Hulk Smash

Hulk Smash

Saturday, November 6, 2021

Film Review : the Eternals

 




There is a great deal that needs clearing up in regards to "the Eternals" . Both the "gay" superhero hype and the film's underwhelming Rotten Tomato score, which has marked it as the MCU's worst film. It shows you how fair weather critics can be, and how hyping a movie based on a marketing agenda with a false sense of inclusion is running out of gas, if this box office does to show the tank is already on empty. We had the "first" black superhero movie from Marvel studios, since we are not supposed to count "Blade" and if you did not think "Black Panther " was a great movie you were a racist. Though the tides have turned , since not liking  "Eternals "  does not make you a homophobe. Despite the gay back lash over this hype, this movie is far from "Brokeback Mountain". The fact the character is gay is a minor detail, really only accented by the most awkward kiss we have seen in a Marvel movie .In truth Kingo's character seemed more gay. Kingo's character also show how Marvel makes a mess when trying to force diversity, as this Indian heroes being a part of the Bollywood world plays into stereotypes in a more racist way. I am surprised it is not getting banned in India as well, it is worse that what they did with Shang Chi, But they needed an angle since know one knew who the Eternals were unless they were a hard core Marvel comics reader. 

The Eternals tend to only cross over in the more cosmic titles , with perhaps Hulk being the one exception, but he traverses so many places he runs into everyone at some point. They do not come in contact with the street level heroes at all really . Thor , Dr. Strange and Fantastic Four, sure even Captain America not so much ,really due to the fact they they are so far out of his league in terms of their powers. The movie conveys this pretty well. It does a good job of making the more unknow among the like Druig and Gilgamesh more fully formed characters. Where Ikarus is more card board due to his stoic nature. There is some gender flipping as Ajax is a make character and is portrayed n the film by Selma Hayek. What the movie does get wrong is the lineage of when these beings were created and in what order as well as leaving out some character in the comics that might have made for more interesting story telling.  

This movie could have uses some serious editing, but it was more fun than tedious. I think some of the elements that could have taken it from being just ok to great would have been to go ahead and use Black Knight, Star Fox and Pip. There was speculation of Hercules being in this . Instead we get characters used in ways that might not have played up to their strengths.. The Deviants would have been better served in a more humanoid form like they are in the comics , rather than just video game monsters. There is more fighting and action than the trailers lead you to believe I would say on par with Justice League. This movie is more like the Thor films than other Marvel movies. It is better than both Shang Chi and Black Widow, as well as Black Panther and Captain Marvel. It could have been better and maybe Marvel is going to learn their lesson when it comes to straying from source material, I think it will also serve as a wake up call regarding the direction they have been heading if it is not too late to course correct.