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A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:38 am
by Al-1701
So, I went to see Eternals today, and I'm here to give some spoiler-free thoughts.

Overall, it's a good movie. It's a great movie, but I would grade it a solid B. It's definitely different from what we had lately from Marvel as we're getting a stand alone origin story for this group of ageless warriors. I liked this group, all the characters were likeable and helped me get engrossed the story as it twisted and turned through in a non-linear fashion. And the non-linear approach worked as what was happening in the present served as an intro for going back to the past.

I think what might've thrown the critics off was this was a much more character and lore heavy movie than what the MCU had given us lately. We're introducing a team similar in size to the first assembly of the Avengers, showing us how they use their powers and what they do with their infinite lifespans. It's different from the recent Marvel works with mostly well established characters and newcomers being able to play off them. While events of Infinity War and Endgame are discussed, but no other Marvel characters made an appearance.

My final verdict is see it for yourself.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:05 am
by clearspira
Al-1701 wrote: Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:38 am I think what might've thrown the critics off was this was a much more character and lore heavy movie than what the MCU had given us lately. We're introducing a team similar in size to the first assembly of the Avengers, showing us how they use their powers and what they do with their infinite lifespans. It's different from the recent Marvel works with mostly well established characters and newcomers being able to play off them. While events of Infinity War and Endgame are discussed, but no other Marvel characters made an appearance.
As many critics have noted, this was their mistake. With the Avengers, Marvel set up every character with their own movie first. Sometimes with more than one. This allowed the Avengers to require no set-up at all. The moment Loki beams in to steal the Tesserect you know EVERYTHING that is going on. This allows the team to be formed immediately with no exposition and thus gave us a streamlined film with almost no padding.

With this film, Marvel did a DC. One of the reasons Justice League failed was because they had only set up half the cast, the other half like Cyborg, Flash, Aquaman, as well as the threat needed to be hastily shoehorned in.

Marvel has become lazy ad it bit them. And there is no excuse. They could have Disney Plus'ed themselves a series to explain this if they wanted to.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:22 pm
by Al-1701
clearspira wrote: Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:05 am They could have Disney Plus'ed themselves a series to explain this if they wanted to.
I do feel an Eternals series would've worked better. However, after Inhumans flopped, they probably shied away from that direction.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 3:51 am
by McAvoy
I will be watching it. I don't really pay attention to reviews anymore. Even 'professional' ones.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:36 pm
by Frustration
clearspira wrote: Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:05 amWith the Avengers, Marvel set up every character with their own movie first. Sometimes with more than one. This allowed the Avengers to require no set-up at all. The moment Loki beams in to steal the Tesserect you know EVERYTHING that is going on. This allows the team to be formed immediately with no exposition and thus gave us a streamlined film with almost no padding.
I saw "The Avengers" without having seen any of the preceding films, and I still got what was going on immediately. Because it was a very well-crafted film, storywise.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 4:23 am
by McAvoy
Frustration wrote: Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:36 pm
clearspira wrote: Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:05 amWith the Avengers, Marvel set up every character with their own movie first. Sometimes with more than one. This allowed the Avengers to require no set-up at all. The moment Loki beams in to steal the Tesserect you know EVERYTHING that is going on. This allows the team to be formed immediately with no exposition and thus gave us a streamlined film with almost no padding.
I saw "The Avengers" without having seen any of the preceding films, and I still got what was going on immediately. Because it was a very well-crafted film, storywise.
The first Avengers was written with an intro for every character that shows what that character was about.

And the whole movie continues to build on those character arcs. I think only Thor lacked that.

Later movies, didn't bother and because it was assumed the audience by this point at least saw some of the preceding movies.

Re: A Spoiler-free Eternals Review

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:41 pm
by Frustration
Yes, they did an excellent job of combining the exposition for the Tessaract AND establishing the starting points of each character's arc.

They also went out of their way to ensure that everyone got an arc. I loved Maria Hill's moments in that film, and was annoyed that she got hardly any time in later ones. It took only seconds and made the experience much richer.

But, that was a masterpiece of a movie; possibly the best comic book movie ever made. Even taking into account the original Batman movie. (1966 or 1989? Yes.)