Film Review: Eternals Is The Nomadland of The MCU

There are films of which the story makes you care about the characters, and then there are movies where the characters makes you care about the story. Marvel’s Eternals, out November 5 in theaters, is the latter, and Chloé Zhao is a MASTER at presenting humanity in the forefront, and allowing plot to weave through the million emotions of somebody trying to find their purpose beyond the meanings and plans attributed to them. It is for this reason that Eternals stands out as a Marvel film; it is deeply emotional and alters the formula we know, which some will love and some will hate.

As we meet Sersi (Gemma Chan), she is swooping through insta filters and contemplating whether she should move in with Dane, and Makkari (Lauren Midloff) is zipping through the world and away from such drama.  Meanwhile, Sprite (Lia McHugh) wishes she could grow up so she can do the “fun things” that adults do like club and drink. Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) is trying to expand his Bollywood superstardom, while Ikaris left the family after finding out what “glues” them together is pretty toxic. Druig (Barry Keoghan) has isolated himself because he is sick and tired of this violent world, and Gilgamesh is taking care of Thena (Angelina Jolie) as she struggles with her memory. All while, Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) has retired from being an inventor to have a family, and Ajak (Salma Hayek), the mother of the group, has watched her children spread across the earth trying to find their “way” through it. Just on that premise alone, it can feel like I am discussing an episode of a 90s sitcom or dramedy airing on HBO Max.

I kind of divide the reception of Eternals between those who go back to Youtube  and re-watch the action sequences versus those who re-watch the scenes where Loki and Thor hold a family conversation and, hopefully, hug. Watching Eternals, I could not help but think of Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland and how the movie weaves sentimentality first and the struggles that inspire it second. Despite some of the most stunning visuals you will ever see and fight sequences that give you the typical MCU, otherworld exhilaration, the movie felt rather quiet and slow in pace compared to Avengers: Infinity War, which shared the same 2 hour and 37 minute running time. Why? Because it felt very conversational. 

Eternals was like watching a Game of Thrones episode, beyond the fact that Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman and Richard Madden as Ikaris was there. There were several scenes where characters discussed themes of family, destiny, and what it means to be human. In essence, it was a philosophical movie veiled as superhero one, which is why despite costumes, CGI, and comicbook characters that I have read before; it all felt different. Its cosmic scope was grounded unlike any other Marvel film, of which some will find it boring and plain, particularly, because comicbook films have become our after-work adrenaline rush. No matter their length, they absorb in story, quickness, and imagination, but Eternals gives you the option to be consumed by its soul more than its narrative. 

For the first time, in a Marvel film, I was not meeting a powerful being as much as human a being. This was not about a “regular guy” who got swept up in galactic issues as much as galactic beings wondering what it meant to be regular. Hence, Eternals feels like a very mythic play from Shakespeare. Through multiple acts and instances of quiet, solo-pondering from it characters, you feel like you are watching a character piece more than an epic, even if, again, it looks like one. Luckily, the cast is phenomenal and it is impossible to walk away from the film without having one character as a favorite or feeling seen through the journey of another. Yet, I can foresee those who will LOVE this fresh dynamic and approach to comics, even seeing it as more accurate, while those who wish the formula stayed the same.