Colossal and Sexually-Romantic Dynamism: What Critics Say About Marvel's The Eternals

On Monday, November 8, the 26th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe "The Eternals" will be released in Russia.

The project was directed by Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, who directed such films as "The Land of the Nomads" and "The Rider".

Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani and others played the central roles in The Eternals.

In the center of the plot of the tape - the Eternals, an immortal alien race.

They have been living on Earth for seven thousand years.

Until recently, the heroes were hiding among people, but after the events presented in the film "Avengers: Endgame", they have to come out of the shadows and unite against the most ancient enemies of mankind - deviants.

The first film critics who had a chance to see the picture, first of all, note its unprecedented scale.

The action covers the entire globe and the entire human civilization.

In addition, many different characters appear in the tape, and viewers only in the first minutes learn the epic story of the origin of the Eternals.

But, as the author of The Guardian Steve Rose notes, even this is not all that forms the scale of the film.

“The Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it is just a provincial wilderness in comparison with the colossal scale of the new part of the epic, covering such horizons of space and time that the very attempt to squeeze it all into one film can be considered almost a scientific breakthrough.

In “The Eternals” literally everything is grandiose, in which both the strength and the weakness of the film are at the same time, "the journalist writes.

Many critics agreed that The Eternals was not your typical movie in the universe. It shows the author's style of Chloe Zhao, which is distinguished by an abundance of landscapes and an extremely realistic, almost documentary picture. So in the new tape, according to the author of The Los Angeles Times, Justin Chang, the Avengers are only casually mentioned, and instead of stories about the physical properties of the tesseract and the twists and turns of Asgardian politics, “perfectly verified shots of sandy beaches, unimaginable rock formations and active volcanoes” appear on the screen. Observer author Oliver Jones writes that for the first time in a project like this, landscapes are as important as battle scenes.

“But all this is no longer so important when she (Chloe Zhao. -

) takes close-ups of the incredible faces of the actors.

Overflowing with the strongest emotions, their faces are a reminder that inside the sparkling and tirelessly working mechanism, at least this time, the heart beats and the soul lives, "the reviewer believes.

Other critics share a similar opinion, noting that an important distinguishing feature of The Eternals has become an emphasis not on action, but on people with all their personal dramas.

First of all, the story of Sersi (Gemma Chan), who had a relationship with Ikaris for several centuries, is important for the plot.

The heroes parted, but later, in "The Eternals", they meet again.

At this point, Sersi has another lover.

This is how a love triangle appears on the screen.

According to Oliver Jones, this twist brings a "sex-romantic dynamism" to the picture that is not typical of Marvel projects.

Other central characters also got their own stories, however, according to Steve Rose, not all of them came out so successful: for example, the personality disorder of the heroine Angelina Jolie seemed unconvincing to him.

Some minor Eternals barely manage to make themselves known, Rose says.

• © Still from the movie "The Eternals"

Critics also noted the high inclusiveness of the film: four Eternals are white, three are Asians, two are black and one is Hispanic.

In addition, a gay, deaf character and an androgynous teenager appear on the screen.

However, according to David Rooney, the presence of these characters in the picture is due to the plot.

Interestingly, The Eternals brings up a multitude of pressing philosophical topics.

“This film poses in a big way the questions we face every day.

How to understand and understand the difference?

Why do we give such value to humanity, when people often do not seem to value each other? ”- says Oliver Jones.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writes that the fight scenes, contrary to the tradition of the genre, have become secondary here.

The journalist emphasizes: they are well set, but somewhat mechanistic.

He got the impression that "Zhao invested even more in emotional interaction than in the numerous battle scenes that unfold in the vastness from the Aztec empire to the Amazon valley."

However, in general, the visual component of the picture, in his opinion, is at its best.

Spectacular, but at the same time naturalistic special effects make the Eternals, despite their superhuman capabilities, the inhabitants of the world familiar to the audience.

The plot of the film, according to Oliver Jones, brings to a new level the theme of reckoning children for the mistakes of their ancestors, which was previously raised in the projects "Black Widow" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

In this case, the Eternals challenge their creator, the celestial Arishom.

Despite all the advantages of the picture, Justin Chang believes that its authors have not been able to avoid genre clichés.

“What seemed fresh and uplifting turns out to be something on edge,” writes Chang.

He explains that the plot of the picture boils down to the fact that the fate of the world depends on teamwork, as well as on the realization of a long-suppressed potential by one character.

“It’s a disheartening realization that the movie we’ve seen is one of the most interesting films Marvel will ever make, but at the same time, I would like to believe, the least interesting in all of Chloe Zhao’s current and future filmography,” concludes Chang.

Another drawback of the project, reviewers call a complex narrative and oversaturated plot.

They note that the filmmakers put too many events and ideas into one full-length project.

At the same time, due to the extremely serious storytelling, the tape is not too exciting.

Oliver Jones cites The Eternals as the most important Marvel film, reminding viewers of the real possibilities and challenges of filmmaking beyond making a profit.

“The Eternals” go beyond the dominant fantasy genre and fit into the filmmaker’s manner of focusing on inter-human intimacy against the backdrop of a large-scale canvas of the natural world, ”writes David Rooney.

He emphasizes that in calm scenes, the film seems more alive compared to other films of the same genre, and the emphasis on the feelings of the characters smooths out the somewhat chaotic plot.

"Although the plot of" The Eternals "was not without some flaw and unnecessary intricacy, which slows down and complicates the narrative, being a large-scale and persistently serious piece of world-building, focused on a moral dilemma, the film still succeeded," concludes the author of the Thrillist portal Esther Zuckerman.