Marvel Studios’ Eternals

Thx for putting in words what I couldn’t describe myself. I couldn’t believe near the end where The Avengers get mentioned, the audacity. It’s a film you have to see to righteously chastise.

 

Saw it. Whatever. More comic book pseudo-myth nonesense. Honestly this level of goofiness works great stoned and staring at a comic (even then it’s kinda stupid), but Kirbys grand design of gods really sputters turned into slapstick, bad costumes and laser fights. I smoked it, but didn’t inhale

 

I bet y'all won't crap on Iron Man 2 anymore, huh?

Still looking forward to this but I have to admit my first reactions to the trailer and characters was "okay cool, I guess."

With Spider-Man and Doctor Strange coming up, unless this does something huge for the MCU, I'm not expecting a lot, especially in comparison. And that's okay. They can't all be Thor Ragnarok or Guardians

 

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the lack of a relatable hero or cohesive plot. The writing, scenes and garbled love interests were handled so poorly that I wanted to pull a "returnals" with my ticket stub. Just awful in every way. The first Marvel movie that I thoroughly hated. The director's choices were just wrong. Makes me nauseous that so much money was spent on this.

 

Don't like to be contrary, but the wife & I both enjoyed it. Layered, not rushed, marvellous cast and plenty of interesting leads into further storylines. Nothing to hate as far as we're concerned.

 

So I’m gonna have to disagree with Alex pop. Alex pop loves Ragnarok which I hated for the comedy because I like the serious first “Thor” I thought it was great. When they started making them a buffoon I got pissed off. Now for “the Eternals” I thought the story was so dumb that if it hadn’t been for the good comedy from the Indian actor and the actor playing part of the gay couple- This movie would’ve been worse than worse. But I actually laughed a couple times so if it wasn’t for the comedy in “the eternals” it could’ve been much much worse.

I couldn’t but help think they type cast Angelina Jolie as the High maintenance, out of her mind goddess of war. LOL

 

Dwelling upon it for a day, maybe I could warm to it more on a second viewing. I’ll give it another go once it reaches Disney+. I just realized that while Kingo’s story about Karun originally thinking that he was a vampire was passed off as a comedy, this was the first hint the MCU gave us that vampires exist (plus pair it with whose voice it is in the end credits scene and it is more obvious).

 

Eternals poses a challenge for a Marvel movie, just as it did on Marvel Comics' publishing universe. There's no connection with any sort of established reality, since Kirby made it all up out of whole cloth, and could have set it anywhere in the Marvel, DC or for all we can guess, the Charlton universes of reality, and it would not have made a difference. Spidey, who lives in the "real world", is connected to the Avengers. Black Panther and Wakanda, are steeped in racial and cultural resonance, and benefits greatly from an understanding of the audiences the material is addressing. Thor and Valhalla have a real connection to an established mythological culture.

I don't get this relevance to the Marvel Universe with Eternals any more than the Forever People fit into Jimmy Olson's world over at DC. It reminds me of a couple of the Marvel tv series which, denied access to certain characters, not to mention settings, due to contractual purposes, gave me no grounding in a world where I would know who these characters onscreen came from, aside from whatever the series was allowed to tell you. And as we all know, the Marvel Universe doesn't really work that way.

I'm not expecting those little "Soapbox Stan" blurbs in the corner of a movie screen with little quips like, "this happened when Thanos ordered sushi back in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, true believer!" A good story is a good story, and should not be required to exist in an all-connected universe in order to be "canon". But, that would be like Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner filming a romantic comedy that didn't involve New York City, a race to the airport, or a wedding...it just doesn't compute.

 

I watched it this afternoon and I thought it was interesting and enjoyable in places but overall just ok, certainly not one of Marvels best.

 

Ok movie.

Rob Stark and Jon Snow back.

Still liked Venom Carnage better.

Loved the after credit reveal.

 

The flashbacks were an epic fail. They didn't even read very well to show the pertinent civilizations. To do it right, they needed a linear timeline and should have chosen the right civilizations as settings for the backstory, honor the time sequence and let the story unfold like a real story. Instead they jump around and tried to get too cute with the reveals. Fail.

Everything Zhao chose failed, so the only real question is whether Disney or others influenced her to make those choices or whether she is just a crap director.

 

Why isnt it movie CGI getting any better? The character of “Puck” at the end looks totally phony And the worst looking CGI ever seen was for Clifford the big red dog the movie during a trailer.

 

Similarly I was surprised when David Lynch got to direct Dune. Seems Zhao as an indie film maker was out of her elements.

 

What if Eternals proved that Thanos was right?

MatPat strikes again:


Theory on Thanos' nature as a malfunctioning Eternal as well as a potential new cosmic bad dude that could be in the pipeline.

 

I agree they were underdeveloped, but the flashback gambit is like a "get out of development free" card. Without a linear approach to the storytelling, the reveals felt too forced and manipulative. I really do think this director is tone deaf to how to build a story and make dialog work. Exhibit B: Nomadland, where McDormand (net worth along with her significant other, $100 million) parades around as a homeless lady without a dime. Zhao's choices as a director prove over and over she's unconcerned with the audience reaction, unable to self-edit or think of the finished product from different perspectives.

 

Read today that Dr. Strange has had to do so many re-shoots, it's almost as if they're making the movie over! Not a good sign!

 

I agree. My whole family enjoyed it, even my comic book nerd kids who tend to be very critical of these movies (although to be fair my son had issues with how this fit into the Marvel universe). A lot grumpy people looking for things to complain about IMO.

 

Reshoots are a normal part of the filmmaking process and these blogs always go overboard when they happen, insisting they're the worst thing that could possibly happen, the film is doomed, etc etc.

 

Opinions vary!

Eternals is a Kirby creation, but this movie has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH KIRBY! JACK KIRBY is nowhere to be found in this movie!

Not just the trailer in the ENTIRE MOVIE! Kirby gave them ABSOLUTE GOLD and they went out of their way to TOTALLY SCREW IT UP!

 

Correct! It is excrement!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I saw it last week and could barely follow it, but I'm not familiar with the comics. They were definately looking to try something different from the standard Marvel formula.

But the movie was number one at the box office for the 2nd week in a row... Is this the future of the MCU? Dave Bautista said he isn't going to do any more GOTG. How many more Thor's can we expect? Of course Capt America and Iron Man are gone.

 

Got to see Eternals on Disney+ last night...wow...loved it. What an incredible cast too.

 

My only concern with the Dr. Strange preview is that scene where he and Wanda appear to be referencing something that happened in the TV show. I know they have to keep the whole Marvel-verse going but I think making those kinds of links is a big mistake. Throw in a little easter egg maybe but the movies should be independent of the shows. I dont want to have to subscribe to Disney+ in order to enjoy the movies and I won't. Hope it's not a big deal.