Eternals
{4/5} “You know what’s never saved the planet? Your sarcasm.”
Eternals, released in 2021
People who live forever from a planet called Olympia came to Earth 7000 years ago to defeat the Deviants. Now the Deviants are back. Sersei notices that, unlike before, the Deviants can heal themselves — and they’re coming after the Eternals. When their leader Ajak is killed by a Deviant, Sersei becomes leader — and learns the true nature of their mission.
There are pieces of a great movie in here, but it doesn’t cohere.
There are some terrific visuals. Scenes where the Eternals are bickering amongst themselves are good. Kumail Nanjiani is hilarious.
Fight scenes between the Eternals and the Deviants are generally not very interesting. I often didn’t feel connected to what was happening. Maybe, like No Time to Die, it tried to do too many things.
The credits say “Eternals will return.” Given Marvel’s track record, now that this origin story has been filmed the next movie could be even better.
Stars Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Lia McHugh. Directed by Chloé Zhao (Nomadland). The music by Ramin Djawad had some great moments at the beginning and end.
The previous movie in the MCU is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.