This story could have worked as either an 8 episode long miniseries, or a multi-series TV show. Dedicate each part to a different era of time, and let the audience witness the Eternals' relationships grow, fall apart and come together again over the course of hundreds of years. If we spent way longer on the character's ever-changing relationships with humanity, then the eventual moral decision that splits the group would be way more impactful.
@@destructivebean1 haha, completely forgot about Inhumans, honestly the only tangible difference between Inhumans and Eternals is that Eternals had a massive budget and excellent production value.
Eternals definitely felt like this should have been a Disney plus show with more time and development while also lessening amount of character, that way you have more time to actually delve into interesting topics, while also being able to be episodic so you could have one episode focusing on a specific Eternal
The movie would work better as a story in a Sears but I think the main reason this was a movie was because then the celestials would’ve on the big screen and would have a better sense of scale
I was so excited when the lizard monster antagonist gained consciousness and then so disappointed when it was killed in two seconds with absolutely no value added to the story.
I thought the Eternals were gonna sacrifice themselves to the Lizard guy feeding him all of their powers to save the World and help him avenge his species...bruh I got so pissed when he just dies like bruh
5:28 sersi's strong character trait is that she loves humanity, every other character tells us this very overtly every other line, so you know its true
In movies it's always better to SHOW rather than TELL. There was a scene in the beginning where she protects her students, even using her magic (which could have screwed over her secret identity). It would have been great to see a scene where she throws herself in front of a human or something similar. Basically, showing that she'd even be willing to put her life on the line for even a single human being (and then the other Eternals save her because they see her strong conviction or something alont the line).
@@hmulford3851 Thank you for bringing up an example. However, T the bus wouldn't really do anything to her and saving lives is different from putting herself im harm's way. I just wish we saw a bit more of her love towards humanity instead of Thena tellings us she does it the most when we saw other Eternals literally being part of human groups, having friends and family.
@@hmulford3851 Except there is so much an regenerating immortal being can do than save a toppling bus. Heck, phastos and Dru at least tried to make peoples lives better. Sersi was just fucking some dudes and enjoying Instagram that OTHER people made for her. How about contributing to society if you love it so much. Anyways, she was least of my problem with this movie. The biggest flaw imo is with eternals prime directive not making any sense. Why eternals even need to be on earth if deviants can no longer wipe out humanity (they are really weak) and imergence would happen regardless of them. Plus most of them are not even interested to do that in first place
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For me the best part about this movie was the fight scenes with Makkari. She is the ONLY speedster in movies since Dash to not use the slow motion cliche trope, and her fight with Ikaris is absolutely glorious. We see her speed in real time and it’s jaw dropping how she bodies him until getting caught
And then you realize since they made her DEAF for the sake of diversity if someone just walks up behind her on the street and shoots her in the back she has no means to defend herself because she CAN'T HEAR THE GUNSHOT!
I loved Kingo's setup. I genuinely like the idea of an Eternal who is so integrated in human society and just...likes being a "human". He's like "fuck it, I'm gonna be an entire lineage of movie stars and enjoy Earth life." And yeah, I completely hate how they did him dirty before the final act. I liked the concepts and lore Eternals introduced, but yeah the execution was poor. Sersi and Ikaris were presented as the main characters and yet they were the absolute least interesting.
I disagree, Kingo is pretty consistently portrayed as a selfish narcissist. I don’t think he loves humans, he loves the adoration he gets from humans, I think he sees humans as less than himself, toys and tools to be enjoyed and used. So it’s consistent with his character to not have a problem sacrificing them for the greater good. I also think he left at the end not because of some strong moral conviction, but because he was afraid it had got too dangerous, otherwise he would have stayed with ikarus. I think all his actions are well explained by him being a selfish narcissist.
Ikarus was the best character in the movie in my opinion. Kingo sitting out of the final fight because he agreed with Ikarus was awesome, it was a bold move that goes against the trope of "he bad, we must work together"
Honestly I think kingo just wants to give billions more people a chance. Sure he loves earth but he also isn't willing to sacrifice hundreds of more planets just for earth. This is a reason why I like kingo as a character, he loves humans but accepts their fate when he finds the truth.
One thing that bothered me is that Sprite, the INMORTAL being has never even once spoken about her feelings with her FAMILY. Incredible how a few sessions of human therapy would have done wonders for her
absolutely. they tried to cram in wayyyy too much stuff when they could have had a longer time to develop all these characters so that i could give a shit
100% If they gave an episode to one or two characters every episode, we would feel much more attached to the characters since we actually get time to spend with them. It would've made the subsequent twists feel that more rewarding.
@@marcelcjr9313 im saying its poorly paced and is doing way too many things at once. if im being completely honest this would have worked better as a miniseries.
Too much to explain in too little time. These characters are seen in a movie for the first time and most if not all of them are not fleshed out at all.
Bad movies can be memorable too example , The Room. It's so hilariously bad it's still an absolute blast to watch. Boring movies will be forgotten in time.
What in the actual fuck was "boring" about this movie??? I really don't get it. I got the same feeling about this movie as James Bond as in despite how long the movie was, I didn't feel the run time. I was engaged with the story and the characters the entire time. There wasn't any need for deep-seated explanations or motivations for all the characters. I thought they gave enough backstory for us to understand and sympathize with them.
@@nahor88 maybe the issue is that it’s a divisive movie like that Zach Snyder joint. Tbh if it takes you almost 3 hours to tell your superhero story I probably don’t need to hear it.
@@IcyDiamond Iron Man 1 was definitely more intense. Eternals's was just longer and actually "showed" intercourse, rather than just making out and stuff.
They didn’t really feel like “gods” to me. And the Deviants looked like basic enemies that the Avengers could handle. And this movie raises a lot of questions…
Yeah, like Kingo's laser fingers basically did nothing unless they were charged, Ikaris's laser eyes only sometimes cut things in half, Thena was just a skilled fighter who could summon (?) weapons at will, and Gilgamesh punched hard; those are all skills that seem too mild for some demigods.
I literally didn't even realise Kingo wasn't in the final battle 😂 my brother reminded me when he said he was upset that Kingo left. Just goes to show how forgettable and skeletal the characters are. Also I like how Marcus didn't even mention Salma Hayek's character 😂
@@JasperForgeI'm joking but yeah she dies nefore you even meat her in the present which is the strangest choice I've seen in a while. How do they expect us to care if we've never even met this character?
I thought it was an interesting character moment that Kingo didn’t go to the final battle. Felt gutsy, and like the total opposite of Suicide Squad (2016) where Captain Boomerang comes back to the team for no apparent reason
Oh, shut up. Nobody is saying it's bad, but also good because it's different. We're saying we LIKE the ways in which it's different. It's fine if you disagree, but don't be a pompous ass and try to twist our words so you look smarter.
@@Flome810 I swear every MCU fan HAS to like everything they put out. Its a hive mind at this point. Oh you think the ending of Wandavision was underwhelming ? You are Just a hater. Oh you think What If was mediocre? You clearly dont understand the cinematic masterpiece that is What If!
SO SHE DID GET HIT WITH A ROCK I didn't believe it when I saw it, you'd think that an eternal's fist is harder than a rock so watching it I was thinking "nah he didn't use a weak-ass rock to knock out another eternal, right?"
the fact that neither of the main romantic relationships had half as much chemistry as the two random characters that were thrown together while filming is so funny to me. it's really just indicative of one of many ways that the movie could've been so good but it wasn't
Remember in the first GOTG movie, we followed Peter Quill's story at first only later he meets the other characters and learn of their backstory? Honestly, who is the main protagonist of this movie? Ikaris? Sersi? Thena?
@Gringo No one but it's not an issue in that movie because by that point we already know these characters. Iron Man, Cap, Thor and Hulk received solo movies, we met Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye was foreshadowed in the first Thor movie. The audience has already been introduced to these characters thus there not being a main character makes sense. Most audience members don't know shit about the Eternals. I am a comic book reader and even I didn't know who the fuck they were. Even in the comic book fandom they are obscure characters so there is need for a main character whom we can follow and see events occuring in the movie from their POV.
They should have paired each eternal for you could always focus on two at a time rather than ten individuals. Combine Makarri and Druig, Sersi and Ikaris, phastos and Kingo, sprite and Gilgamesh and Thena and Ajak. So each warrior class was paired with a support class. Then it could have more been about how each group influenced history Really enjoyed Makkari fight scenes tho. They were exactly what I wanted Flash vs Superman fights to look like.
@@amethystcrystal5799 well I was going less relationship and more of the job parings. 5 battle eternals Ikaris, Makkari, Gigamesh, Thena and Kingo. Are really the ones tasked with fighting Deviants Each of them paired with Support Eternals (Ajak, Sprite, Sersi, Phastos, Druig) who are tasked with helping population increase and accelerate.
1:40 except...Thena’s whole plot DID tie into the main theme. It’s part of how Sersi figured out that they were being essentially rebooted each time, and that Thena never forgot, which is where her “sickness” came from
The biggest problem I had with this movie is it poses a REALLY interesting thematic question about "free will" and "determinism" -> the characters basically split into two groups based on those who believe they should have the freedom to go against their "determined" path and those who believe that there is a greater good beyond our understanding. That's potentially super interesting. If they'd have shown us a future of all those lives that COULD exist (that will never happen because of the Eternals' actions) or some form of persuasion against the Eternals who just want to save the world and not just have "freedom = Good" awkwardly fumbled towards the end, we would potentially sympathize with both groups and the break up would mean more. There's no way you can sympathise with the betraying side because why would you? That's the biggest flaw I think.
Guess I was the only one rooting for Ikaris then… But Druig betrayed the group first, to live with his mind controlled slaves in the Amazon. He also initiated the split up of the Eternals. I don’t get why he’s not the bad guy but will be in multiple movies as ‘hero’ by the looks of it.
Plenty of ways you can sympathise with a betraying side. E.g. Berserk, Black Panther, Star Wars (Darth Vader; the separatists), various Spider-man villains. A good villain is relatable. From their perspective, the heroes should be the villains. We just rarely get well-written villains.
@@O1OO1O1 I think they’re talking about this movie specifically. There’s no reason for us as the audience to even doubt whether our heroes are doing the wrong thing, because the other side wants to destroy the Earth. A good villain should make you question your beliefs, and this villain did no such thing.
First off, the betraying side were the Eternals minus Ikarus, Sprite, and Kingo, so jot that down. Secondly, I did relate to the "villains" of the story, and I do feel that the victory was actually a loss. Ikarus killed his mentor that he loved and almost killed a few of his beloved family to try to protect billions of lives. The only reason he failed is because he couldn't kill the woman he loved, so he let her choose between him and the greater good or humanity, and she chose humanity. Ikarus is a tragic hero, Sersi is a misguided, accidental villain protagonist.
I felt like every scene was so rushed, they’d just jump to the next thing immediately “no I won’t help, ok fine” “you’re my family, fuck you STAB, forgiveness” “I stole two of your powers but that doesn’t matter I’m not important” “I’m super man of course I’m evil”
I personally loved the character of Thena because she always looked bored and uninterested with every single word the other characters said... and yeah, same. It feels more accurate to how they would feel about one another after having to exist for CENTURIES together, and with how bland they all are then yeah I'll be super bored with them as well! Everyone but Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is the best. And maybe Makkari if we managed to see more of her.
"Something being different doesnt automatically make it good." Thank you SO much for saying this, this the exact same thing I have been thinking whenever someone in the Marvel comments section said something like: "I guess people are not ready for something unique and different". Man, just because it isnt a classic Marvel Movie, doesnt inherently make the movie good (while this movie wasnt even that unique considering it got lost somewhere between wanting to be Marvely and having Chloe Zhaos style).
that's why i'll never shut up about guardians of the galaxy. They are the perfect example of a family in the mcu. the perfect amount of main characters, and all the elements that turn them into a family, by the end, just makes sense. their differences and good individual characterization brings out a genuine connection. They are flawed, make mistakes but learn to overcome it and accept each other. Even the final scene where they all share the power stone with the "power of friendship" doesn't seem corny or forced cause it's written so well. and they use those elements on their two movies and it actually develops the characters and their personal relationships in a such natural way, and in such a short period of screen time compared to other mcu films. i think that if they gave more thought into, eliminating some eternal characters from the mix and actually writing convincing individual personalities and building a strong relationship between those characters, adding more relevant scenes that actually show that - they could've done like gotg. All in one movie. and i agree with everything. Ikaris is almost lifeless and it turned me into a depressive state in a matter of seconds watching. that and also watching the senseless and no chemistry relationship between him and sersi. Eternals could've been WAY better.
Think eternals could have been better if it was separated into two films. Eternals 1: 1.Takes place in the past, Each character gets some development as the film cross the different time periods 2. Go more in-depth with the conflict between Eternals and Deviants 3. Showcase why the Eternals are so devoted to Arishem 4. More depth on some of the minuscule interactions Eternals have with humans, thus showing why they personally care about humanity. 5. Make them question the impact(or lack there of) on humanity as they see human's self destructive side. 6. End the movie with them all separating after they "defeat" the Deviants and see humans in conflict(and with Ajak telling Ikaris the truth Eternals 2. 1. Takes place mainly in the present 2. Give more character depth to the main Deviant bad guy(more screen time) 3. Build on Ikaris' inner turmoil & separation from Sersi 4. Reveal the truth about what the Eternals are and their purpose 5. Have the betrayal occur, and have a more vicious fight with the Eternal "civil war" and eventually fight against the Prime Deviant and his mini horde of deviants. 6. Then the film can end with them coming together to beat the Prime Deviant & his forces, and stopping the Emergence. All in all, I think that by separating the film into two you can help build audience sympathy/care for each member of the Eternals; you can give more development for the Prime Deviant to make him more compelling; and you can build on the Celestial mythos with any spare time.
I can definitely see why they made Kro not a threat, especially sense he's kind of an uninteresting character in the comics anyway. they're probably setting up Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme I would Imagine.
Yes yes yes yes yes! Exactly what I said walking out. This had the black widow problem, where the flashbacks were more engaging than the present, made the movie feel like it should be a sequel but instead it's the first one.
Maybe even they weren't confident enough about the Eternals storyline to pop off, that's why they fit it in one movie. Like if the first one flop, they can't show the second part which is the more boring but most important part for the MCU.
I agree with the deviants being absolutely useless, with the fact that there are too many Eternals and that most of them have little to none character traits, but I genuinely enjoyed this take on superheroes and the intent of creating a more "introspective" movie, even if it doesn't succeed at that 100% of the time, plus the movie is absolutely gorgeous. I prefer this movie over Black Widow, the Antman movies and Thor 2 easily.
one of the things i actually said to myself while watching it is, “wow! this scene is absolutely gorgeous!! i mean, it’s ludicrous and makes no sense but man is it stunning!” then 1.5 hrs later, “yes. i get it. you’re gorgeously shot but COME ON! imagine if we’d had the Battle of NY with like, Captain America just peacing out and only having like, Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor to fight the final battle???” i was NOT expecting that. I wanted the whole ‘come together and battle together at the end!’ The rice bowl Thena’s brain was in would finally dry that baby out and she’d be ready to kick ass in the knick of time…Kingo would have to save his valet at the last minute bc even the valet wanted to help in saving the planet!…Druig would pull a Sylvie and ‘connect’ with the celestial being born and halt the process while the team was figuring out its final plan! Homelander and Tinkerbell were just over there playing footsies!! Sersi struggling to figure out how to avoid the Red Wedding but also end up with someone who legit Knows Nothing whilst also like, turning shit into trees??? Phastos was like, building some magic something that would…oh idk…would create a space bubble for his family just in case things went sideways!! and omg there are still so many other characters left!! anyway. i’m sorry. i’m stoned and feeling a bit passionate abt the ending rn 😂😂
@@pepesylvia2992 i’m glad to hear that! i also was laughing! my train wreck stream of consciousness lol glad you were able to follow along lol if they were going to do that with TB then they should have given her a bigger deal abt it earlier in the movie. right?
I genuinely thought almost every Eternal was pretty well defined. I can't understand how anyone could say any of them have little to no character traits
The biggest problem for me was the line delivery - much of the cast is committed to doing this stoic, muted delivery style which saps all of the emotion out of their scenes. With the traveling around the world to tell their friends that Selma Hayek is dead, there's almost no reaction from any of them. There's no sense of a connection between Ikarus and Sersi, because they're both doing the same style of flat line delivery back and forth at each other. Phastos is the first character who really seems to be infusing emotion into his dialog, and he doesn't show up until more than halfway through.
*THANK YOU* for not being like some of those "other" channels out there who keep claiming that the "reason" this film failed is solely due to the "diversity" and "wokeness." 🙄 Like you said, the reason this film failed is because it was BORING. Plain and simple. I felt at times it was even a little aimless, which is crazy because the main plot is pretty straightforward. I was REALLY looking forward to this film, _especially_ the hyped up love story between Ikaris and Sersi. The trailers and commercials made it seem like this was a large part of the plot. But...I was _extremely_ let down with the final project. Like you said, these two had no real reason to _like_ each other, and it pains me to say this because they looked _so good_ together in all the promo shots. I think much of the issue had to do with the fact that Marvel chose the WRONG director for this film. Chloé Zhao wanted to make a different movie than what Marvel hired her for, and it shows. This would have fared better as a Disney+ series. The characters would have had more time to be fleshed out while giving non comic fans a better idea of who these characters are. I actually hope they don't give up on this. _Thor: The Dark World_ was INCREDIBLY boring, but they were able to bounce back with _Ragnarok._ (which I'm not a fan of, but I admire the way they reinvigorated the franchise)
Actually, think about it, ive seen a couple channels talk about this. If you think about it there is a reason why diversity was a problem for this movie. Not because it was divers obviously, not at all. It was great, we saw different sexualities, races and all that but the problem is. Everytime i think about the marketing for this movie, all i hear is diversity. I think Marvel, for this one, focused way too much on the diversity part of the movie that they forgot about the movie itself. Like, the actors and the concept of what the characters are, became more important than the characters themselves. i feel like the writers thought because they wrote one diverse trait about a character that means its a well written character. The biggest example of this is Makkari. There is almost nothing done with her. All we know is she is a deaf speedster. But she is just about the most underwritten character in the movie. Nothing more is explored with her. And i think that sucks because it takes from the impact the diversity in this movie could have had. One mcu movie that definitely didnt fall victim to this was black panther, despite the fact that its an all black movie. which is of course diverse, you never see that in hollywood. It was one thing they took into account. And then wrote the characters the way they saw fit. That was a lot simpler because they were just using one diverse thing which was race compared to eternals which tried to do everything. They wanter different races, sexualities, mental illnesses, and disabilities without giving the characters any fleshed out storylines.
@Cinephile Mo thank you for that response. I agree, it gives me faith that there are people who will except diversity and make it great. Aspiring sci-fi/fantasy film-maker here 😀👀
@@MrOverHeels I haven't heard much marketing about the diversity. The most I've heard as a selling point is Chloe Zhao being an Oscar-winning filmmaker.
@@Cinephilemo She can’t be in the movie more, for the same reason there are no other deaf actors, her signing her lines kills the scene dead. Instead we get the butler, wtf.
7:23 THANK YOU! Even as someone that relatively enjoyed the movie, I hate seeing that excuse for it. This movie has a lot of flaws and I am not at all surprised that a lot of people didn’t enjoy it. Who cares that it’s “different”? That is not a reason that it’s “good”. Yes we want different films in the MCU but we want GOOD different films. This unfortunately isn’t a film that’s good at being different and I feel it suffers because of it. Yet I still enjoyed it because I found aspects of it I could latch onto. Still, people need to stop defending the film with stupid reasons (or vice versa. The controversy behind this film should not be this serious.)
I really don't think the average audience member is going to have problems with the film. It feels different but it also works as being a good movie (in my opinion).
I think the point of the whole moral dilemma was that the earth being destroyed to make a new Celestial is part of the natural cycle of the universe, so that new planets and suns can be made. Without new Celestials, the universe would eventually cease to be. The Eternals obviously don't WANT to kill everyone on the earth, but are torn on if it's their place to disrupt the natural order of the universe, even if its very possible Arishem is lying to them, which is likely. Going by the movies rules, Earth probably would of never been made if it wasn't for a Celestial created the same way. I do agree though, there is way too many characters for this movie, even if I enjoyed Kingos character a lot, and the levity he brought to a very weighty story.
Feels like Cosmo's prequel issues coming back - oh its different its trying to be deep Sorry didn't work I think it was a lot better than he makes it seem and YES Sersi has traits Qui Gong has traits I get if Cosmo is not engaged he's not going to care but he needed to be fairer imho
This should’ve been a sequel. The first one should’ve been set in the past and used to establish the characters and the main bad guy was the deviant guy. Then it would end on the splitting up over their differing ideas. Then the sequel, this movie, would’ve worked a lot better
Comparatively, though, there have been a number of MCU films with runtimes that are nearly close, and don't feel half as much of a slog to get through. This one, you really _feel_ the runtime, which is ironic, given its inability to effectively get done the things it sets out to do during that duration.
@@thewhatness I wanted to die when I checked the run-time and saw I had two more hours to go through when I first watched it. I'm literally never ever going to watch this movie ever again, even if I wouldn't even think it's _that_ bad upon second viewing.
The best way I can describe this movie, is one of those anime where the writer had to cram 20 volumes of source material into around 12 episodes. It has all the hallmarks of an edg shonen but non really shonen, the really fucked up cosmic horror plot twist, the 8 to 12 or so group of designated main characters who get introduced one by one with a vague mythological backing with like half of them being evil, the use of very specific superpowers in tactical fight scenes, edgy pretty boy rivals that are also kinda artificial humans. You know the ones I'm talking about, Karakuri Doji, Servamp that kinda show.
I wouldn't really consider the smart deviant one of the two main antagonists. He's a supporting antagonist. That doesn't do anything important in the plot. Also, the moral dilemma isn't "should we let the Earth be destroyed because our boss told us to?". I mean, how do you watch the film and end up understanding that? It is clearly established that if the Earth is destroyed, then a Celestial is born and that Celestial will create stars and planets that will house more inteligent life. The real dilemma is "should we sacrifice one civilization (ours) for the sake of COUNTLESS more civilizations?". That's clearly much more morally grey.
Yeah, I feel like they fumbled this dilemma because the only one truly in favor of it is Ikaris, and only because he's loyal to their celestial. Sprite only supports the destruction of Earth because she likes Ikaris, and Kingo wants to destroy the Earth but not badly enough to fight for it. So, they just made it seem like a worse or weaker stance
@@marrodc In Sprite's monologue before Druig knocks her out, she states quite explicitly that she hates living among humans due to her inability to age and thus heeding Arishem's plan would be beneficial for her. I don't think her love for Ikaris was primary motivation, but rather that she had the realization of "If the man I love and respect the most actually wants to bring forth the Emergence, that means it's actually a valid option."
When I saw the coming attractions for this I thought it was going to be a TV series, not a movie. A lot of stuff they set up seemed like it would need a whole season to set up and pay off. Boy was that true. The movie feels so brutally slow at certain points, while other moments are so rushed. Really feel like they needed to do a better job of deciding what needed to be cut and what didn't or just put the money out for a mini series. I think it could've worked either way. Guardians is proof you can introduce an entire team without characters getting left behind. Infinity war showed you could do a big story with many heroes and still have everyone have satisfying moments. This movie does almost nothing right in setting up this family. Its so disappointing that movies like this can still be made.
The run time of Eternals would have to be way longer to work as a film. I'd imagine something like 3 hours and 30 minutes, which neither Guardians of the Galaxy or Infinity War reaches. For that matter, I don't think there's a proper comparison there. Guardians of the Galaxy had a smaller cast and less lore to cover, and Infinity War has a bunch of characters that the audience has already been introduced to do, so they didn't have to do nearly as much character building. I'll admit the movie is definitely flawed (though it definitely worked for me on an entertainment level), but I don't think any significant improvements could have been made without making it into a series unless many viewers were willing to watch a 3 hour and 30 minute film (which I honestly wouldn't have minded but I'm not the majority). I already anticipated before watching it that the movie would try to bite off more than it could chew and I was right. I fear the same for No Way Home.
As a guy who love this movie so much, I agreed to what you're saying and it's true. The difference is, I just love for what they did. But this is good, giving me knowledge that I don't really aware of. This channel is great!
You know, I did later consider I'm surprised how well Kingo's retainer took Kingo's admission to wanting the Earth to be destroyed. Like, once the Eternals save the day I guess that's all water under the bridge huh?
Thanos isn’t half deviant, he’s full eternal wit a deviant gene…..also MCU lore is often very different from the 616 comics becuz the MCU is a mash up of Earth 616 and Earth 1610
Let’s see here…beautiful, lack of solid character traits, has some of the most useful powers out of the main group, morally incorruptible, has two attractive men vying for her affection and the lynchpin in solving the main plot. Hm…
"Self insert character" is what people say when they know they want to complain about a movie but aren't very good at actually writing valuable criticism change my mind.
@@TheEvilCheesecake Let's see, the movie was too long and yet the characters felt undeveloped, the main deviant was WASTED potential, he had more development than most if not all of the Eternals! Also, why didn't Sersi turn sprite into an adult Eternal!?
Finally, a review of the movie that doesn't make that lazy "This should have been a series instead of a movie" criticism. It would have been WORSE as a series.
@@thatdamnguy9566 no 2 was bad there was no tension at all even if you say the palladium poisoning you knew he was gonna figure a way to cure himself after he did that the movie is essentially over whiplash was no threat at all. Hell even Happy almost killed him in the early part of the movie.
Because there's now essentially 2/3 different areas. You had FFH to epilogue Endgame, then from there Endgame pushes off with the Cosmic side (GotG/Eternals/Thor/The Marvels/etc), Earth bound side (Black Widow/Cap 4/Black Panther/etc) and then sort of coming from that there's also the Mystic side (Doctor Strange/Shang-Chi/Ant-Man/etc).
I can see alot of MCU fans saying this just cause none of these current films are building up to anything we can see in the horizon. There's no upcoming avengers film to stack the building block films we have as of right now and any overarching villain storyline is further off than we can guess with the projects we have confirmed as of right now. I can see us not getting a new team up film until the end of the next phase.
@@wholockedholmes5600 Feige himself has said that there's going to be a split between earthbound and cosmic now. I added the mystic though because I don't think you can truly call the likes of Strange and Ant-Man earthbound with what they're going into
To be honest, i genuinely did like this movie, mostly for its scale, by scale I mean, how it fits in the overall universe, literal demigods are dope as hell. Yeah, the plot was thin and carrying so many characters is never easy because they have to give them all good motivations, but the performances are good, and I’m excited that this movie doesn’t fully feel like a marvel movie, trying to go more into the existential in a superhero movie is interesting. Basically, like you said, just bit more off than it could chew, but I definitely think it could be a lot worse. But that’s the great thing about opinions, ain’t it?
I really liked how enjoyable it was, like we as an audience know all the things this movie was doing diferent but they still made it enjoyable and digestable. I feel like ever since endgame they have mastered their own superhero movie formula and get to make these style over substance movies that are still rlly good, like sure they made me watch a movie that had a whole football team of gods as the cast over a millenia of history... and they made me love it lmao.
I agree with basically all criticism I've read so far, but I also like the movie nonetheless! Lately I feel like people are too quick to hate on stuff they can poke holes in. You can like something despite its flaws and you can find boring something that's technically perfect. But I digress lmao. I was fully expecting Marvel's cookie cutter formula movie when I went into it so I was pleasantly surprised when it steered in a slightly different direction, even if I did find it a bit slow at first. I agree that it's exciting! I didn’t feel like I could get invested into more Marvel stuff after the Endgame finale, but the new era doesn’t seem all that dry after all.
@@anasonyc3983 Good points! It’s important to remember, you can find stuff enjoyable that isn’t perfection. I think marvel studios knows that they’d lose A LOT of steam if they went the same direction they have been for the past decade. This new chapter of multiverse stories/cosmic stories is really exciting and I guess I’m just a marvel shill when it comes to them trying new things. It may not always land but, there’s something to be said with them deviating from the winning formula.
@@drummerboi326 Finally, someone who gets it. The movie has flaws, but if you see the bigger picture, this movie is dope. That last scene when finally for the first time a Celestial appears on Earth, jesus he was so gigantic. Making Thanos feels like an ant.
for the first eternals movie, they didn't need to introduce all the characters or story concepts at once. They didn't have enough time to show all character development with all the unneeded extra plots. especially because the eternals have some pretty cool concepts in the comics, but this movie wasn't able to deliver in full on any.
XD btw i know some of you guys hate self promoters, but if you're really interested to check my song called end of the day out, i'd be glad tho. thank you :)
I really enjoyed Eternals. I liked the Speedster battle and the fight scenes with the Deviants was exciting. Each member had distinct powers and I understood their motivations.
Yeah I would say I didn't hate it but didn't love it. I think I am more likely to rewatch Eternals than say Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Black Widow, which seemed far worse to me. I think that it could have been really good, so its just the disappointment in execution. My ideal scenario would have been a 13-15 episode Disney+ series. First episode is through Ajax, leading to her death, and not seeing the killer. Every episode after would be a different character, showing what they did living among humans and where they were leading up to the death of Ajax. Slowly reveal the entire series until the finale so we are invested in each character. Basically a really long Haunting of Hill House.
@@JonCom3dy dude fr he would have made a much better antagonist than "revolution murder girl," the best ending to any of the episodes was after he killed the guy with his shield and that would have been such a natural way of making the audience turn on him/transitioning his character. Instead we were expected to root for him at the end? Wack
I really think they should’ve gone with the amnesia mystery like in the comics, that way we’re slowly introduced into the complex world of Eternals and Celestials, that would make sense why people shift allegiances for no reason, because they were actually different people than we thought. This just goes a little bit above Black Widow in my MCU list now, but hopefully they’ll be able to make the movie a bit more easier to chew for the inevitable sequel.
The Sprite turn made no sense and felt shoehorned in, but they did a good job with Ikaris and his layered motivations. The worst offender for me was Ajak deciding a week before the emergence that after 7,000 years of being fully dedicated to her mission, maybe they ought to stop it. Okay. I guess. What I really would have liked was for the film to combine its two dead-end but interesting story arcs, Thena's memory loss and the Deviants. Both of them are flawed creations of the Celestials that were going to be discarded for the mission. I think it would have been heroic for Thena to find common ground with the main Deviant and try to defend him from Ikaris, rather than slap chop him. I think that would have been more heroic, and a fitting conclusion to her own story angle. Learning from Gilgamesh and being a protector instead of a Celestial killing machine. It would have been okay for the main Deviant's story to not have enough time, but let him survive to the next movie. Thena letting him escape would have been interesting and IMO satisfying.
Spoiler: While watching the movie I didn't really dislike it until the last third because of one scene. When we're shown a flashback of Ikaris and Ajak talking and it's revealed that Ikaris knew the truth all along and Ajak wants to stop the birth of the Celestial. Here Ajak says something like "I've served Arishem for (I think she said millions of years) and I've never doubted him, until now" Now this is exciting: has Arishem lied to Ajak or something? No, instead Ajak is like "I've lived with humans and they mustn't be erased blah blah blah" So the entire story is only set in motion because we are to bevlieve that after millions of years earth is the first planet that is "special" ... yeah no
This was one of those Marvel movies that I watched got into my car and by the time I arrived home I completly forgot everything about it. Nice video as always Marcus :)
The action direction at times was jaw dropping, particularly the lively camera movements in any Ikaris fight scene. In fact it was everything that the dark, close up, tired 00's style choppy editing of the Spider Man action scenes was not: easily tracked and framed yet virtuoso in movement. I wish Sersi had a bit more charisma, but despite the flaws I suspect this will be reappraised over time and come to be considered one of the best. Top 10 MCU movie for me, but would have worked better as a series.
Im a big fan of history and movies with deep mythology, so I enjoyed the story and plot. That said, the character writing was weak and there was very little characterization. No one had personality except Kingo who as you pointed out, shouldn't have been the one to back out
Just regarding Kingo, I think that it makes sense for him to be the one. Yes he likes earth and his life there, but everything after the “last” deviants are destroyed is almost like a retirement for all of them. And for Kingo, the job he was programmed to do and Ikaris are way more important to him than his retirement home. He would fight to save earth from deviants and help to stop the earth ending, only until it backed up against him doing his job. He loves his family too much to fight them, but he ultimately sees that the birth of a celestial is more important to the universe and his programming than saving the planet.
I loved this movie because it really gave me an idea about how unbearable it would be to watch history unfold before your eyes and not being able to do anything to change it. I love it when movies wrap nicely around historic events so when I saw the Aztec's annihilation by the Conquistadors and the Hiroshima aftermath, I realized just how broken some of these characters might get, emotionally. The image that stuck with was Phastos on his knees, taking a good long look at what humanity decided to do with his gifts. So good, mwah.
Man Im so glad you made this lol. I was nodding so hard at your point about how the character motivations are flimsy as hell and change within seconds with no rhyme or reason. I dont even see a lot of reviewers mention it while trashing the movie, even though to me its the biggest flaw with the whole thing. I was dumbstruck at how clumsy and poorly written all those third act heel turns were. Ikaris was the most egregious obviously, but Sprite not far behind.
Writing this before watching the vid: I really liked it, all of the characters were developed and had clear motivations and personalities. I understood their motives and and sympathized with them. I do agree the story could have used more time to develop but I think it was very good.
I feel really conflicted about Thena's storyline, because on one hand it adds absolutely nothing to the story other than ending Kro's storyline which ALSO doesn't add anything to the main plotline. But on the other hand, her side story and relationship with Gilgamesh is my favourite thing in the movie. I think Angelina Jolie's acting in that movie was one of the best acting bits in the entire MCU. So while it didn't add anything to the plot, it was very enjoyable, and if you remove it then Thena's character has nothing to do in the movie. I think all of the issues could be solved if Kro was made a larger player in the movie and the end conflict. If his goals were also tied to Tiamut - like, for example he planned to syphon his power to create more Deviants - then it'd be important to stop him to not just save the planet, but also make sure it is safe afterward. As it stands, Kro is just a character to fight at the end and Thena killing him serves no bigger purpose than ending his plotline.
Very well-put. And I agree wholeheartedly, with a large ensemble cast with fairly flimsy character dynamics, the relationship I found myself caring about the most was Thena and Gilgamesh. Jolie's performance is one of the only in the film that elevates her character, though it still needs to be said that Thena truly isn't give much to do to impact the plot. Kro (who I genuinely can't recall a single time his name is uttered in the film), for being an antagonist, leaves next to no footprint behind in terms of impact, as well.
I actually loved the action scenes the most, especially seeing the team dynamic they had on the flashbacks thousands of years ago. Really felt the impact from Gilgamesh and Makkali popped off harder than the Flash
when that thing suddenly evolved and started monologuing out of nowhere i got confused for a second and then cracked up because it was just such a weird, sudden scene that I nearly mistook it for a joke and i honestly forgot about sersi being the main character multiple times because it felt like every other character was more solidly written with more memorable screentime. i didn't even hate it but i still didn't like that it felt SO LONG with so much exposition and yet still feeling like i didn't get enough of the story explained to me
I do agree the characters didnt have enough time to shine, and Sersi was an unengaging main charcter, but I think you're blowing its flaws out of proportion. The ideas you mentioned were executed well. Phastos doesn't initially join because it was *his* influence that lead to the deaths of so many humans. He decided that he will no longer allow his powers to be used to genocide. It's only after he weighs his decision does he decide this choice will lead to less destruction. Thena's character arc as well was the best (arguably only) transformative arc in the movie, with a character essentially struggling with magic PTSD overcoming it with willpower. Aside from the themes, the Eternals using their powers was just cool shit. I feel like you have a little bit of everything across the board. It wasn't the best it couldve been, but definitely not the worst.
5:00 this is very true. Remember in the su icide squad when the whole team walks into a fight with a giant monster to save the island? They have an explosive in their head that will go off if they do this but they decide to do it anyway? That was heroic. Would be nice if the characters in the eternals had a bit of that spirit
It's a very flawed movie, no doubt, and I really think it could have been done so much better, but I still wouldn't consider it a "bad" movie, personally. I had a good time and even if it fell pretty short of its potential, I still think it was a decent way to open up conversations and to lead into more high-concept cosmic stuff going forward.
Disney literally went "yeah, the big ensemble superhero story should be a movie, not loki, not moon knight, not wandavision, the story with like 20 new heroes"
I may be in the minority but this was one of my favorite MCU movies. The moral complexity of this movie really made an impact on me. I applaud the different direction MCU went with. I do think this property would have benefited from being a full blown disney plus series. And the Falcon series could have been a movie. I was so invested in each Eternals flashback. I think this movie opens up so many possibilities for flashbacks and interacting with other Marvel characters throughout history.
Same here! Obviously this film has some problems with the storytelling, but so does MANY MCU film, and people calling Eternals garbage or worst MCU film are reaching. I love the emotional arc of the characters. It feels more mature and serious than other MCU film, and it's at least trying to be something different. I'm getting tired of the MCU formula and I love how they switch it up here. I remember people calling all the phase 4 projects "boring" when they first came out, when these are probably some of the most interesting stuff Marvel has put out well.. except for Black Widow and maybe Shang Chi. Also like this is probably the most beautifully shot MCU film by a mile? Chloe Zhao killed it as someone who's only shot three indie film with mostly hand held camera!
@@argo9721 I unfortunately read several articles that said so. They said that they'll have to reboot Eternals just like they rebooted Thor after Dark World.
There have been a number of bad/forgettable mcu movies, but the audience tended to forgive them more because they served the purpose of building up the universe. We are now beyond the "we have a big plan, trust us" phase, so people will be more critical of mcu movies
The movie is so wrapped up in its mythology that when everything comes together in the third act, the people who did not like the mythology will not be satisfied with the ending. I enjoyed the mythology, loved the third act, and despite it occasionally fumbling the ball on some themes that could’ve been explored more or characters they could’ve focused more on (Sersi is the blandest Eternal, why have her be the main), everything came together in a satisfying way for me that genially left me satisfied. 8/10.
I pretty much agree with this even your ranking. The mythos is really interesting and the questions these characters have to grapple with are also interesting.
@@TheCreed1217 the questions would be interesting if they ever actually considered them instead of blindly falling back on human exceptionalism and just hoping they’re doing the right thing.
@@dumbumbumbum8649 I find them interesting solely because of where it could've gone even if the answers to those questions arent as satisfying as they should be. There's a lot of missed potential for the best in the cast but for what we got of them I still enjoyed the experience. I will say I cared more about the mythos/lore > the cast which is a problem solely because the cast is the engine that delivers us the lore. If the cast sucks then i can understand why some despise this movie or find it boring.
I actually really liked this movie, I’ve been excited for celestials to get some more love and I wasn’t disappointed. The sense of scale in this movie is absolutely unparalleled when it comes to the mcu and I really enjoyed the fact that kingo didn’t want to fight icarus in the end because A: he loves and kinda idolizes him and B: because he straight up thinks that they couldn’t win even if he chose to go against him. Idk something about this movie just hit different for me
@@jurel6622 I promise you the issue is not that the average moviegoer did not understand this movie and you did. It made itself hard to understand by presenting little worth understanding. That’s not to say it’s worthless dogshit but the issues with this movie are bigger than matters of personal taste.
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Kind of drugs are you doing, most of Snyder films are dull they just have great visuals. Snyder’s problem is he needs to let someone else handle the creative direction & story and he should focus on directing & putting the pieces together for presentation. He knows how to present well but sucks at execution
Another problem I have is that the eternals were sent to fight the deviants and not affect human evolution, which makes sense, but then why send the dude who makes technology(stuff that could forward human evolution) and the dude who mind controls humans. Just a problem I haven’t heard anybody bring up
They weren't told the full truth. The Celestials need the human race to advance because it leads to population booms. Once the population reaches the required amount the Celestial can be born from the Earth.
@@devinmay3038 To Purple Fish's point, why not just give them the technology to prosper or mind control them into breeding more life? If the end goal is to have enough numbers to have a Celestial be born, wouldn't it be more efficient for the Eternals to boost evolution?
@@Flounderboy15 The Celestials use the energy of intelligent life to create new Celestials. Humans have to make the conscious decision to procreate and evolve naturally. But the deviants were interrupting that process. The eternals were course correcting and just nudging the process along. Yeah Druig could mind control and make them breed like mindless rabbits. But it wouldn't be the right kind of energy to complete the process. The film is a very heavy lore based world building film. So I do get the frustration and confusion audiences are having. Me personally I like the deep dives into the lore and Mythology of the MCU. Everyone has their own tastes.
@@devinmay3038 you said that Druid would mind control and make them do breed like rabbits but it wouldn’t be as good as them doing it themselves, wouldn’t the same be said for technological advances. Plus why give the eternals personality at all? If there is even a slight chance they could betray you, why not just make them mindless drones that would just follow orders?
My one problem is that I was expecting the lizard bad guys to develop consciousness and have a point that required the Eternals to team up with and accept that their ways were wrong. That being said, I still liked that they were presented with a moral imperative where some people chose to fight for humanity, some fought to preserve the natural order, and some refused to fight because they couldn’t decide. This was in my upper echelon of MCU movies for the fact that after the credits rolled…I wasn’t sure if the Eternals were super heroes or super villains
I also wanted to hear more about Thanos. A) The Eternals' power level is kinda ambiguous but I think they're supposed to a top tier threat and B) isn't Thanos a deviant?
Honestly, besides Ikaris' and Sersi's falling in love coming out of nowhere (especially her), I can't share any of these criticisms, really loved the movie tbh