Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ fails to impress with unfocused plot

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Photo Credit- Marvel Studios

Eternals features a large cast but struggles to tell a meaningful plot.

Katherine Daly, Staff Writer

“Eternals” is not your typical MCU film. As a darker and more mature film, “Eternals” lacks the lighter moments that maintain and uphold the usual Marvel magic. Marvel has finally served audiences a once-in-a-lifetime, delicately and gorgeously prepared, boring film that you will probably forget about within a day. Compared to other debut Marvel hero films, the action is minimal at best with a plot that leans more into the sci-fi genre. Its slower pace, thought-provoking elements and mind-bending space mysteries will bring audiences to tears with its frustrating plot. We follow along as the new team of Eternals struggle in a variety of different ways with their god Arishem and his grand design for the universe. Each of the Eternals has different feelings and reactions to what Arishem has forced them to do. The tension that spawns from this eventually divides the Eternals and sets all of them towards a conflict at the end of the film. 

 

Eternals has a great cast that is unfortunately wasted on limited characters that try to give life to choppy dialogue. The visuals in the film are gorgeous but not awe-worthy as great visuals have become standard for Marvel films, and “Eternals doesn’t do anything new with it that other films haven’t done before. The direction is decent enough and naturally represents equality by showing people for who they are and not for what an agenda demands them to be. Unfortunately, that simple idea is lost among the nonsense that perpetuates in the movie for far too long.  

 

This film will definitely stand out as many transitions between scenes feel unnatural. This creates a noticeable disconnect between consecutive scenes which will leave most people scratching their heads. It unfortunately leaves the actors struggling to weave all the layers of the story into something enjoyable. “Eternals does handle its large ensemble cast well, however it doesn’t leave much room for a more fleshed-out story, which it desperately needed. Every character is unique in design, attitude and beliefs, helping us discover characteristics that were tangled beneath an under-arching plot to save the universe yet again. Despite this, “Eternals does try to raise interesting philosophical questions, offering more intriguing moral dilemmas and themes that will go  over most people’s heads. There’s definitely not much to love when it comes to “Eternals, but while a lot of information is covered in quick succession, it’s not the worst film to see.