My Review of Eternals (2021)

 

Written by Chloe Zhao And Patrick Burleigh And  Ryan Firpo And Kaz Firpo

Directed by Chloe Zhao

Ikaris: "Eternals assemble."

For those who have too often proclaimed that they wanted the MCU to mix things up a bit, this movie might either the very thing you were hoping for or a classic example of being careful what you wish. For me, there's definitely elements of both here.

In the thirteen years since the MCU launched, we've had various solo and team up movies. The Avengers are a cinematic giant. The question this movie posed was whether or not these god like alien beings who have watched over humanity for 7000 years can match them? In terms of powers, definitely. In terms of impact, it's a bit harder to say.

For this movie introduced ten of these Eternals, along with the promise of more to come, should a sequel become a reality. The Eternals here are leader Ajak (Salma Hayek), second leader Sersi (Gemma Chan), the divisive Ikaris (Richard Madden), warrior Thena (Angelina Jolie) and her protector Gilgamesh (Don Lee). Completing the lineup would be speedster Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), mind controlling Druig (Barry Keoghan), as well as Bollywood sensation Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), illusion casting Sprite (Lia McHugh) and inventor Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry). 

It's admittedly a lot of characters to introduce at once and in news that wont be surprising to anyone, some of them are better utilised than others and not all of them make it out of the movie alive. The movie started with the title group coming to Earth on a mission by the Celestial Arishem (David Kaye). The Eternals believe it's their duty to protect the planet from the Deviants. The real mission however turned out to be somewhat darker instead. 

Dark enough for the team to splinter on whether or not to save the planet they've spent millennia becoming attached to or following the orders of a being who has constantly reset them and lied to them. Leading the sides of conflict are of course Sersi and Ikaris, who take the lovers to enemies to something far more complicated altogether. 

As a baddie, Ikaris probably worked better than the actual Deviants themselves. Even his other Eternals struggled to hold him back from allowing Tiamut to rise from the Earth. The use of a Uni-Mind might have put the main monster to sleep while Thena's own warrior skills dealt with the main Deviant, Kro (Bill Skarsgard) but Ikaris was the only villain to make an impact here. As for his final moment, given the nature of the Eternals, it's unlikely that he's gone for good.

While the villains are definitely the weaker part of the movie, most of the Eternals have their moments. There's a lovely rapport between Thena/Gilgamesh and Druig/Makkari while Sersi had an intriguing relationship with a civilian Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington), Kingo and his manager, Karun (Harish Patel) as well as Phastos's family life with husband Ben (Haaz Sleiman) and son Jack (Esai Daniel Cross). Diversity definitely is the  biggest strength of this movie.

- Mid credit scene introduced Eros/Starfox (Harry Styles) who offered to help Thena, Druig and Makkari to find Sersi, Kingo and Phastos.

- Post credit scene set up Dane Whitman to take on the mantle of Black Knight with a voice cameo from a future character getting their own solo movie.

-This movie not only featured a same sex kiss with Phastos and Ben but also a sex scene with Sersi and Ikaris. 

- Chronology: 2023 as well as various time periods and locations. 

Eternals has lofty ambitions, some of which are successful while others are not. It's a beautiful movie in some parts bit also too long for it's own good. The humour lands in some scenes and flatlines in others. The serious moments are good, as are the set ups for future MCU projects but the main monsters are poor. Saying that, I liked a lot of the movie and I definitely want to see Zhao tackle a sequel and learn from what didn't really work here. It's not the MCU at it's best but it's far from the worst as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10

SDCC 2019 - Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 Announcement (Spoilers Included)

They sat out SDCC last year and this year upon their return, Marvel decided to go big with the announcement of five movies and five streaming shows on upcoming service, Disney+

So, here's a look of what we can actually expect in the next two years from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Black Widow: Due for release on May 1st 2020, this prequel movie will see Scarlett Johansson reprise her role as Natasha Romanov in a movie that is rumoured to be set during the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Joining Johansson here will be David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, O. T. Fagbenle as Rick Mason, Rachel Weisz as Melina/Iron Maiden as well as Ray Winstone in an undisclosed role. The main antagonist for this movie will be Taskmaster. Filming for this movie started in May.

Eternals: Due for released on November 6th 2020, this movie will focus on a space battle between the titular group and their enemies, the Deviants. Rounding off the cast for this movie are Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, the leader of the Eternals, Lia McHugh as Sprite and Don Lee as Gilgamesh. There's still some more casting for this movie to be confirmed but filming will begin in September in London for this one.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Due for a February 12th 2021 release, this movie had been fast tracked by Kevin Feige since December 2018 and we now know that the title character will be played by Simu Liu with Tony Leung Chiu-wai portraying the Mandarin and Awkwafina also cast in a role in the film. Filming for this movie will take place in Australia within the next few months.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: Due for a May 7th 2021 release, Benedict Cumberbatch's surgeon turned magical superhero will be getting a second solo outing and this time he'll be backed up by Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch as Nightmare has been confirmed as the main antagonist for this movie. This movie will also be tied into Olsen's upcoming Disney+ series, WandaVision, the latter which will stream prior to this movie's release.

Thor: Love And Thunder: Due for a November 5th 2021 release, I think we were all shocked earlier last week to find out that Chris Hemsworth was getting a fourth solo movie and with director Taika Waititi returning following the success of Thor: Ragnorak, this movie will not only see Thor reunite with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as the latter looks for a queen but in a major surprise, Natalie Portman will not only reprise her role as Jane Foster but she'll also be playing Lady Thor for good measure too. Between finally confirming Valkyrie's bisexuality and giving us Lady Thor, this movie isn't messing about.

Elsewhere, there was another surprise announcement of Mahershala Ali being confirmed as Blade for an upcoming movie while sequels for Black Panther, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Captain Marvel were confirmed with hints of mutants eventually making it into the main cinematic movies. However the fourth phase will seemingly be about the five above movies I mentioned and five upcoming television series, leading to this bit.

With Disney+ due to debut in the next few months, MCU fans will have a big incentive to watch the five upcoming series they're planning as these series will tie into the main cinematic universe in a fairly big way. First up will be The Falcon And The Winter Soldier with both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their respective roles with Emily VanCamp and Daniel Brühl set to reprise their roles as Sharon Carter and Baron Helmut Zemo from August 2020. Then it'll be WandaVision, focusing on the relationship with Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany's Vision while Teyonah Parris will appear as an adult version of Monica Rambeau while Loki will see Tom Hiddleston's mischievous trickster in a post Avengers: Endgame timeline. Both those series will debut in early 2021. After that, we've got What If…?, an animated anthology series with Jeffrey Wright voicing the Watcher and several familiar characters appearing in rather different circumstances, with a mid 2021 date being earmarked for it's release. The last series then will be Hawkeye with Jeremy Renner reprising the title role but also handing it over to Kate Bishop. This show will debut in late 2021.

Meanwhile it's also been confirmed that Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD will end after seven seasons. The show currently into it's sixth season, airing on both ABC and E4 respectively will be the most successful of Marvel live action show in spite of it often being ignored by the MCU itself (although Clark Gregg did recently play Agent Coulson in Captain Marvel). I stopped watching the show a few seasons back but it's incredible that the show lasted as long as it did. I also think that following it's imminent demise, the only Marvel shows we'll be getting for the foreseeable future will be on Disney+

So that's the next two years for the MCU sorted then. What were the most exciting announcements for you? Which movie or streaming shows are you most eager to see? Was there something you wish had been announced but wasn't?