This post has SPOILERS.





I watched this on Disney+ and was mostly positive toward it, although I have to admit, the early part of the film was too plodding, somber, and dull. I almost gave up on it, but decided to wait five more minutes, and lo and behold! It finally shifted into high gear. The turning point, in terms of watchability, was when Arishem (the Celestial) appeared. From that point forward, the movie was good.

I was aware of viewer complaints about scant characterization, but I didn't find this to be a legitimate gripe. By the end of the film, we knew all of the Eternals quite well. It took the whole film to get us to that point, but is that a bad thing? I don't think it is.

The movie probed deeply into religious faith, which is something I never thought I'd see in a Marvel film. It also delved deeply into a very thorny moral question, which is, must we always choose the good of the most beings, or may we instead choose the good of the beings we happen to love, even if they're a relative minority?

Oddly, I never saw Ikaris as a blatantly obvious Superman figure, which in the film he definitely was. In the comics he had an array of powers, only some of which were direct analogues of Superman's. In the film, he had flight, strength, invulnerability, and heat vision, just like Superman, and also just like Homelander, and like both of them on the screen, he relies heavily on his heat vision, attacking with it constantly. Also, true to form for screen renditions, the Superman character devolved into an antagonist. But I have to say, in the case of Ikaris, the devolution was dramatic, jarring, even heart-breaking. I cared, and I knew all the Eternals would care, which made me care even more.

Also: the two scenes during the credits were great! In the first we got Starfox and Pip, and in the second, we got to see Dane Whitman as he was about to take up the Ebony Blade, and we heard Nick Fury's voice, asking Dane if he was sure he was ready!

Thoughts?