The MCU’s Phase Four comes packed with a new batch of exciting superheroes, in fact, Eternals has 10 of ten of them. However, conflicting early impressions for the film suggest these humanoids fail to hit the heights of previous Marvel movies.
Just a few weeks ago Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings made its mark on the MCU, achieving both critical and commercial success after the relative disappointment and controversy that followed Black Widow. Even the four Disney Plus series that premiered earlier this year were mostly met with positive reviews yet, unlike any of those, Eternals appears to be burdened by its large ensemble.
For example, The Guardian gives Eternals two out of five stars and sums it up quite well by saying the movie simply “has too much going on," holding back from calling it boring even if it’s really not too exciting. On the opposite end, Screen Rant defines it as a “truly different MCU film,” considering Chloe Zhao still does a great job giving each character proper exposition. Meanwhile, IGN is giving it a 7/10, highlighting the film’s problems as a case of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” though it still praised each of the performances dished out by the star-studded cast.
Some prominent Marvel-focused YouTubers like Emergency Awesome noted how Eternals explains the heroes’ ties to the rest of the MCU, although still managing to remain quite self-contained, before comparing the film’s exposition style to more of an Avengers: Endgame instead of Infinity War. Other mainstream media outlets like BBC and Empire theorize that perhaps Zhao’s vision is not the best pairing for the MCU, with the latter saying “anyone anticipating the first ‘arthouse Marvel’ should temper their expectations.”
Lastly, Eternals appears to come short even in larger samples, with both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes showing 71% and 74% critics’ scores, respectively, which would place the movie among the worst in MCU history, just barely above The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World. Despite its lengthy runtime, there appears to be a widely-held consensus that Eternals simply can’t afford to give each of its heroes the screen-time they need to thrive, something that no amount of gorgeous visuals can’t make up for.
Still, reviews are not the be-all and end-all for Marvel movies, just one look at Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s box office revenue should be enough proof of that. One thing to keep in mind is that Eternals’ post-credits scenes are apparently as impressive as Venom’s, so maybe the 2 hours and 37 minutes are still very much worth its potential flaws.
Eternals will be released exclusively in theaters on November 5, 2021
Source: BBC; GamesRadar+; The Guardian; Screen Rant; Emergency Awesome|YouTube
