Eternals

Thanks for my beloved Pink Floyd in the opening, but otherwise, please disregard this God-knows-what episode of the cancer of the contemporary film industry. In the monstrously overblown runtime, it all emotionally passes you by in a big arc and deals with uninteresting things that have no continuity within the Marvel franchise. Kevin Feige may have made good on his promise to give space to unconventional directors, but I still wonder at the unconventional Chloé Zhao for going in as a mere disposable craftsperson. (29/01/2022)

They say Eternals didn't pull in the audience in Czechia, and in the end there are a grand total seven of us in the theater. The timing of the premiere was sadly not ideal, and the competition had nothing to do with it. But I don't want to talk about that, let's get to the film. I don't think I've ever been this bored and disappointed by Marvel. I don't understand the need to make a movie into something that the typical viewer definitely isn’t looking for. Why try for depth when the characters are so simplistic? Next time you’d do better to send in a few extra monsters and pick some cooler dudes. I don't much care for these experiments. Of the characters, I think I liked Kumail and his cameraman the most, he made me laugh at least twice. I was looking forward to Dong-seok Ma, but I still like him a lot better when he's actually doing a bit of acting. If you want action and emotion, go see Bond, he's a real super hero. (09/11/2021)

Breathtaking scale, action with beautiful exteriors and a monumental story about nothing less than the reason for the continuation of our existence in the universe. Eternals is an untraditional family team movie that spans about 7,000 years during one strange pregnancy. Zhao has given a serious face to Marvel, introducing powerful topics and bringing everything to a satisfying ending, which promises great things in his future movies. The actors are well-chosen, the correct types and even though the inclusion is flagrant and makes you ask yourself "why?", it can be overlooked and excused as bowing to journalists, because it does more harm than good to the story. Let’s go to Ajak first. She’ll know what to do. (14/01/2022)

An MCU-film coupled with the Oscar-winning director of the notable Nomadland immediately caught my attention, making a visit to the cinema almost urgent - despite the rather lukewarm trailer. At times, Eternals quite blatantly tries to be the most multi-cultural, tolerant and all-encompassing film from Marvel, which it manages to do in a universally unobtrusive manner for most of its running time. Technically, it's an audiovisual orgy, but that's what we're used to with films like this. I'd like to single out the appearance of the Deviants and Celestials. Aside from that, I enjoyed the various abilities and characteristics of the Eternals (Thena being most interesting to me), who were given ample space to be introduced where possible – hopefully we'll learn more in a possible sequel. I don't want to spoil anything here, but I appreciated the idea regarding the Eternals' main quest – it was similarly unsettling to Thanos's snap. Both post-credit scenes were a bit odd, but they served their purpose – curiosity is a bitch. (04/11/2021)

I was completely indifferent to Eternals before its premiere, but in the end, it's surprisingly the first feature film from the MCU in a long time that I find at least interesting. For one thing, the motif of extraterrestrial beings overseeing the evolution of humankind for millennia and inscribing themselves in myths and legends is captivating, and I’d love to see something like that handled seriously outside the MCU. And secondly, I like the fact that the conflict underlying Eternals unfolds in morally quite ambivalent tones, which is not at all usual in this cinematic universe. I enjoyed it more when the characters solved these dilemmas, discussed them, than when they got into a fight with CGI creatures or with each other. But even the action scenes are among the best ones you can get. (06/11/2021)