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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: MinistroRaven on October 20, 2021, 08:30:48 PM
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Reports are saying the movie has 2 post-credit scenes.
Social media embargo has been lifted I copied some of the tweets here:
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Thus far, phase 4 has been a bit of a let down for me. And the reviews I have heard from the world premier were not glowing. So I have pretty low expectations. But that's ok. I'm sure it'll be "fine," and that's enough.
Kinda surprised New Rockstars hasn't put out anything on it yet. I know for a fact that Eric Voss was at the world premier in L.A.
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Yeah, my expectations are not very high, and hearing people say that it feels like a DC movie does not help (not a big fan of what DC has done so far). But, this could be a pleasant surprised. I will be there opening weekend (Sunday) on a 11am showing :corn
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Caught a 730 showing last night right after work and I gotta say, I quite enjoyed it. Not my favorite MCU film of the year (still Shang-Chi) but it was way better than Black Widow. The short of it, it gets somewhere between an 8.5 and 9.0 out of 10 from me.
I thought Madden and Chan killed it as the "main" leads of the film, their chemistry was really believable and I enjoyed their scenes together. Sadly because the cast is so big, there are a few Eternals who don't get enough screentime or have limited development (Thena, Awake, Makkari), but I enjoyed seeing what we got of every Eternal (including the one in mid-credits scene).
The film is SO beautifully shot, some amazing Cinematic sequences, especially in the third act, which thankfully takes place during the daytime, unlike the other action setpieces set in London and the Amazon jungle (well that may have been daytime but the foliage was so dense, it may as well have been dusk or dawn). The score wasn't a bit standout for me, to be honest, but the use of Pink Floyd at the start put a huge smile on my face!
And the post-credits scene with Dane has me amped up for his return, but who was talking to him?!? I *must* know!
-Marc.
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Glad you liked it. I am hoping I do as well.
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Just got back, thoroughly enjoyed it. Huge in scope, so big that it seems cramped if that makes any sense, but I love stuff that's ludicrously outlandish so this fit the bill. Definitely in the upper half of the MCU, though not sure where to put it.
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I was pleasantly surprised and I don't get the negative reviews. I'm not gonna say I was blown away but to me this movie felt a lot better than Shang Chi or Black Widow who were both just so standard-MCU with no interesting twist or added dimension to it. For me the set up of Eternals was interesting and some of the ideas in the movie such as "do we interfere or not?" felt like a nice extra dimension on top of the rest.
So far this phase I'd say Eternals > Shang Chi > Black Widow
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Saw it today. Not excessive to call the film stunning. If you thought the universe was large after seeing Infinity War and Endgame, you are wrong. The scope and ambition of this film is incredible.
See it in IMAX if at all possible.
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Saw it today. Not excessive to call the film stunning. If you thought the universe was large after seeing Infinity War and Endgame, you are wrong. The scope and ambition of this film is incredible.
See it in IMAX if at all possible.
Yeah, the newly induced perspective of the celestials really blows things up. Love the last celestial scene where he confronts Sersei
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Just saw it in IMAX. So refreshing to see something so good and so fresh.
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Unfortunately, the AVX format screen around here was also showing it in 3D, which jingle.son and I weren't too interested in doing - so we were relegated to a 'regular' format. The thing that sucked was that the projector wasn't calibrated properly, and there were more than a few moments you tell (ie, slightly out of focus). None-the-less, great film. A lot more character driven than action driven, and I appreciated that.
@ Marc's last question, jingle.son tells me it's Blade
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Unfortunately, the AVX format screen around here was also showing it in 3D, which jingle.son and I weren't too interested in doing - so we were relegated to a 'regular' format. The thing that sucked was that the projector wasn't calibrated properly, and there were more than a few moments you tell (ie, slightly out of focus). None-the-less, great film. A lot more character driven than action driven, and I appreciated that.
@ Marc's last question, jingle.son tells me it's Blade
My daughter confirms it's Blade.
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Why would it be Blade?
Ohhhh. Ebony Blade…..gotcha. :laugh:
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I liked the movie. It was dense with lots of dialogue but that was a good thing. Wouldn't say is a top MCU movie but is not as bad as reviews are making it seem.
I had a few issues with it, specially that some scenes felt disconnected, but overall an enjoyable movie. Looking forward to watching it again at some point.
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Why would it be Blade?
Ohhhh. Ebony Blade…..gotcha. :laugh:
My kid said it was confirmed as Mahershala Ali's voice.
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Why would it be Blade?
Ohhhh. Ebony Blade…..gotcha. :laugh:
My kid said it was confirmed as Mahershala Ali's voice.
Had to look it up but looks like you’re right. No idea why Blade would be there though.
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Why would it be Blade?
Ohhhh. Ebony Blade…..gotcha. :laugh:
My kid said it was confirmed as Mahershala Ali's voice.
Had to look it up but looks like you’re right. No idea why Blade would be there though.
Kit's character is the Black Knight, and I guess the two are comic related or something.
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Not aware of anything but who knows?
Anyway. I enjoyed the film but it did have some real problems and there’s some things I would change. I’d give it a 7? Something like that.
Also the CGI on that post credits character was…..shockingly bad. I am genuinely surprised.
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Unfortunately, the AVX format screen around here was also showing it in 3D, which jingle.son and I weren't too interested in doing - so we were relegated to a 'regular' format. The thing that sucked was that the projector wasn't calibrated properly, and there were more than a few moments you tell (ie, slightly out of focus). None-the-less, great film. A lot more character driven than action driven, and I appreciated that.
@ Marc's last question, jingle.son tells me it's Blade
It’s not blade. It’s Astral Merlin
My daughter confirms it's Blade.
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Articles I’m reading suggest that Chloe herself confirmed it was Mahershala Ali / Blade.
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Articles I’m reading suggest that Chloe herself confirmed it was Mahershala Ali / Blade.
Yes, it was Mahershala Ali.
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Just came back. Not sure what to say about it. Wasn't bad. Was certainly quite different, and that's a good thing, but wasn't especially affecting.
Liked a lot of the actors' performances. There's a lot of characters in there.
About the same as Black Widow for me but deserves an extra point for trying something unusual.
Mid end credits scene - drunken cgi gnome and another character. Didn't care about this one bit.
End end credits scene - more intriguing. I don't know any of these characters, though.
I'll be watching Shang Chi on Disney+ at the weekend.
EDIT: Finding myself thinking about Eternals a lot this morning. The thing Marvel continues to do well is the character work. I cared about most of the characters, I realise.
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Yeah, the acting and characters were great. The only one I did not care for was (A)thena. Nothing wrong with the acting, but the character did not do much for me. I wished we would've seen more of Ajak.
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Really not sure why this movie is being panned by "critics" both formal and informal (ie, Rotten Tomotoes). I thought it was upper-middle of the pack for the MCU.
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Really not sure why this movie is being panned by "critics" both formal and informal (ie, Rotten Tomotoes). I thought it was upper-middle of the pack for the MCU.
Same here. Definitely more character work/conversation than in many Marvel films, but it didn't skimp on action or spectacle.
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Really not sure why this movie is being panned by "critics" both formal and informal (ie, Rotten Tomotoes). I thought it was upper-middle of the pack for the MCU.
The two main criticisms seem to be: It's too different from other Marvel movies, or It's exactly the same as other Marvel movies. Yes, these are mutually contradictory. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know which, if either, of these 2 positions are valid. I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
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Finally got to see this on Tuesday. I liked it. It wasn't upper tier MCU by nay stretch, but it was a solid entry. It was beautifully shot and the acting was tp notch. My only complaint was that I felt the CGI was sub-par. The semi-human Deviant guy didn't look very good and that dude in the mid-credits scene was awful. I'll be honest, I'm kind of glad they killed off a few of the Eternals, but it was too many people to do justice to. Future films will have fewer characters to focus on and I think that will make them better.
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Finally saw this tonight. I thought it was really good.
One thing I started to wonder was, if the earth was acting as a sort of incubator for this celestial, is his entire body still half of submerged in the earths crust/core? Did she just turn the entire earths core into a giant block of ice?
Now that I understand that the end credit scene involved Blade, I’m wondering what the boyfriends character has to do with it?
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Finally saw this tonight. I thought it was really good.
One thing I started to wonder was, if the earth was acting as a sort of incubator for this celestial, is his entire body still half of submerged in the earths crust/core? Did she just turn the entire earths core into a giant block of ice?
Now that I understand that the end credit scene involved Blade, I’m wondering what the boyfriends character has to do with it?
I thought she turned him into stone. No matter, it's one of those things where we need to ignore the basic physics of it since it'd probably rip the earth apart.
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Saw it last night. Visually, it was stunning. Felt like the humor was pretty understated for a Marvel film, and when they went for a joke, it usually landed. And I applaud them for finding a nice balance in trying to do something that is different for the MCU, while having just enough connective tissue to feel connected.
That said, it was just not a "good" movie. Easily my least favorite movie in the MCU, and didn't at all feel like MCU quality. The writing itself seemed poorly done, and while it seemed like they were trying to keep the threat ambiguous to try to keep the audience unsure of what the ultimate threat actually was, the movie never seemed to do enough to make me feel like the writers were confident in defining the threat. It just felt like an incohesive mess.
And another thing this film had a problem with is that it introduced far too many new characters for one film. There wasn't time to develop them, and as a result, I didn't care about any of them. The MCU has done a FAR better job with teams of heroes in past films. All of the Avengers-centric films benefitted from individual characters having solo films or appearing in other films so that when you got to the team-up films, you didn't have an entire team that was entirely new. The notable exception is Guardians of the Galaxy, where they dumped a whole team of previously-unknown characters on us all in one film. But a few key differences made it work: (1) There were only 5 guardians, rather than 9 eternals. Even 5 is stretching it and often could be too much. 9 just compounds that problem. (2) Gunn just did a fantastic job writing the characters to give them development. Draxx and Groot were a bit understated and one-note, but that was fine. We got enough to understand who they were and what their motivations were, but they were designed to be more "support" members of the team, and it worked. But overall, the characters were written incredibly well. (3) The plot itself was well written, and served the characters well. It didn't try to do too much, but the conflict was defined and understandable, and the stakes were such that you cared about the outcome. In short, Gunn didn't try to do too much, and did what he did VERY well. In contrast, Chloe Zhao and her team tried to do far too much, and overall executed it very poorly.
There are other things I disliked about the film that probably aren't worth getting into and debating. But overall, this this film was a fail and confirms where I feared the MCU is heading. Marvel gave us an unprecedented three phases of pretty spectacular storytelling. But they are no longer "must-see" going forward. And probably some storylines I will avoid.
Overall rating: Probably a 2/10. No interest in seeing it again or acknowledging it as part of the MCU. I consider it to be a serious misstep by Marvel on so many levels. Highly disappointing, even going in with pretty low expectations.
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Ouch. Sorry to hear it was such a letdown.
I'm really curious to see how I feel about it when I watch it again (whenever it streams on D+).
I felt similar to you in some ways but have found myself thinking about some of it positively afterwards.
I didn't like: the opening battle scene where all the Eternals are fighting, smirking and generally looking ridiculously smug. Not an attractive look.
Nor the Indian Eternal. Seemed like his super power was being annoying.
Nor the child eternal. Not.a Scrappy Doo size annoyance but hard to care about her.
Gemma Chan and Richard Madden (names right?) were both attractive and charismatic in the extreme. Could watch them all day.
Curious to see what Marvel do over the next couple of years and what kind of world they conjure up. Seems impossible to build any level of commitment from people approaching IW/EG but they're so capable, I'm confident that they can deliver something compelling. These first two movies have not been amazing, imo, but Wanda and Loki hit the target for me. Spidey and Strange should leave a mark with their next movies. If they manage that, we'll be ok, I suspect.
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Like someone mentioned earlier, they did “thin the heard”. 3 died and 1 became human. And while I’m sure that gives Sprite a chance to appear in an older form, I don’t know what kind of powers she’ll have. That only leaves 5 left.
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Like someone mentioned earlier, they did “thin the heard”. 3 died and 1 became human. And while I’m sure that gives Sprite a chance to appear in an older form, I don’t know what kind of powers she’ll have. That only leaves 5 left.
And that's kind of indicative of the problem. 3 of the 10 (I mistakenly said 9 earlier) died, and I didn't really care. It basically went:
-Ajak dies. Reaction: Oh. I think I might have liked the character if I knew more about her. But I don't. Kinda surprised that they would get Salma Hayak and kill her off right away. So...I guess that's unexpected. But I feel absolutely nothing from this.
-Gilgamesh dies. Reaction: Kinda glad, actually. He seemed like a character I should have liked. But his dialog was written so poorly that I lost count of the eyerolls after some of his lines. But I was kinda on the way to being touched by his relationship with Thena. Still, I mostly feel nothing.
-Ikaris dies. Reaction: That would actually be a poetic, clever ending for him if only I cared for his character at all. But I don't.
When Vision, Tony, Natasha, and Gamorra died, there was an emotional impact. And, yeah, it's almost unfair to compare because we had many years and several films to get attached to those characters. But that's the point. The emotion was earned with those characters. There was no emotional connection earned with any of the Eternals. If you want to do single-film appearances, I definitely felt more of an impact from Quicksilver's death. Or Skurge. Or Yinsin. But I just didn't care enough about the Eternals to feel much of anything.
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I only disagree about Gilgamesh. His character was noble. I cared that he had the cooking passion while taking care of Thena.
I wish we had more of his back story.
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I enjoyed the film a lot more than you Bosk, but I totally get your issues with them and largely agree. I've been thinking about it, and I realized what I would change about the movie to make it better (in my eyes at least).
In no real order....
1) Agreed about too many characters. I'd consolidate and merge a few. For instance, I'd merge Gilgamesh and Druig. I really loved both characters, but I think you could have easily made them one character and saved some time. Also Sprite and Kingo. This one hurts since I also loved both. In the comics, there's a whole thing where Sprite is a child star. Could've done that with someone filming her and combining those elements.
2) Have the Eternals already know the celestial plan and instead of discovering it, turn against them because of their love of humanity. This allows the exact same dynamics, where some fight against the celestials, Ikaris fights for them, maybe Sprite or whatever does the Kingo thing and peaces out, but it cuts a TON of the needless exposition.
3) Do something....anything....with the Deviants. It felt like the first 2/3 of the movie was that they had to stop the Deviants, then the last 3rd just shifted gears to a totally new plot and still had Deviants that no longer served any actual purpose. If the Deviant hadn't shown up at the end, it wouldn't have made any difference at all.
4) Honestly, just a tighter script. The directing was beautiful. Acting was good. Etc. But the story was just....spread too thin and didn't leave much to leave a big impact.
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I keep hearing buzz about phase 4 being a downturn so far, and I feel like it’s grossly premature to say that.
I hardly count BW since it technically takes place in the phase 3 timeline. Shang-Chi (as I stated in that thread) is an incredible film that easily enters the top half (maybe top 6?) of the movies, and definitely improves with a 2nd viewing. And The Eternals isn’t going over that well, but most agree that it at least trying to be different. And most of the shows have been pretty successful with generally very positive feedback.
That’s really just 2 films...one excellent, one not so much. And 4 TV shows, with What If being the only one with fairly meh feedback.
So I’m not seeing this supposed drop in quality that some sites are buzzing on.
Even before Endgame, we had a share of movies that got very “meh” feedback. Black Panther and Captain Marvel leap immediately to mind. So I think the MCU is just moving forward with the pattern of keeping up a good over arching story, with some parts being wonderful and others just being averagely entertaining.
But this might be a post for the main MCU thread
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It seems to me they needed the deviants to explain their non-interaction policy.
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The Deviants were definitely not a great aspect. I enjoyed the fight scenes well enough but, again no emotional engagement.
The Sprite story was almost interesting. In the Black Hammer comics there's a character called Golden Gail who is stuck in a girl's body and she's really fucking bitter, smokes endlessly, etc. She may well be based on Sprite for all i know (I'm not well versed in superhero comics but BH is an homage to classic tropes). That could have been cool.
The mute Eternal was great and I loved the inclusion. Didn't feel at all forced but we knew nothing about her again. Her character did start to show cracks in the wider hero comics source material, however. She's a mute Flash. Ikaris is a god Superman. These super-powered characters start to lose their individuality and impact once you realise they're, you know, almost exactly the same as other characters.
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I thought having Makkari be deaf made a lot of sense given her speed ability. The sonic booms would be deafening after all, so being dear made it easier for her to run without worrying about the sound. She was criminally underused though. Same with Druig and Gilgamesh.
If a second Eternals film happens, let's hope they really hone in on the remaining characters (and the one/two new ones as seen in the mid-credits scene) and give them solid plots/motivations.
There's been a lot of chatter about how this might have been better served as a Disney+ series with an episode focusing on an Eternal or two. I could've seen them stretch and flesh things out with an episode about Sersi and Sprite living in London, another full one about Thena and Gilgamesh, one for Druig and Kingo and their opposing lifestyles (the former becoming reclusive while the latter basks in the spotlight), one for Phastos (because he reeeeeally needed more), and one for Ajak and Ikaris. Then pepper Makkari throughout each of them as she speeds across the world through different ages of mankind gathering items for her collection.
Honestly, I would like it more if we saw then all again in a Disney+ series rather than a film, but we know they want a huge budget for it so it'll probably be another 2.5 hour film rather than a 6-episode series. Maybe we can get a prequel series starring the ones who weren't fleshed out in the film like Phastos, Makkari, and Gilgamesh?
As for my personal ranking, it lands 18th out of the 26 films released so far, but depending on how the film is recontextualized with future installments, it could move up later on.
-Marc.
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One thing that I kept thinking while watching this film was, what was up with the the DC references? I can't remember them now except calling Ikaris superman, but there were a few in there.
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One thing that I kept thinking while watching this film was, what was up with the the DC references? I can't remember them now except calling Ikaris superman, but there were a few in there.
Gilgamesh called Karun "Alfred" in relation to Kingo. I believe that was it though. Yeah it's weird that Marvel is referencing DC in-universe but they've done it before. In Raimi's Spider-Man 2, Aunt May says to Peter "you're not Superman."
-Marc.
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So this is coming to Disney+ tomorrow. Planning to re-watch it over the weekend to see if my initial impression still holds.
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As it stands right now, I enjoyed it but it’s probably in the lower tier of the MCU movies overall.
However, that could change drastically depending on how they develop the larger story and it’s relevance in phase 4.
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As it stands right now, I enjoyed it but it’s probably in the lower tier of the MCU movies overall.
However, that could change drastically depending on how they develop the larger story and it’s relevance in phase 4.
The MCU has a habit of reframing older films to become suddenly very important when it connects to something later on. I think we may see them doing that with the Eternals and their story. Having Starfox show up at the end is probably a bigger deal than we thought originally. I won't be surprised if we get some connection to the Eternals in Thor: Love And Thunder and/or The Marvels. The cosmic side of the MCU is going to take off into some wild directions by the time we get to GOTG Vol. 3 in May 2023.
-Marc.
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Since it's free now on Disney+, we checked it out tonight. I thought it was very entertaining. It kept me on board for the entire 2.5 hours. I kinda get the criticism that there were too many characters, but they were introduced one or two at a time and had distinct personalities, so there was no confusion. A few could have been developed a little more, sure, but each had a part in the story and I liked that there were some who played larger roles and some who didn't. In any group of people, even immortals or superheroes, there are different personalities and those who stand out more and tend to do more.
Yeah, the shift from the Deviants as primary enemies to their own creator (as far as we know) being the "bad guy" was bizarre. But it was also unexpected and kept things moving along. It changed the focus and was different.
That's somewhat my overall assessment. I like that they're trying different things, and I like being surprised by things. Maybe not a great movie overall by some standards, but it kept me interested and entertained. I laughed at the funny, I jumped when things made me jump, I was bummed when I was supposed to be bummed. It was an entertaining movie. I'm not as obsessed with ranking everything as some people around here, so I'll just say that it was a worthy entry in the MCU and leave it at that.
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Since it's free now on Disney+, we checked it out tonight. I thought it was very entertaining. It kept me on board for the entire 2.5 hours. I kinda get the criticism that there were too many characters, but they were introduced one or two at a time and had distinct personalities, so there was no confusion. A few could have been developed a little more, sure, but each had a part in the story and I liked that there were some who played larger roles and some who didn't. In any group of people, even immortals or superheroes, there are different personalities and those who stand out more and tend to do more.
Yeah, the shift from the Deviants as primary enemies to their own creator (as far as we know) being the "bad guy" was bizarre. But it was also unexpected and kept things moving along. It changed the focus and was different.
That's somewhat my overall assessment. I like that they're trying different things, and I like being surprised by things. Maybe not a great movie overall by some standards, but it kept me interested and entertained. I laughed at the funny, I jumped when things made me jump, I was bummed when I was supposed to be bummed. It was an entertaining movie. I'm not as obsessed with ranking everything as some people around here, so I'll just say that it was a worthy entry in the MCU and leave it at that.
Same, watched it yesterday and liked it a lot, agree with pretty much everything you said.
I'll also add that I liked the writing and pacing. It was slower than other MCU films for sure but that was a nice shift and worked well.
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Was way better than I expected. Felt like a DCEU film plotwise, but actually competent and fun to watch. Still not a great film or anything, but I am a bit confused at all the hate it got.
I am, however, not sure if I like this lore within the MCU. I think I would've preferred if it took place on another planet with a civilization close to humans. Earth already has had plenty of ancient threats and artefacts in this universe, it being like an egg for a giant alien god feels a bit too much.
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I too really enjoyed Eternals. I liked it more than Black Widow. I also like the potential for the future of the MCU that this introduces.
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I still stand by my opinion that this is easily the worst MCU film by a huge margin, and I'm borderline offended that Feige thought it was good enough to be part of the MCU.
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I still stand by my opinion that this is easily the worst MCU film by a huge margin, and I'm borderline offended that Feige thought it was good enough to be part of the MCU.
Definitely near the bottom for me but still ahead of Hulk, BW, and the first two Thors at least.
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I still think Iron Man 2 is the nadir of the MCU.
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I am in the minority, but I think Black Widow is the worst, by a big margin. And unlike many of the other films it feels kinda useless to the MCU as a whole too. The Thors had some redeeming qualities (mainly Thor/Loki interactions) and within the MCU series as a whole they feel important and what they set up paid off (Endgame Thor stuff, for example). Same goes for Iron Man 2, from a character point of view it does it's job well of developing Tony.
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If I remember correctly, Favreau mentioned that there was a lot of pressure from the studio on Iron Man 2. That pushed him to not direct any more movies in MCU. Similar thing happened with Thor 2's Director Alan Taylor.
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Since it's free now on Disney+, we checked it out tonight. I thought it was very entertaining. It kept me on board for the entire 2.5 hours. I kinda get the criticism that there were too many characters, but they were introduced one or two at a time and had distinct personalities, so there was no confusion. A few could have been developed a little more, sure, but each had a part in the story and I liked that there were some who played larger roles and some who didn't. In any group of people, even immortals or superheroes, there are different personalities and those who stand out more and tend to do more.
Yeah, the shift from the Deviants as primary enemies to their own creator (as far as we know) being the "bad guy" was bizarre. But it was also unexpected and kept things moving along. It changed the focus and was different.
That's somewhat my overall assessment. I like that they're trying different things, and I like being surprised by things. Maybe not a great movie overall by some standards, but it kept me interested and entertained. I laughed at the funny, I jumped when things made me jump, I was bummed when I was supposed to be bummed. It was an entertaining movie. I'm not as obsessed with ranking everything as some people around here, so I'll just say that it was a worthy entry in the MCU and leave it at that.
This sums up my feelings, as well.
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If I remember correctly, Favreau mentioned that there was a lot of pressure from the studio on Iron Man 2. That pushed him to not direct any more movies in MCU. Similar thing happened with Thor 2's Director Alan Taylor.
And Joss Whedon with Age of Ultron. It appears things got a lot better once Feige was given complete control.
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Watched this weekend and definitely enjoyed it. Had low expectations, but I'm not sure they were warranted. Also, as a person attracted to men, I thoroughly enjoyed having two Stark boys back together and super happy Kit will (hopefully) be making more appearances. What I don't understand is that the Eternals are made, are they kinds droid-ish? For each "assignment" of a world, is there always a Ajak, Thena, Gilgamesh, etc? Or are they all different individual beings?
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Good questions. I kinda feel like we the audience learned things about the Eternals at the same time they were learning things about themselves, their purpose, and their very existence. Most of what they thought was true about themselves was apparently wrong, or at least a large part of it. The whole deal with Arishem and who he really is, both to the Eternals and in general, was a bit confusing. I couldn't follow all of it. But in true Marvel fashion, things moved along so much that mostly I didn't care. I would like to be able to look back at the movie and be amazed at this new part of the MCU, but they kinda botched that angle.
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I was underwhelmed by the movie and a little confused as to how they're going to fit into the MCU. They just seem too powerful and indestructible to go head to head with the Avengers.
Certainly great seeing Kit and Richard Madden again, and Angelina Jolie as well.
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Yeah, I wonder how it will all fit in the MCU. I know that in the comics some beings are super overpowered, but in the films I like the powerlevels to be a bit closer to each other to be honest. But then again, they mostly fought their own and some deviants, we don't know the real extent of their "powerlevels". Film makers can get away with some nerfing here and there. There are already characters such as Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch, and in-shape Thor and on-track The Hulk. Thanos threw comets at Iron Man and co and they were fine, so it utlimately depends on how things are built up and visualised to make it believable.
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They just seem too powerful and indestructible to go head to head with the Avengers.
They didn't seem all that powerful or indestructible to me. Especially not those that survived the movie. Ikarus was presented as the most powerful, but I'd say Thor could take him easily.
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They just seem too powerful and indestructible to go head to head with the Avengers.
They didn't seem all that powerful or indestructible to me. Especially not those that survived the movie. Ikarus was presented as the most powerful, but I'd say Thor could take him easily.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think the Eternals are all fairly powerful but not godly. Granted, we only really saw them fight Deviants and and each other, so we can't really know how powerful they are in comparison to the other heroes in the MCU. Now, Thanos was a deviant Eternal, and brother of Eros, and he was pretty strong too, but I think the strengths of the individual Eternals varies a bit depending on their specific powers.
As for how the Eternals will fit into the future of the MCU? I think the film was just a launching pad for characters like Black Knight, Starfox, the Celestials, and the greater cosmic side of the MCU. We could see some of these characters in future titles like Thor Love & Thunder, The Marvels, Moon Knight, Blade, and pretty much any supernatural and/or space-faring films. In the end, I think it might all lead to the introduction of Galactus, who eats planets, and planets have been shown to hold Celestial embryos, and so Galactus might be a threat to them.
-Marc.
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They just seem too powerful and indestructible to go head to head with the Avengers.
They didn't seem all that powerful or indestructible to me. Especially not those that survived the movie. Ikarus was presented as the most powerful, but I'd say Thor could take him easily.
Thor or Hulk or Captain Marvel or Doctor Strange or Scarlet Witch or..... You get my point.
As for how the Eternals will fit into the future of the MCU? I think the film was just a launching pad for characters like Black Knight, Starfox, the Celestials, and the greater cosmic side of the MCU. We could see some of these characters in future titles like Thor Love & Thunder, The Marvels, Moon Knight, Blade, and pretty much any supernatural and/or space-faring films. In the end, I think it might all lead to the introduction of Galactus, who eats planets, and planets have been shown to hold Celestial embryos, and so Galactus might be a threat to them.
-Marc.
This pretty much spot on with what I think this is all leading to. Galactus seems the most plausible character to be the next big baddy. Especially given what the end of Loki is leading to and with the next Doctor Strange movie. Plus the Guardians of the Galaxy should fit in there somewhere.
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This was kind of a chore to get through. I hope future installments will be better and more exciting.
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I'm off work with covid so watched this again today. After second watch I can firmly say it's a right mess of a film, with some really great actors and interesting bits. But as a whole? Crrrrrrrrrap.
Loved Madden as conflicted Ikaris the most. Terrific actor and his narrative was the best thing about it. His inner turmoil and love for Serci (sp?) was really moving, I thought. The script was so dumb, though. So many things that made no sense or plain sucked. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing some of them again in future movies.
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Just watched it tonight and I really enjoyed it. I don't go into films looking for things to complain about. I just enjoy them. People that study and dissect every little thing is crazy to me. Why bother? Reminds me of all those YouTube video titles I see like '50 things wrong with Eternals' and the like.
Anyways, I'm shocked that I am the first to mention how weird it was to see Jon Snow and Robb Stark constantly proclaim their love for Sersi (like Cersei). Should have just cast Lena Headey in that role. :lol
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Just watched it tonight and I really enjoyed it. I don't go into films looking for things to complain about. I just enjoy them. People that study and dissect every little thing is crazy to me. Why bother? Reminds me of all those YouTube video titles I see like '50 things wrong with Eternals' and the like.
Awesome. Glad you dug it.
I always go in looking to enjoy a movie, not rip it, and I've never looked at those kinds of YT channels. But there is more to experiencing a movie that just sitting there. If the movie hits the spot then I'm picked up and taken along with it and don't think too much about it.
A film that has obvious flaws or things that make you go hmm gets me wondering what it is that's not working for me.
In this case, the second watch revealed a bit much.
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Just watched it tonight and I really enjoyed it. I don't go into films looking for things to complain about. I just enjoy them. People that study and dissect every little thing is crazy to me. Why bother? Reminds me of all those YouTube video titles I see like '50 things wrong with Eternals' and the like.
Awesome. Glad you dug it.
I always go in looking to enjoy a movie, not rip it, and I've never looked at those kinds of YT channels. But there is more to experiencing a movie that just sitting there. If the movie hits the spot then I'm picked up and taken along with it and don't think too much about it.
A film that has obvious flaws or things that make you go hmm gets me wondering what it is that's not working for me.
In this case, the second watch revealed a bit much.
Same. And I went into it as I do with other Marvel movies: I am fully prepared to love it, or at like it considerably. I went into this one with lowered expectations. Honestly, I didn't expect anything after the end of phase 3 to live up to what Marvel has done so far because...well, realistically, how could it? And it was a franchise where I went in thinking, "I have no interest in these characters whatsoever going in. But movie after movie after movie, Marvel has taken characters I wasn't interested in seeing and did amazing things with them. So they have more than earned my trust." So I went in thinking I was going to meet some new characters I didn't previously care about, would grow to care about them, and would really enjoy the film. By the time we got to the credits, I was sorely disappointed in getting a Marvel movie I wish had never been made.
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Just watched it tonight and I really enjoyed it. I don't go into films looking for things to complain about. I just enjoy them. People that study and dissect every little thing is crazy to me. Why bother? Reminds me of all those YouTube video titles I see like '50 things wrong with Eternals' and the like.
Awesome. Glad you dug it.
I always go in looking to enjoy a movie, not rip it, and I've never looked at those kinds of YT channels. But there is more to experiencing a movie that just sitting there. If the movie hits the spot then I'm picked up and taken along with it and don't think too much about it.
A film that has obvious flaws or things that make you go hmm gets me wondering what it is that's not working for me.
In this case, the second watch revealed a bit much.
Same. And I went into it as I do with other Marvel movies: I am fully prepared to love it, or at like it considerably. I went into this one with lowered expectations. Honestly, I didn't expect anything after the end of phase 3 to live up to what Marvel has done so far because...well, realistically, how could it? And it was a franchise where I went in thinking, "I have no interest in these characters whatsoever going in. But movie after movie after movie, Marvel has taken characters I wasn't interested in seeing and did amazing things with them. So they have more than earned my trust." So I went in thinking I was going to meet some new characters I didn't previously care about, would grow to care about them, and would really enjoy the film. By the time we got to the credits, I was sorely disappointed in getting a Marvel movie I wish had never been made.
While I enjoyed the movie mostly, I think the characters would have been served better if this was a series that was similar in length to something like Wandavision or Loki. Could have fleshed out the characters a bit more.
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The recent Marvel TV series feature characters from the movies, which in my mind makes them all "spinoffs". WandaVision, Falcon & Winter Soldier, Loki, all straight from the movies. What might have been an interesting turnabout would be a six-episode series establishing the Eternals, characters, the lore, then the three-hour feature (in Imax where available) that blows us away. That would have been cool.
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Agreed. I think the root of any issues with it was that it covers masses of ground too thinly that built no explanations or reasons to care.
Theena was completely bemusing. What the fuck was that "madwiri" thing they were talking about where she goes super-fighty at everything around her? Completely unexplained and arbitrary. And they had her down as a legendary warrior. How? When? How does that fit into their existence or matter in the story?
I hated Sprite as a character. Made no sense that she was stuck in a child body. And Kingo/Gilgamesh were essentially the same except power was either fixed in the fists or as shooty-balls. Meh. And Kingo seemed to be a totally self-centred idiot.
Ajak's super power seemed to be that she loved the others.
A longer series could have shown much more of their 7000 years spent on earth and filled in background on the Eternals (and Deviants) where it was missing so it made sense.
Edit: Maybe the source story just isn't very good and they needed to have diverged from the source material more.
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Agreed. I think the root of any issues with it was that it covers masses of ground too thinly that built no explanations or reasons to care.
Theena was completely bemusing. What the fuck was that "madwiri" thing they were talking about where she goes super-fighty at everything around her? Completely unexplained and arbitrary. And they had her down as a legendary warrior. How? When? How does that fit into their existence or matter in the story?
Thena did feel a bit underutilized and it felt like her only purpose was to introduce Mahd Wy'ry as a way of explaining their existence (of being artificial beings that have their memories wiped between Emergences). But yeah, I agree, they really didn't show us how she was a legendary warrior, only that we were told it. other than the 2 or 3 fight scenes she was showing off. In a long-form series, we could've gotten an episode focusing on her and Gilgamesh and it would've been really nice to learn more about them, individually and together. But I'd say Mahd Wy'ry was sufficiently explained by Ajak and then later on in the film once we figure out that their memories are tampered with by Arishem after every mission/Emergence.
I hated Sprite as a character. Made no sense that she was stuck in a child body. And Kingo/Gilgamesh were essentially the same except power was either fixed in the fists or as shooty-balls. Meh. And Kingo seemed to be a totally self-centred idiot.
Well I'd say Sprite was the way she was just to have a more diverse group of Eternals and as a way to have someone younger in the group that could easily identify with younger natives of any planet they are sent to. She is meant to represent a young, playful trickster type, thus her illusion casting powers. As for Kingo, he's the comic relief that you either love or hate, as I see folks really like him or just despise him, and comic relief characters are usually written that way anyway.
Ajak's super power seemed to be that she loved the others.
Ajak was the mother of the group, metaphorically speaking, but she was also their healer. We see this in their arrival on Earth when she is healing Ikaris after their first battle. And when the Deviant Cro took her life force, it gave him her healing ability, which we see when it attacks Sersi and Sprite in London, although upon first watch it's difficult to make that connection. When you know Cro has already killed Ajak by that point on a rewatch, it's pretty obvious that he's using Ajak's power, especially when Sprite realizes it was healing itself and that they never used to do that before.
A longer series could have shown much more of their 7000 years spent on earth and filled in background on the Eternals (and Deviants) where it was missing so it made sense.
Edit: Maybe the source story just isn't very good and they needed to have diverged from the source material more.
I think the last time Marvel let a film idea turn into a series, the series didn't work out too well (Inhumans, although that wasn't technically under Marvel Studios/Kevin Feige), and I'm sure Marvel wanted a big budget film for this first outing of the Eternals. I would not be surprised if the next time we see them all isn't on a limited Disney+ series, but even if we get a second film, the team is now smaller without Ajak, Ikaris, and Gilgamesh, though we now have Starfox/Eros joining the crew of the Domo on their search for Sersi/Phastos/Kingo, so who knows. If it's an entirely space-faring sequel, we may not even see Sprite since she stayed on Earth and ended up becoming mortal anyway. A smaller cast with a tigher story would greatly benefit the sequel, but it'll be at least 2024 before a sequel happens, probably even 2025, since this year and next year are all packed with previously announced films, and the film dates earmarked for 2024 will probably fall to other projects that haven't been given dates yet (Fantastic Four, Blade, Captain America 4, Deadpool 3, and a film about Mutants).
-Marc.
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Pip was a rush and the VFX team admit they did not have the time to get it right. It's a 'best they could do in the time they had' kind of thing.
https://screenrant.com/marvel-eternals-pip-starfox-post-credit-scene-rushed/
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Edit: Maybe the source story just isn't very good and they needed to have diverged from the source material more.
I'm not the hugest Eternals fan from the comics, but I've read a fair amount of them.
The movie DID diverge from the source material....a lot.
Yes, Sprite is a kid. Originally a boy, but recently turned into a girl to match the movie. There was a lot of pathos there of being stuck in a child's body for thousands of years and never being able to age. The movie just didn't it justice.
Eternals also had a different leader in the comics, not Ajak. They gender swapped a lot of them as well. Thena and Cercie were always female, but the rest were male and Marcary (I am spelling all of these terribly, I am aware, just too lazy to check the accurate ones) was a white dude who could hear/speak just fine. Most of those changes were fine and made it more interesting.
However, the Eternals are not robots. They were created by the Celestials, sure, but still living breathing biological organisms. They're called Eternals because the great machine (as they call it) continuously builds them new bodies if they die. So they can't totally die for sure, but they're still not robots. The deviants are also more intelligent in the comics. Monsters, sure, kinda dumb, sure, but they have a civilization and even enslaved humanity at one point. They were never just weird alien animals.
So some of the changes re: ethnicity and sex were fine, but the movie actually would’ve made a bit more sense if they had stuck closer to the source material.
And had a better script.
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Thanks, guys. Some great background knowledge there.
There is a lot I liked about it. Having London as the background for Sercei was super. Love Richard Madden and Gemma Chan. (Even though it looked like the end for him I'm hoping that we see Ikaris again) Phastos' family unit was lovely. Druig and Makkari were good and I'd like to see more of them.
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Finally watched this.
I was enjoying the movie a lot than I expected for about the first two thirds..........then the twist killed the film for me, and the final act was really weak behind that twist. Also Gemma Chan as Sersi was so very bland in what ended up being the main protagonist.
I'd probably need a re watch down the line, but after one watch this is down with Iron Man 2, Thor 2 and Hulk as one of the weakest MCU film.
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What happened with the giant head and hands emerging off of the earth? 3 movies after externals and no one on those 3 movies talks about that giant rock monster, why? Did it vanished?
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Hopefully they turn it into a theme park with rollercoasters and such.
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In the comics they turn a dead celestial into a new Avengers Tower. Doubt they’ll do that but it is curious how Eternals has largely been ignored minus a quick reference in Ms. Marvel.
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Patton Oswalt says #Eternals2 is in development with Chloé Zhao returning to direct
(via @TheTodayShow)
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Patton Oswalt says #Eternals2 is in development with Chloé Zhao returning to direct
(via @TheTodayShow)
Hope they better writers.
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Could be the first MCU film that is a likely skip for me.
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Could be the first MCU film that is a likely skip for me.
I dunno. I get they have to save face in interviews, but I just can’t imagine Fiege and co being like “well…that movie was a critical and financial success…so let’s just not change anything this time around”
I’m hoping they paid attention to the large amount of criticism and will aim to deliver a much better movie this time around.
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If they advertise Harry Styles being a lead in the film, it'll already have a built-in audience on his involvement alone. :lol
I'm hopeful it'll be a good sequel. I suspect they'll announce it as one of the unknown dates in 2025 when they do their presentation at D23 next month.
-Marc.
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I did have a good time with The Eternals, while recognising all it's flaws. I think it is partially because I like (non-linear) stories that take place over long periods of time. I do dislike how it fits into the MCU quite a bit, the whole "robot" stuff and earth being an egg is just offputting to me.
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Other than Kingo as a character, there really isn't much of anything that I didn't actively dislike about this movie.
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I think I've seen it three or four times now, and enjoy it while seeing it for the hot mess it is. I'm gonna speculate that the sequel will be very well served by not having to go through an hour of hastened introductions of the characters and concepts, and maybe can focus more on a cohesive story.