Why Eternals is NOT GOOD... | Video Essay 

What did you all think of Eternals? Am I just crazy? 🥴 Also HUGE thank you to Skill Share for sponsoring this video, don't forget the first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial ➡️ skl.sh/filmspeak11211

At the very least, this should have been a Disney Plus series so they could focus on each character or time.

"And when everyone's super.... no one will be" - Syndrome, the Incredibles

I honestly didn't realize there were 10 characters until I actually counted them. I'm now curious why this wasn't a Disney+ series. I mean yeah, GOTG worked, but the team was literally half that number in the first movie

Yes! Finally Thena & Gilgamesh had the best chemistry to me. She's sharp and swift and he's a gentle fist. He smoothes out her edges while ultimately being stronger while she's witty and headstrong while being deadlier. Honestly I would have pushed to have them together despite people valuing their platonic affection because honestly it looked like he was in love with her and it would have been great to see an Asian man be shown to be Eternal husband material and be married. Especially this movie wants to throw relationships at us. There's like 5 already and Sersi is in 2 of them.

If you ask me, they should’ve introduced Ajak by herself and truly give her the role of a leader. She has the most interesting arc and ultimately she’s the one that went against the Celestials when she decided to abandon the mission. So it would’ve been fitting to see her come to that conclusion, it could have been a period piece film and also it could have explained why they just didn’t interfere because Ajak abandoned the mission. We could’ve had also better and smaller arcs for all supporting characters because they all would’ve had a purpose that made Ajak evaluate her stance time and time again. For me the biggest issue is that their struggle spans thousands of years instead of focusing on a part.

After watching the film, I did find it weird my favorite character was Karun, one of the only people apart of the crew who wasn't an Eternal. Damn that guy was hilarious 😂

Personally my dilemma with the MCU is that it is on the road to being too big, too grand. The celestials make Thor, iron man type characters irrelevant.

I honestly find it so weird that a movie that is all about humanity and how good people can be I never felt that humanity. When Sersi’s boyfriend was introduced I expected him to join the Eternals and go along with the journey. He’d be a character we can relate to because he isn’t some godlike being or a super soldier or even a regular soldier, he’s just some guy. I expected him to come along and over the course of the film start relationships with the other Eternals. I expected him and Ikaris to have a almost jealous rivalry since they both love Sersi but that becomes a friendship and would then add onto Ikaris betrayal as not only is he betraying his friends but he know has meet humans and knows how good they are and his choice to let them die is more impactful because of that friendship… Instead he disappears and is replaced by the camera dude who doesn’t even serve a purpose but to be comedic relief before he too disappears. There’s so much wasted potential in this film man

The meaning of the word "risk" means that you can fail. Otherwise there is no risk.

One of the reasons the Hobbit did poorly was that there were so many dwarves that each had little to no character development and it was hard to feel for them.

Actually they did explain that they succeeded with the Uni-Mind because their powers were amplified by Tiamat’s awakening, specifically giving Sersi almost Celestial-level cosmic power

I think this movie needed Dane (Kit's character) to tag along with the quest to find the enternals as the audience stand in. This way he could ask questions as he is the outsider and give a human perspective (also while hinting to the black Knight). It would also add more depth to Cerise via there relation ship and could lead to a rivalry with Ikarus. He could still accidently treat Sprite as a child trying to protect/coddle her, which would add to her own insecuritys of her being in a child's body. I know we have Karun as the human but he already knows about the enternals via Kingo. He comes across as more of Kingo's yes man (or maybe in a subtle relationship). He doesn't really have any connection to the others or questions them to much about there stand point which is why Dane should of tagged along. The only issue I see is him being useless at the end, but some one who is smarter than me could make it work. Also ideally in this version of the movie the deviants are saved for the sequel with Ikarus or Druig being the primary "villain". With the entire conflict being derived from oposite ideology on the disposability/control humans depending on which is the "villain". Also it might be beneficial to have the entire movie set in the present no flash backs, only hints, and save the back story for the sequal then tie it with the deviants. With the sequel being more comparing and contrasting the eternals with the deviants. All while debating if the deviants have the right to live/is it wrong to hunt them. With the answer being vague cause on one hand they can wipe out all life on planets but on the other hand that is what they was evolved/created to do and are becoming sentient.

The scene when the conquistadors are slaughtering the Aztecs and Druig stands up to Ajak is my favorite moment. He’s a man who is reserved and does not show his emotions. But the millenniums of watching genocide ate his soul away knowing he could single-handedly stop it. It hurt me personally because I feel like that know about all this political culture war for the last 20 years in the US. But the line when he says “Do you know what centuries of seeing this does to me?” made me feel his Immeasurable grief

This should have been a six part series instead of a film.

Chloe Zhao literally said in an interview that her biggest inspiration for the film is Man Of Steel.

In one of the Final Fantasy games, there is a group of people known as "The Gifted". They're born with supernatural abilities, yes, but the story focuses on their agelessness. The first one you meet mentions how he couldn't hold his psyche together watching his friends and loved ones rot while he lingered on, so he decided to live as a hermit. You meet more throughout the story and each has their own trauma in regards to this ability. One even commits suicide. The girl traveling with you is also Gifted and she decides by the end of her arc to try living with people as best she can, but it's left ambiguous as to whether or not she'll eventually succumb to grief. When you give people powers, talents, abilities, tools, or authority, you have to consider the path it would lead them on. These days they just slap qualities onto characters without any depth or development.

I loved Eternals. I loved how it embraced the larger, more bonkers concepts of the Marvel comics universe. I can't wait to see it again. This was a refreshing break from the standard Marvel formula and I welcome it... And I disagree that you can't deconstruct characters you've just met, after all, that's exactly what Watchmen was...

45 minutes of valid explanation about why film isn't good. Screenrant: Trolls can't deal with Eternals female director.

No one is even talking about salma Hayek’s character, is she even relevant in the film lol and even Kumal nanjiani.. I feel like they were hugely wasted..

This wouldve been AMAZING with two seasons on Disney+, and then the movie I just want more

As someone that had watch the MCU but isint really a fan. I came out of the theater liking this film, all the points you make are valid but I personally enjoy this more that other Avanges film. It feels like something unique and I wasn’t mad about they telling me stuff instead of showing it because I’m just open to get to know this characters and knew word . They are basically robots, being shields of character is kinda reasonable. It’s honestly, not a bad film, nothing amazing, but it was actually pretty good 😂

It’s amazing that you articulated everything I felt about this film. It is indeed missing the most important piece of a good character driven story, emotion. I felt empty afterwards.

I was mostly let down by the ruined potential of Sprite , Druig , Kingo and literally anyone who isn’t Icaris and Sersi. If everyone is so great why did they only focus on those two? The rest were practically useless and therefore coudln’t have had development. I’m especially mad they made Sprite a backstabbing school girl (albeit with a redemption arc) and Kingo just a shallow dumb movie star. Druig should have gotten a better role at the climax of the film. I love how he stood up to Ajak because it shows how much suffering of people knowing he can’t interfere has messed with his head. I wish we could have seen more scenes where he cared for the people and not just the one in the rainforest and babylon (?). ALSO A HUGE LET DOWN IS THE ROMANCE. The film should have focused more on Thena and Gilgamesh cuz their affection and chemistry is so much better than the rest. I also don’t like Druig and Makkari’s relationship cuz it was so sudden and unexplainable , they’re an amazing couple but I wish we saw more : ( I was also let down by the cinematography , especially next to the brilliant Shang Chi that came out two months prior. Overall Chloè’s style is evident and we can see her desire to experiment and add on with this project but one movie can only fit so many storylines.

I liked it. I was happy to see MCU actually take a risk in the films. I hadn't felt that way since Infinity War and that was a while ago.

The very beginning. Couldn't agree more and it fits this movie to the tee. I admire what Chloe Zhao was trying to do, but I felt like she bit off way more than she could chew.

SPOILERS I thought this video was very well said. If you asked me a thumbs or thumbs down for the movie, I'd say thumbs up. I enjoyed the film overall, but I didn't think it was anything great. But one of the biggest things that I wanted to echo from the video was the lack of connection and emotions the film has with the audience. Take Ikaris' decisions and "betrayal". You see his inner conflict and turmoil at having to go against his "family" in order to continue serving his masters and continue to allow millions of races to form in the universe (I also think Richard Madden did quite a good job - and being honest, it's a genuine moral dilemna). You see how hard it is for him. You even see his mind change after the flashback. But you never FEEL it. What should be an incredibly emotionally charged moment just doesn't hit And I think that's true of most of the film. You see all these things happen. You're told to feel this way. But you don't FEEL it. It lacks that connection and I do agree that it felt shallow and just... Empty in many ways. And yes. The Ikaris death thing was a bit too on the nose for me

I also wanted the MCU to go inward and explore the characters more. That's one thing I really enjoyed about WandaVision and, to a lesser degree, Falcon and Winter Soldier. I'd be stoked if Chloe Zhao got to do a quiet introspective Disney+ series focused on Steve Rogers. I think she'd be perfect for something like that. Great essay!

I had zero interest in this movie, trailers didn't grab me at all and I was expecting it to fail. So when reviews came in I wasn't surprised at all. But after watching this video and learning who is actually directing it I said to myself that I have to watch it and make my own opinion. And I am so happy I did. I absolutely loved the movie. It was much deeper and more mature than any other Marvel movie. I liked every character and had no issue understanding their struggles and empathizing with them. Didn't mind the length and it didn't drag for me at all. I would actually prefer if it was even longer since some parts felt a bit rushed. I also don't agree that there was a weak villain. In my opinion, there was no villain at all. Only the cast of powerful characters tormented over centuries facing impossible choices and their consequences. I feel people are just trying to fit this movie into a mold it doesn't belong into. It might be my favorite Marvel movie now alongside Ragnarok and Infinity War. Have to watch it again.

This isn't a movie about heroes. The eternals aren't heros they are tools. This is a story of nature vs nurture. The greater good versus morality. This isn't a super hero movie, it's a thought project.

That ad for skill share was endless

I honestly think this was one of the Marvel films, because it makes it seen the world so small, and it kinda felt like a DC by how powerful the characters are and I love that!! The worldbuilding of how stars, planets, and galaxies are born is amazing, and yes the middle part is kinda boring but it brings your interests right back in no time and just brings in nonstop action. The only thing that was kinda bad is the power scaling. There are these powerful comic dmeon beasts that can beat other comic beings, but can be hurt by a gun

“I don’t like comparing filmmakers” then proceeds to spend 10 mins on Zack Snyder during a video about Cloe Zhous movie. >.>

I thought Chloe did an fine job given how much characters, plot, world building, and development/character construction she had to do in 2 1/2 hours. It has weird pacing problems and chemistry between characters (*cough* ikaris and sersi), but overall it was enjoyable. Solid 7.8/10 for me.

This was one of the few marvel movies that felt like a film, to me.

I liked Eternals. It's big, ambitious, and weird. But also small, intimate and human. It feels so different to every other Marvel film, right from the first scene. I really admire the ambition of Chloe Zhao, and I doubt anyone else could have done this type of material justice. I hope she comes back for the sequel, and she gets bigger, stranger and weirder. I also admire her gumption. She could have easily gone with the safe bet and directed Black Widow. The surefire hit. But instead she went "Nah, I want to direct the one about the immortals and the space gods!" Mad respect for that.

As someone who shit talked this movie since it was announced, I absolutely enjoyed the hell out of it! It was easier for me to think of The Eternals as superhero archetypes in their own universe as opposed to being a part of the MCU. But, this movie is not as bad as other MCU films. 💯 Also, I feel Chloe Zhao did some of Zack Snyder's schick, but better.🤣🤷🏿‍♂️

As far as deaf characters go, Millicent Simmonds has been a rockstar in the two Quiet Place movies, front and center as a heroic lead. So at least there's that.

Thanks for watching, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the video, and thank you to Griffin for having me on.

I disagree Makkari and Gilgamesh we're kinda underdeveloped in my opinion but other than that all the other characters are so well rounded and developed. The acting is fantastic the climax has an amazing payoff where all the characters end their disagreement within and decide to come together for the greater good. Sersi and Ikaris were obviously fantastic but I actually also really enjoyed sprite and her conflict was really relatable and I almost got a bit of a Romeo and Juliet vibe for her and Ikaris. Which is so fantastic because everyone knows the best thing to do to confidently show romance is tragedy. The fact that she would rather become mortal than live another Day as a child, unable to do anything is just amazing. But by far, my favourite character in the entire movie, was druig. He. Was. Amazing. My favourite scene in the whole movie is the scene where they are all at the war in the past, right before they all break up. I loved it because druig is the only one there that is like no. You people are blindly following this arishem guy. You're blinded by loyalty and I'm not going to sit by and watch these people kill eachother. And the only person opposing him is Ikaris. It's just so good. Like I wouldn't even really call it a marvel movie, I mean the powers and the giant climax and the CGI aliens definitely felt like marvel, but at its core, this is a story about conflict within. How people with different allegiances and different beliefs, people who fight for different things and do it for different people. And the people themselves, the people that have been told one thing for thousands of years, never told to believe anything else, suddenly realise that they have a choice, the internal conflict you see as they struggle with this epiphany one by one, all in different ways is honestly poetic. I honestly feel like the reason people don't like this movie, is because they don't pay attention, they don't sit down and are like "today I'm going to watch eternals" they go into it like "oh let's check out this marvel movie I bet it will be bad." And then they are surprised that they had a bad time. Throughout this 2 hours and 30 minutes you need to be invested, you need to listen and really think and take in and philosophise as to what you are seeing. I never do this in a marvel movie, ever. The only other marvel film that made me feel this good, was spider verse, and that's a Sony movie so it barely even counts. This movie isn't really for the average mcu fan, this movie is for people that really care. And that is why my love for this movie is *Eternal.*

tonally this movie feels like a sequel for an ensemble cast we *should* have been introduced to individually before. it's as if we had skipped right over iron man's, thor's or captain america's solo movies to start with the first avengers film.

Watched it earlier tonight and to be honest it wasn’t as bad as most critics are saying, but it’s not as good as MCU fans are trying to make it out to be. Solid 6/10 for me

Chloe Zhao recently talked about the Zack Snyder Man of Steel inspiration in a Interview. Yes it happened boys.

Why all this walking on eggshells when it comes to criticizing Zhao? She wrote and directed the movie, she 100% deserves criticism.

So far there are two Eternals in the MCU that I have liked: 1) Wen Wu 2) The One who Remains. Yes, they are actually Eternals...immortal beings living amongst mortals with all the fascinating paradoxes of such an existence implied. As for Zhao's Spandex wearing Robot Gods.... I have no idea of what the h#ll those things are, or why I should care?

I think the key to getting past the jaded audience problem is to do exactly what the eternals failed at - go deep into the characters and explore their personalities, their ideals, their struggles, and how those things interact with the world around them.

I thought I would have to wait until Filmento puts out a video to see a comprehensive breakdown on what Eternals did not work. But honestly I don't think anyone could have done a better job than you taking a crack at it.

I think they should have tried doing the Eternals more in animations first. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was able to add a lot to Marvel's cosmic side and if they had continued, they could have done the Eternals. Similarly, look at how the New Gods were really popularized by Superman: The Animated Series and the DCAU. Lots of people want to see the New Gods now but go back to before Michael Ironside's iconic Darkseid in the DCAU, no one outside of comic book fans knew who the New Gods were. The DCAU basically did for the New Gods what RDJ did for Iron Man. Also, I have to point out that the Eternals are very different to Superman. Superman, despite being an alien, was raised by humans and is very human. The Eternals were always alien and godlike, some try to fit in with humans but others still retain very alien perspective. I don't think Chloe Zhao was trying to deconstruct them at all. She's portraying them as looking at humanity through different, often, alien perspectives.

there’s so much passion out into this movie, it’s a shame people are overlooking the refreshing approach this story takes toward story telling, especially within the mcu

I loved it, bro. But at this point…nothing but respect.

Zack Snyder managed to take a piece of work such as Watchmen, copy it 1 to 1 at most points, and still, somehow, strip it of all the substance it had. There's very little, to anything, that should be taken from his "contributions" to making superhero films.

After checking the reviews before I watched it, I unexpectedly and unprepared to have enjoyed it so much. The emotions, love for family and friends, the motivations, and story telling as the observers to watch how human beings progress deeply touched me in every aspects. And it’s a beautifully shot with great music. I was so moved toward the end and cried as if it was a movie from Pixar. Understand the review can be very subjective thing and everyone can have different views. I’m not a Marvel fanboy, I think Shang Chi is very disappointing in story telling with the logic flaw. But Eternal really impressed me.

Giant lifeless & hollow characters preaching life & humanity was excruciating to watch to say the least.

Sometimes you have to wonder if the parties that make these films based on a Comic source ever even read a comic book and I'm really talking about the screenwriters. This film was Such an embarrassing tribute to the Legend of Jack Kirby and terribly miscast.

I think people are asking for too much by wanting everything to be a TV show because of shows like Game of Throne, and the MCU mini-series. I personally think it works as a movie. The characters are there for the right amount of time to served their purpose.

"I could've just read the cliff notes" is exactly what i would apply to most MCU projects....ecspecially Black Widow, which i thought was completely abysmal. Eternals is going in the right direction. sucks we might end up reverting back to easily absorbed blockbusters that gets forgotten within days. The biggest issues with this film is defintely the pacing, but it's far more scifi rich than most MCU films and the characters are filmed here with far more humanity than we're use to in this universe. It works for me on so many levels that it outweighed the bad. I think it is a good film, confused? sure. Exposition heavy? defintely. But then again.....i'm the type of guy who like lengthy scifi epic with character. I'd like to challenge people on this whole "Characters aren't fleshed out enough". I felt each character was given appropriate amount of attention to serve the story and it's resolution.

Funnily enough Zhao has since come out and said MOS and Snyder’s Superman were inspirations for this film. Also funnily enough, it’s that, the visuals, and DC references that make me want to see the film at all. Zhao is truly trying to do something with this film that the MCU has failed to do, and that’s worth supporting alone

In my personal opinion Love WandaVision, Loki, Falcon & Winter Soldier, HATED Black Widow, really enjoyed Shang Chi, and ended up hating What IF. This movie I can kind of take it or leave it but I never really found it that offensive...though I can't exactly blame anyone for feeling the way they do. It's not a movie that works for everyone. My biggest gripe is the horrendous editing the first act of the movie contains, since I feel the rest of the film more than makes up for it.

Honestly, it’s a convoluted, poorly developed mess that had a lot of potential. This should have been a series in order to develop all the ideas, concepts, characters and interactions between them and those already introduced. Unpopular opinion: they could have swapped Eternals with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Made Eternals a series and Falcon a 2 hour movie.

I liked Sersi's character. She's passive (which could be a CRT analysis on its own). Her power, by design, is defensive. She's not SUPPOSED to be able to affect living beings, so she revels in being in the presence OF living beings, but she's also been abandoned - both by her team members, and the people and cultures she came to love. I think all of them, except Ajak and Ikaris, have compelling characters. And the end split them up. I'm hoping that means each team will get more time as a smaller group.

Here's the mistake, This directors talent is in character development she should have been saved for the rebooted Wolverine, or Doctor Doom ....this is an action movie, that doesn't work...give this to an action director, that was the key mistake...clashing visions is so clearly the issue, that its horrible

Just watched the film and I gotta say that this film was amazing. 8/10 movie for sure

I feel like they should've split up the eternals up, similar to infinity war, one group focuses on stopping the deviance (Gilgamesh, Thena, Kingo, druid, and makkari) and the rest focus on the emergence. And have all the characters team up right before the middle of the movie so that we arent't going to wait the entire movie makkari and phastos to join the conflict. I feel that would've made the movie better. If infinity war could juggle 20+ characters like that, then eternals could juggle 10 .

I really hope Marvel sees videos like these. All these characters are so important and so interesting and they need more. They just need more.

Love this channel. But I also loved this movie. I was enthralled the whole time, and each turn of the plot just stepped it up for me. It started as expected, and then just kept getting better. Great acting, great strategy for introducing each character in such a way as to make each one interesting. And I loved the story. Everything made sense, and I cared about what happened. Plus the theme - is humanity worth saving? - kept me thinking throughout the journey. Loved it all. Sorry some people didn’t.

The Eternals is not a bad movie, it’s actually a good movie, not amazing but good. I did think it was a bit too ambitious, most characters are pretty good and their relationships too, the deviants are not that interesting. But This movie had one the most visually pleasing scenes in the MCU. The action was pretty cool and the twists are logical and surprising. This movie was worth the watch. 7,6/10

I’ve said this a thousand times now. The Eternals trailer made me think ‘huh that’ll be a cool tv series’. I swear to god I genuinely instinctually thought ‘TV series’ when I saw it’s first footage etc. I think it’s fair to say many of our favourite tv series wouldn’t work as a film. ‘Big little lies’ was originally a feature film until an exec Producer suggested to make it be a tv series at last minute and it worked beautifully. This would’ve been a fantastic tv series giving each character time and all the nuances a greater amount of time. Imagine a full episode covering Icarus and that thing he did (spoilers).

I thought the guy who had the cyclops power looked super cool.

i searched eternals review because i just needed someone to tell me what the heck i just watched and why i didn't like it i couldn't pin point exactly what it was that didn't sit right with me all i could say was all the relationships felt nonexistent though in other marvel movies it's pretty easy to tell whats wrong off the bat this helped

I feel some of reasons you bring up for it not being a good story about being too many characters, I feel you miss the point that the Eternals come as a unit of 10…the avengers movies have the luxury of solo movies to establish individual characters arc…Eternals is certainly ambitious in expanding the MCU universe in bringing the idea of cosmic beings and Gods into the mix. If there was a movie of the 12 Olympic Gods (Zeus, Hera, Area etc) would people complain there’s too many characters. I feel that this being the first Eternals movie we are introduced to a lot of new characters and concepts, and characters we did not enough to spend screen time with, but the film made clear their individual motivations especially their conflict when it came to choosing sides. Some characters we know in other future films we will get to know more. Kingo made it clear that he may not agree with the others decision and has complete faith in Arsheoms plan…but would not fight against his family, and he is true to his character. I personally enjoyed every character the film gave us… I wished we were able to explore more about the deviants as they were evolving…As time passes I feel this movie will be appreciated for how good it truly is.

I had no problem with the movie. The story was coherent. I liked the characters. Although I believe this movie was more of an introduction. No real issue here. Not to me.

Seeing the actors on interviews there is so much charisma yet on the movie everyone was so robotic, kingo and makkari being the only ones that smiled and felt a being human

I absolutely loved the characters and concepts in this movie, but the story and pacing fell flat, especially at the end. I remember Cersei turning the celestial into stone and I was like "That was it?". I wouldn't watch the movie again but I would love to see the Eternals in future movies

Infinity War was marvels magnum opus, and the only reason it worked was because 10 years of films led up to that film. Marvel worked hard to humanize and break down every hero before they made infinity war. From what I’m gathering from this review, Eternals suffered from not having that classic Marvel Studios characterization. 🤔

I find it interesting that u used the Snyder movies as a good example of what eternals tried to do. I felt that eternals problems really reminded me of what I didn’t like from the Snyder movies. The “ambitious doesn’t mean it’s good” aspect of the film is exactly my problem with bvs. I think the Snyder cut was a good version of eternals tho cuz at least 3 of the characters had introductions beforehand (however good or bad they may have been)

i also agree with eternals shudve been a series. this is my idea of the eternals series: Episode 1: Eternals arriving on earth, the battle scene in the Mesopotamia, then introduce each eternal characters, etc. episode 2: to include: deviant battle in Babylonia, eternals helping humanity such as farming, inventing tools, sersi starts to get into a relationship with Ikaris, ajak talking scene with arishem, etc. episode 3: maybe some deviant fight scenes again in the Gupta Kingdom, Sprite tired of looking young and starts to fall in luv with Ikaris, Ikaris marry Sersi, etc. episode 4: the genocide battle scene, deviant fight scenes again, all deviants wiped out, then Thena’s mah’ad wyry, the eternals separate, etc. episode 5: sersi met dane whitman’s ancestors, blah blah blah, etc……. fastforward some centuries, sersi met Charles Darwin, etc….. episode 6: takes place in 1940s, phastos like help like some soldiers build a weapon, then the bombing of Hiroshima happened, Phastos gave up on humanity. Fastfoward some decades, sprite and ajak move in to the house in the field. Then end scene… Then post credit scene, we see the deviants break out of the ice Then the rest of the movie continue to the movie Movie: The present day scene, sersi is in London, doing teaching stuff, ye all those things in the opening of eternals and continue the journey (earthquakes, a deviant in London, ajak death scene, eternals reuniting, sersi finding out the truth of tiamut, ikaris “betrayed” eternals, killing tiamut, post end credits arishem "arrested 3 eternals lol", starfox, dane whitman sword) etc • Some xtra notes, maybe marvel cudve introduced each characters in the series, especially sersi cuz shes kindda dull (I luv gemma chan tho), sprite shudnt join ikaris in the end • Add a lot and meaningful character developments in the movie, maybe add a long a fight scene dedicated to kro, instead of instantly slicing him so ye, imo thats how eternals shudve been tbh

"And when everyone's super, no one will be." - syndrome from the Incredibles

One double edged sword here, is the choice to have the characters behave like people, as opposed to movie characters. Kingo leaves the movie in the third act, and it makes sense for his character, but is unsatisfying and jarring because he’s simply gone. We never cut back to him during the action to get his perspective on what’s happening. It’s the same with Dane who is introduced as a major character in the opening of the film, only to kind of disappear aside from a few phone calls until the very end. He’s not around otherwise because he’s only a human and can’t be in on the action. That said, we once again lose emotional investment because we’re not getting perspective from a character we were told to care about. Imagine if in Return of the Jedi, when Lando goes to blow up the Death Star, we never cut back to him. We just see him pop in at the end after it’s destroyed. It would feel very bizarre, Awkward, and unearned. The movie is full of characters and character arcs/choices you’re meant to be invested in, but simply aren’t shown enough of on screen to be fully invested.

I totally get what you are saying, Griffin. My dad probably agrees with everything you said in this video. As for me, I liked the movie I thought it was a good MCU movie, but frustrating. I can get both sides of it, I can see what you are saying. But I can also see when people call it a MASTERPIECE.

All the dislikes are unwarranted bro. Great, insightful video. It’s probably just the segment of the marvel artist in the beginning that detoured people .. but I get why it’s in here. Keep going man

My problem is that it’s a “Get the band back together” movie, but there’s too much people in the band. Three people in the band MAX and you could do a movie like that. This needed at least an 8 episode tv show before a movie.

32:50 i think the failure of Inhuman series kinda make them reluctant to do another new big superhero group series. But personally I also think Eternal would develop better as a series.

Theres just too many MCU films one after the other. Shang chi released in september while this came out in november. There just an overload of mcu films every single year, films that hardly take risks and are extremely formulaic. This should have come out next year in the summer. It would have been a nice breather. Its just the same stuff again and again i.e. save the world. There needs to be a breather. Allow films like The Last Duel and Dune to get the recognition it deserves

Am I the only one who really liked the film ? I find it very underrated, it was a far more slice of life film than the rest of the MCU, with a lot of different places, a stunning directing, and compelling characters with dilemmas that are not manichaeans, exploring new themes about humanity deserving to be saved. Also, it's a natural follow up to the dilemma posed by Thanos in Infinity War. I think the reason general audience didn't like the movie is because the movie doesn't take you in with a hand, but once you enter in it, it's a profond reflexion on humanity. I really don't understand how the characters can be described as bland and uninteresting, because they all have distinct dilemmas about the choice they should make : Sersi is very attached to earth and its living habitants, Ikaris is attached to his duty to the celestial but chooses to let away his duty for his loved one, Thena has flash memories of their past lives and gets anxious when those come out, Gilgamesh remains loyal to her and tries to help her to overcome her trauma, Kingo fully embraced his human condition and profits of the celebrity as an actor, Phastos inserted himself into a simple life with his husband and their adopted child, Sprite suffers from her child condition which makes her follow the steps of Ikaris which she loves, Druig and Makkari have great chemistry together, the first is frustrated not to be allowed to stop the conflicts in the world, and the other is attached to the cultures of humans and hate seeing them destroy themselves, Druig is more attached to the humans themselves, while Makkari is attached to their cultures and they make a very cute couple (the scream Makkari makes when Druig is attacked by Ikaris tells everything about her attachment to him), and finally Ajak is fully aware of their overall missions, but when she sees the beauty off humanity she makes the first move against Arishem. See ? Everyone has a distinct personality and a very distinguished story. It's arguably the characters with the most background and development throughout their film. About your point of everyone else not being concerned by what happens : this is not the point of the movie. The point of the movie is not to confronts these Eternals to the real world, which was already done a million time, but to put them into an existential crisis which causes a lot of dilemma. The Deviants are not bothering the other humans because they only attack Eternals, and we see at the end that kit Harrington has a more complex history thus he isn't surprised with magical abilities. Also, the Eternals are humanized. We see them banding with humans through the history of humanity, and there is a lot of slice of life scenes : the scene with the family of Phastos, the scene at the beginning where Sersi goes to the High School and teaching to smart kids, the scene where Makkari and Druig make the exchanges of objects at Babylon, nearly every scenes with Ikaris and Sersi, all those scenes are humanizing the Eternals. In fact they are far more humans than the characters in Avengers 1. Indeed, Avengers 1 is centered around the mission of saving New York only and doesn't have any slice of life scene, we need to wait for Avengers 2 to have a scene in Clint Barton's house. I strongly disagree on your talk about the visuals. The visuals in this film are amazing, very contemplative and naturalistic. The Deviants are really the only wrong part with it but even then, they have a very monstrous look that isn"t meant to be beautiful to look at. I agree with the fact that they are wasted by the story, but I forgive that because this isn't The Deviants' movie, and they do they job fine as antagonistic figures. They are like the frost giant in Thor 1. So in the end, I sincerely loved this movie because I enjoyed these characters and their emotional journey and existential crisis. I don't understand how this can be described as soulless when it fully has the soul of Chloe Zhao put into it and that it presents new themes and a new type of story for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yes, it changes the formula because the type of story is more an independent slice of life than a McMuffin quest, which was the case of nearly every Marvel of Phase 2 and 3, except some rare cases like Iron Man 3 or Civil War. To conclude yeah, I liked the movie, not because it was different or because its representations, but because I cared about the distinguished personalities of each one, and because it was a more subtle take on the superhero genre, that barely ressembles as a typical superhero movie, except the suits. You were right when you compared it to Zack Snyder, though. It's a lot like Watchmen in term of the structure and the narrative : a group of superhero reunite after the loss of one of them and we see flashbacks of everyone's story before revealing something about their existence and their mission, and after the revelation one of them opposes to the group because of his sense of duty and ends up killing himself. It was the movie where the characters felt the more humans as they have lived the full history of humanity, and the main purpose of the movie is to show humanity in their full form through history and geography. I can understand that one may find this messy, but soulless or formulaic I will never get why.

I don’t like how they did Ikaris towards the end. For a character that’s one of the key Eternals I thought that was weak ending. I expected more from the characters. They probably should’ve started with the Main 6 Eternals to work with.

I thought the movie was bad, the Score was AMAZING and I can't get it out of my head it's Ramin Djawadi what do you expect and I also did like Sprite.

I watched this movie and it was absolutely amazing.

The Gifted series (Thai series) formula could have worked for the Eternals. The series is about highschool students with special gifts. They focused on one character per episode then made episode 8 as where they came together to solve a conflict then in episode 9 they focused back on one character and used the last 2 episode for their revolution against the school director. This made the audience love and understand each character more in this way unlike its movie version where the students had no proper character development

I can honestly say this, "oh look it's a god fight" blaise attitude is something that I felt watching the few trailers I actually did watch. This feeling has been prevalent since Civil War for me. The problem that I see with the mainstream mcu is it's ALL about humanity. I know you mentioned you hate doing comparisons with the Snyderverse, but showing humanity through the eyes of the gods(As per the line from 2nd part of the title of Injustice......Gods Among Us) is a much better execution (when johns, tsujihara, yamada and sarnoff interference).

Respectfully strongly disagree. This criticism annoys me because we all complain about the marvel formula and ask for change, this movie gave us a good and new change. Yes, we got a CGI-heavy ending battle, but here is what I loved. Spoilers. 1. Each character of the Eternals was fleshed out with understandable and empathetic motivation and was developed in a unique way. I could even understand the pissed of deviant Kro that seeked revenge for the culling of his species. 2. The culling of the team through the movie raises stakes, when the Eternals are attacked I always felt a sense of dread 3. Consequences! Antman and the wasp was a well-recived movie that was campy and formulaic as fuck. The big issue with it is that there is a conflict save Janet van Dyne or save Ghost, the movie fucks this over by saving both when originally setting up one must die and the other must live, an anticlimatic and meaningless ending. This movie makes it clear that they save the earth and stop billions from being born or let earth die and may others live, and a choice is made at the cost of another. These implications are lacking in other movies where the conflict is not of morality but good vs evil. 4. Twists. It doesn't rely on the classic 'Eternals vs deviants' advertising and becomes something more, a complex two-sided civil war between Eternals. Every time I go onto the marvel film discussion side of youtube people are so critical of the new Marvel films. Respectfully shut the fuck up. Yes this movie is long, yes it has a weird start. But when it's all said and done and the twists come in, the plot kicks in and it's lovely. I feel it is unfair to discredit this move as a failed experiment. It is a very emotional, very grand movie that introduces a new way of storytelling. So if you are a marvel fan who keeps crying to change the marvel formula, here is something new, here is what you asked for. I and many others have enjoyed it, and if you look beyond rotten tomatoes people are enjoying this film for good reason.

Druig and makkari shows the "love for humanity" more than Seri. Its such a shame they didnt have much screen time.

"With no explanation" ... Did you watch the movie? Sersi tapped into the Celestial's power and used that to achieve their goal. As to how Sersi did it - well just like how she turned that deviant into a tree, we don't know yet. But obviously it's something they will explore later down the line.

I felt it was lazy how when they needed to explain something they would just jump to a flashback 🤷‍♀️

I have no idea what you are talking about. Each character was special and unique in their own way, I loved their personalities, the way they explained us how they contributed to human history, and their dynamic was ultimately wholesome (Gil and Thena made me cry), they truly felt like a true family for me and for a moment I found myself enjoying their interactions so much. Their powers are really interesting as well, not to mention they explain us about the literal creation of the Marvel Universe. How can that not be impactful? The conflict is very interesting. There's no "good or bad" in this movie, everyone has their own rightful motives as to why they make their choices. And the fact that no one acts with "wonder" around them, is probably because in the MCU universe people are already so used to superheroes. Besides, the eternals are not as popular as the Avengers on Earth. Yet I do think their powers were also mesmerizing. You don't need an audience for greatness.

THANK YOU! Finally....somebody eloquently presenting how I feel about this movie. I tried to like it, but after my 3rd viewing. It didnt change how I see the film. And the funny thing about it is, I didnt have any expectations at all. Yet it failed to solidify its place in the MCU. And instead, messed with what was established so far, in some cases. Chloe Zhao was not the right director for this film. I agree, smaller cast (diversed no less) would have been to their advantage. But even so, the story was low frequency. It lacked grandeur, I agree. In the end, it is a B movie compared to its MCU peers.

I liked this one a lot. Every complaint people have had about the franchise,they answered it. Not saying it's perfect but I feel a lot of people are ignoring all the ways it gave them that and focusing on the mistakes. No shade to you,Griffin. You're a terrific creative and I loved your Bond videos and work with Sean Chandler but a lot of people are being unfair with their criticisms.

Hmm I think I disagree w most of this video but it’s okay. I honestly loved the movie and had a blast with it. I didn’t feel like I needed to relate to the Eternals and I thought they were still interesting people. The humor and dynamics between them I thought was really well done so I still enjoyed the characters.

It wasn’t bad but it essentially good I’d say 6.5 out of 10

Thank you for your video essay. I think it comes to the target audience. This is a movie that does very well with kids and with people that did not have any expectations. The movie provides snipets that people digest easily and can have fun with. For example there are people that complain about the 4 hour Justice League. For me, it is my favorite Comics-based movie and I am so glad that it was done. In the case of Eternals, I do not find any of the philosophical concepts that other see. I do not find it a dense movie, complex o even remotely mythological. My problem with Eternals is that it lacks focus and therefore it wastes potential. I think this movie could have been broken down into 3. One movie about their family relationship. A second movie about the deviants evolving. A third movie about the celestials purpose. Instead we got 2 deaths and 1 human.

when I left the cinema after this movie with my friends, we were all like “yeah, it was alright” and the most emotion I felt (and the theatre felt) during it was seeing the Harry styles post credit scene, and the surprised murmuring during the ‘sex scene’. Compared to how i felt when i left Shang Chi, which is leagues better than this movie, literally so excited to see more of him in the next dr strange, and it was just so much more fun than this movie. Katy and Shang chi were so likeable and the villain in Wenwu was so compelling compared to whatever was going on in Eternals with Ikarus and my first thought after the movie was why did he change his mind so fast?? why was cersi the main character and not thena, who had a semblance of a personality with her whole madness thing? anyway great video man, you make some good points