Review: Eternals

Review: Eternals

by Bradley Short, Reporter

Marvel Studios “Eternals” was released on Disney Plus to subscribers, without any extra fees, on January 12th. “Eternals” is Marvel’s latest space based epic, probably brought about by the success of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The story follows the Eternals, an immortal race of beings who were sent to Earth thousands of years ago to protect it from the Deviants. The Deviants are another ultra powerful species bent on wiping out all life on Earth. Over the course of the movie the titular Eternals discover that there is more to their immortal rivalry with the Deviants than they thought, as they unearth secrets about their true purpose.

This movie has received mixed critical reception so far, and based on my own viewing experience I can understand why. “Eternals” just never really clicked for me, and I found myself much more disengaged than I’ve been watching other Marvel movies. It can be hard to keep up with all the Eternals, considering there are 10 of them, Ajak, Sersi, Ikaris, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, Gilgamesh, and Thena. The classic Marvel humor of one-liners and snappy comebacks also doesn’t do this movie any favors. I, personally, would have preferred something a bit more serious for “Eternals.”

The best part of this movie, for me, has to be the cast. All the actors deliver good to great performances, but with so many stars, like Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington, and many more, it was expected. My favorite was probably Richard Madden as Ikaris. I was familiar with him as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, which I recently watched, so it was nice to see him in a leading role in “Eternals.”

Overall, “Eternals” is a flawed but decently enjoyable movie. Nothing spectacular, but it serves its purpose to introduce characters for Marvel’s latest phase. I would recommend this movie to Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans. But if you don’t care for Marvel’s other recent movies, you probably won’t like this one. I’d give “Eternals” a ⅗ overall.