Cinemas have opened in the U.S., much to movie-watchers delight, and the latest Marvel spectacle only adds to it more. Eternals is Marvel’s latest addition to its long superhero comic book-to-movie franchise that started many years ago. As people prepare to see the movie in cinemas around the world, early reviews and opinions are bound to make a point.
Chloé Zhao, director of Nomadland, that recently won Best Picture at the Oscars, directed the entire sequence along with multiple writers including the great Jack Kirby on board. The story of Eternals follows the band of the star-studded immortal group of godlike humanoids that have lived on earth for thousands of years.
It plays out like a classic reunion of the mates with the most common themes of lighthearted humor, romance in the sub-plot, and a cosmic battle all fused into Marvel’s intense narrative building. Since Eternals is most likely going to be a first in a longer series, similar to its predecessor The Avengers, this one mostly seemed to focus on introductions, letting the viewer get to know all the characters, their histories, relationships, and capabilities.
Zhao brings her signature humanistic aspects to the screen in Eternals with many emotional scenes that seem to humanize the characters. The group watches over the human race, interfering with its conflicts only when the moment requires. In Eternals specifically, they reunite to fight the evil army of Deviants that are bent on altering their fate.
The characters in the movie are taken from Jack Kirby’s ‘Eternals’ comic that he solely created many decades ago. It has since been his lesser-known works as the spotlight usually went to his ‘Fantastic Four’, which was an audience favorite before the Marvel franchise developed all its other interconnected movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There can be mixed reviews regarding Eternals, as many put it on a pedestal with its highly acclaimed cast including Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, and Salma Hayek, but it is a project not worth missing on the big screen, as we wait for Marvel to bring the universe to life in the upcoming years.
