Eternals

What would a filmmaker like Chloe Zhao, coming off her much-deserved Oscar win(s) for her cinematic masterwork, Nomadland, and known for small, intimate character pieces set in the American west, find intriguing about working within the MCU, specifically under the firm, not particularly creative-friendly, grasp of Kevin Feige? The needs of the masses don’t normally allow for overt Terrence Malick homages in a $200 million comic book epic, but Zhao is no ordinary studio lackey. While her sensibilities don’t seem like a usual fit for the style-adjacent Marvel and Chloe Zhao does indeed occasionally struggle to shine through the typical Marvel recipe, she succeeds in where it matters most; taking this franchise to interesting new directions and adding some gravitas in the process. Eternals achieves true, natural resonance in a franchise that doesn’t normally allow the time for such things.

Created by planet-sized gods known as Celestials, the Eternals have been tasked with looking over Earth and its people for thousands of years. Firmly instructed not to interfere, their protection only comes at the threat of an evil alien race called Deviants, thus explaining why these beings weren’t present during that whole Thanos debacle that wiped out half of humanity for 5 years. The Eternals have been on Earth for over 7,000 years, sitting aside as humanity commits one atrocity after another. The group of ancient gods, lead by Salma Hayek’s motherly, Ajak, have been apart for many years, but are ultimately brought together when one of their own is killed, seemingly at the hands of a Deviant.

Before the opening Marvel logo, Chloe Zhao quickly establishes a more thoughtful, weighted tone than most Marvel films. We follow Gemma Chan’s Sersi, an Eternal attempting to live a normal life with a steady job as a school teacher and a well-meaning boyfriend, a severely underutilized Kit Harrington. Her reunion with the Eternals means reuniting with her ex, Ikaris, an intense, smoldering Richard Madden, with whom she’s spent centuries with. Every core relationship in Eternals feels fully realized due to Zhao’s patient storytelling.

Zhao finds a deep connection with these characters, which is deftly brought to life by the films vast ensemble. Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo is more than the films comic relief. Finding new life as a leading Bollywood star, the egotistical Kingo brings with him a cameraman, Karun (Harish Patel), to document the Eternals’ journey, even if there’s no way that footage will ever get used. What’s introduced as a jokey gimmick is actually given a proper amount of earnestness by the end. Brian Tyree Henry, making a career out of stealing every scene he’s in, plays Phastos, the engineer of the group who becomes so disparaged by humanities endless atrocities, he settles down in the middle of nowhere to start a family. Henry delivers some wrenching moments of despair and infuses the genre with a degree of pathos we’re usually starved of. Angelina Jolie plays the fierce warrior, Thena, who suffers from a dementia-like illness that causes her to be a threat to anyone around her.

Surprisingly, it’s Eternals‘ existential themes that makes Chloe Zhao’s sensibilities a more than fitting choice for the material, allowing a deeper, more philosophical experience. The weight of sitting aside as the world tears itself apart is felt as the central characters wrestle with their emotions. Running at an admittedly exhaustive 157 minute runtime, Zhao explores the inner turmoil within the Eternals, giving each actor their own moments to shine. The added emphasis on character makes the inevitable third act battle feel tangible and adds genuine stakes and emotion in a franchise that too often forgets what exactly that means.

Despite the focus on character depth, Eternals has the massive undertaking of introducing the more outlandish, cosmic side of the MCU and Zhao largely succeeds on that front. Adapting the works of Jack Kirby is overwhelming just from a purely visual standpoint, but thematically, Zhao loses very little in her adaptation. While, like Dune, Eternals establishes a plethora of weighted backstory and exposition to sift through at the very top, but gradually allows the story to unfold in a more cohesive manner. Zhao is introducing us to giant gods that emerge through planets and follows an ensemble of characters over 7,000 years old, so its a fairly miraculous feat the end result is as accomplished as it is. The scale at which Zhao is operating on is so grand and operatic, you only realize afterwards how much the genuine sight of awe and discovery is taken for granted in the genre. What a treat that a Bollywood musical number is only among the top ten most memorable sequences.

The Eternals are actual gods and Zhao rightfully portrays them as such. From an opening text crawl that feels particularly reminiscent of Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Eternals is ripe with religious imagery and metaphors that are precisely as layered as one would hope from a filmmaker on the level of Chloe Zhao. The cinematography from Marvel staple Ben Davis is vibrant and the action sequences, filled with long takes and swift camera movements, make terrific usage of Zhao’s “invisible” camera.

At the end of the day, this is still a Marvel production produced by Kevin Feige, so although Eternals largely feels like a film directed by Chloe Zhao, it also occasionally doesn’t. The villainous Deviants are more blandly designed creatures used as cannon fodder. The overarching attempts at tying in the rest of the Marvel universe isn’t nearly as graceful as one would expect with Chloe Zhao behind it, in fact, it does feel like the filmmaker struggles to wrap her arms around the established universe. The obligatory post-credit scenes that will audibly excite every fifth person in the room feels noticeably lifeless this time around, as if Zhao was forced to add them in against her will.

Chloe Zhao finds grace and humanity in the godly figures of Eternals. Whenever she’s not bound by the Marvel formula, Zhao crafts a dense, thoughtful epic that explores morality with an elegance that lingers long past the end credits.