ETERNALS(2021)

Eternals is destined to be a footnote within the larger MCU. It's messy, flawed, and a beautiful anti-superhero biblical epic. It's a film filled with ambitious ideas and a sense of intimacy. It's a fascinating MCU film that feels constrained by the formula of the MCU.

Eternals, unlike its contemporaries within the MCU, is critical of the idea of fetishizing power in and of itself. The central thesis of Eternals lies in the question of wielding power and pondering the existence of their own creation and their purposes.

Religion and spirituality permeate throughout Eternals. While not explicit, it's filtered through the question of characters questioning their creation and their position as gods over Earth. It's a big theological idea in a summer blockbuster.

Eternals remains in conversation with the larger MCU and its place in it. The Celestials treat the Eternals as cogs for their own advancement, denying them their own agency and choice despite bestowing power on them. It's cognizant of the way MCU would treat this property alongside auteur-driven filmmakers.

Eternals has been advertised as an auteur-driven film directed by an auteur filmmaker, and Eternals acts as a limit case of this idea, with the film still hemmed in by franchise logistics and placating MCU fans with vapid continuity references and a CGI-driven third-act battle.

Eternals is bloated with a meandering first act that feels like window dressing for the actual meat of the story. It suffers from pacing issues with its overextended flashbacks that borderline come across as tasteless at times.

Eternals, at times, muddies into the "ancient astronauts" trope and plays it frustratingly straight during the "Tenochtitlan sequence." i.e., it fails to interrogate the status quo and justifies genocide for the advancement of an indigenous population.

Stories like this usually feature violence against the non-white population as rationally justified and also used as a justification for the technological advancements of the indigenous population. Eternals skirts around these tone-deaf and problematic story tropes in a tasteless manner.

However, despite these missteps, Eternals remains a big swing within the MCU with its bold ideas while tapping into the humanity underpinning these superhero stories. It's uneven, yet bold and audacious in spite of its limitations. It's a fascinating MCU film in its own right.

Writing: 6/10

Direction: 7/10

Cinematography: 8/10

Acting: 7/10

Editing: 5/10

Score: 8/10

Sound: 7/10

Prod Design: 9/10

Casting: 7/10

Effects: 7/10

Overall Score: 7.1/10