and that is perfectly fine. That all said, there’s no denying that this film has value and merit. Marvel Studios handed a filmmaker on the rise an absurd amount of resources and control and allowed her to make a truly audacious and weird blockbuster. And with this blockbuster and her recent Oscar glory, one thing is now very clear: Chloe Zhao’s moment is now, and this writer cannot wait to see what she does next.
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