“When you love something, you protect it.” ⚠️

Best Scene: Ikaris and Ajak in Alaska

Eternals takes its lofty ambitions and struggles to hone in on anything. This is sadly one of the weakest MCU movies, simply because I did not care about what was happening. There are over 10 characters and they are all treated as part of the main cast. The movie has to spend so much time setting them all up, you can’t fully love any of them. I enjoyed the cast as I like the actors though no character has a clear moral code. They keep questioning what is right versus wrong even though the story is far from complex. As an audience member, I knew what was right yet the characters couldn’t figure it out. Richard Madden as Ikaris was my favorite character as I understood him the best. Most of the other characters come off as superficially funny, underwhelming, or just annoying. A smaller cast would have helped so much. Also, why is the comic relief cameraman in the movie more than Kit Harrington? 

The script is also too messy to tackle everything along with the action scenes. The story is told non-linearly which fundamentally is a problem. The main reason all the characters get back together surrounds an emotional moment that just falls flat. No development is done before the inciting incident, so it’s hard to feel what the movie wants you to. The understanding of the characters comes in flashbacks and certain characters don’t show up until the start of the third act! While it wasn’t hard to follow, it was choppy in execution. Finally, the action might be the weakest in the MCU. The entire movie is the Eternals battling these doggy dragon things called Deviants so the action was a “one-trick pony.” I enjoyed the opening 15 minutes but the action lost its novelty fast. Plus, the ending of the Deviants plotline felt lazy. The third act wasn’t that impressive either ( beautiful cinematography though). Eternals tries to do so much and it doesn’t work in most spots. I didn’t hate this movie but it is so flawed, long, and I’m unlikely to rewatch it.