With yet another release comes another success for the Marvel cinematic universe. “Eternals” hit theaters on Friday, Nov. 5, and people flooded in to watch the two-and-a-half-hour movie. I wasn’t expecting much from the film because of the bad reviews it got from movie critics a few days before the movie came out; however, my expectations were highly exceeded

(Warning: Spoilers lay ahead)

“Eternals” follows the story of nine beings created to destroy creatures called Deviants to help aid in humanity’s evolution. The film goes back and forth between how the Eternals came to be and interacted with humanity over thousands of years and their current lifestyles after “Avengers: Endgame.”

The film has already earned over $170 million at the box office. This may not seem significant, but it definitely is since the movie came out less than a week ago. I work at a theater myself, and I have never seen a movie so busy since “Shang Chi” came out back in September. Even this film reached a higher gross in a matter of days. It’s not surprising that the film has already made this much, especially since it differs heavily from past Marvel movies.

Marvel seems to be moving toward more well-known actors portraying characters in their films. The film featured many popular actors such as Angelina Jolie, who played Thena, and Don Lee, who portrayed Gilgamesh (and is one of the most famous actors in South Korea). There was also an end-credit scene that showed the newest edition to the Marvel franchise: Harry Styles. He will play a large role in future Marvel films, especially in the “Eternals” series. In my opinion, it won’t do Marvel much good. Yes, it will be good for their next film and this well-known musician turned-actor will make box office numbers skyrocket, but the “Eternals” series will be remembered as “that one movie with Harry Styles in it.”

Having more well-known actors definitely helps a studio expand their franchise, but that wasn’t what set the cast apart for this film. That title belongs to one actress: Lauren Ridloff. She is the actress to play the first deaf heroine in a Marvel movie. It is nice to finally see Marvel expand their horizon and have characters who have a specific disability played by an actor who lives with it themselves. It not only creates a more realistic interpretation of the disability, but it allows for more representation in the film industry for those groups of people. This is a huge step to diversifying the Marvel Cinematic Universe after years of having mainly white, straight males with no disability portraying the heroes of the stories.

While the actors themselves were interesting, I wasn’t impressed with the powers of the Eternals. Some were very creative such as Sersi (Gemma Chan) who can change the molecular structure of any object and turn it into something else, like turning stone into water; however, most were basic. Ikaris (Richard Madden) for example is the basic hero. He can fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes. Then there was Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) who has super speed. However, what sets her power apart from Ikaris is that they put a spin on this basic power: allowing her to feel any type of vibrations, including those from vocal cords. If they did this with all the Eternals it would have made things more interesting. Even just the smallest spin on a superpower can make a huge difference because of the new possibilities that ability can be used for.

The powers of the characters didn’t have much creativity, but the style used to tell the story of the film did. That is one large thing that sets this motion picture apart from past Marvel productions. Rather than using short flashback scenes to tell part of the story, the filmmakers decided it would be better to tell the past and the present simultaneously, and they made the correct decision. It may seem a bit confusing flipping through the past and the present within the film; however, it plays a key role in showing the growth of the Eternals. For example, without this type of storytelling, the audience would be confused as to why Sersi and Ikaris seem uncomfortable around one another. The filmmakers could have had the characters just tell the audience right on the screen, but showing provides more of an impact than telling in this matter. 

Not only how the story was told, but the historical accuracy was unbelievable. The scene that caught my attention, in particular, was when the Eternals went to Babylon. I wasn’t interested in the scene at first, but once I saw the Babylon hanging gardens that all changed. While a wonder of the world, most films skip out on the historical significance of each place they portray. However, “Eternals” presented the gardens to perfection. Not only that but they even added the lore behind Gilgamesh (Don Lee) and other characters. The one that I enjoyed the most was the story of Ikaris. Every child knows Ikaris from Greek mythology, and of course, that is who the character was based on. At the end of the film, he flew into the sun to end himself after he came to reality about all the terrible things he had done to make his friend suffer, which is the same fate as the Ikaris from Greek lore. Having these connections in a film allows the audience to interact more and think about the film. It will not only help raise profit for the film industry but raise audience enjoyment, which is exactly what this film did.

While the film didn’t impress the box office, it certainly impressed me. I usually don’t enjoy these types of films: action-packed involving superheroes. However, the mix between better representation in the Marvel franchise and accuracy in the sets and lore made all the difference. I highly recommend everyone see this film. It has its flaws, but the overall experience was worth every one of the 157 minutes.

4/5