Eternals proves that Marvel can make bad films

Marvel’s newest movie, Eternals, is based on comic books of the same name. Director Chloe Zhao released the film Nov. 5. It has a nice runtime of roughly two and a half hours, as well as a reasonably notable cast including Angelina Jolie (Maleficent, Kung Fu Panda), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, How to Train Your Dragon), Salma Hayek (Grown-ups, Spy Kids), and even an end-scene cameo featuring British pop star Harry Styles.
Eternals starts with a Star Wars-type introduction, with words scrolling on the screen. It is telling a backstory of sorts. Unfortunately, the backstory leaves out a lot of essential details that are vital to understanding at least a little bit of the story.
For example, it talks about Celestials, Deviants and Arishem but doesn’t tell what any of those are. Viewers are left have to figure it out on their own. It feels as if Marvel is saying that fans need to know all of its lore before seeing this movie. On top of that, every interaction between characters feels oddly awkward and forced. And every scene change feels like a jump-scare with a new camera shot.
The movie starts strong with a nice little fight scene, but this eventful start doesn’t last long because it quickly changes to introduce the cast of 11 heroes. These are the Eternals. However, it would be impossible to be sure who they are because the film never explicitly says this. It isn’t until about an hour in that viewers have the capability of learning everybody’s names.
Throughout the first bit of the movie, several confusing jumps in time and location make the story pretty hard to follow. It’s like one minute it’s in 1550 B.C. Macedonia, and the next minute it’s in present-day South Dakota. Another noticeable flaw is that at no point are any of these characters’ powers explained or mentioned. The only time any power is defined is when Sirsi is basically revealed as Jesus because she changes things to and from water.
After getting past the first hour and a half, viewers are in for a treat. This is when the film finally stops changing time starts explaining things. This is when the movie is good. The fights are all excellent, and the little bits of comedy added are surprisingly funny. Even though the film is 2 hours and 37 minutes long, it feels like the filmmakers packed in a surplus of content and story.
This film’s ungodly inability to explain itself makes the first part of the story a significant failure. At the same time, the rest is an average Marvel movie.For its awkward conversations, lack of exciting conflict, and overall mediocre cinematography, Marvel’s Eternals deserves a 2/5.