'Eternals' Review: A New Wave of Diversity Added to the MCU

By: Sanjna Desai / November 20, 2021

“The Eternals” are the newest set of Marvel heroes to be added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is based on the Marvel Comics characters created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s. The movie is directed by Chloè Zhao. “The Eternals” are a group of immortal beings from the planet Olympia. They are sent to help Earth defeat the deviants in 5000 BC. After their original mission, they end up staying on the planet. This is until, in present day, a new group of Deviants appears and all the Eternals are forced to reunite to once again defeat the evil Deviants and save the fate of Earth. The film’s ensemble includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris and Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie as Thena, the goddess of war.

The movie goes back and forth between scenes from the first time the Eternals faced the Deviants to present day. I was able to watch the film in Dolby Cinema which is a feature similar to IMAX. The film is aesthetically pleasing and all the set locations are beautifully done.The CGI and technical components engulfed me into the film and added a sense of realness.

This movie was one of my favorite movies because it over-achieves in terms of representation across the board. First of all, Gemma Chan is a member of the AAPI community. This is the second MCU movie in a row starring an Asian American Actor, following Simu Liu, who played Shang Chi in the hit movie, “Shang Chi: The Legend Of The Ten Rings.”

Brian Tyree Henry plays Marvel’s first ever gay character, Phastos in the film. After a decade of the MCU, I was beyond thrilled to see a part of the queer spectrum represented. We also see lots of cultural representation from Kumail Nanjiani who plays Kingo. Kingo, during his time on Earth, portrays a Bollywood star. As a Bollywood fan, it was interesting seeing Indian cultural elements tied into the plot line of the movie.

“The Eternals” is also by far Marvel’s most diverse movie, a standard that, while low enough to be easily surpassed, is still worth noting. Lauren Ridloff plays Makkari in the film. This was hands down my favorite character. Makkari is one of the Eternals and is also deaf. I loved seeing ASL representation and it being used correctly by multiple members of the cast, including Barry Keoghan who plays Druig.

A lot of Marvel fans were relieved to see that the actor, Lauren Ridloff was also deaf and that Marvel understands the importance of casting actors similar to their characters in multiple aspects. In the movie, Makkari and Druig are able to connect in a special way, their on screen chemistry was even better than Seri and Ikaris’, the main couple on the show. In an interview with Chicago’s ABC affiliate Eyewitness News 7, she stated, “I know it’s so important for these children, especially deaf children and also the hearing children of deaf adults, to see someone like Makkari in the MCU.”

The casting for “The Eternals” was phenomenal. All the characters had so much chemistry and gelled together really well on screen. Angelina Jolie stood out so much in this film, as she is the goddess of war, she is able to create weapons from nothing and she was absolutely stunning. In the film, Gilgamesh, played by Don Lee has the superpower of epic strength, specially strong punches, over his time on Earth, he stays extremely loyal to Thena and their on screen friendships was one of my favorites.

By far the best thing in the movie are Makkaris’ appearances. She is hands down the best on screen speedster I have ever seen. In her re-introduction scene after the Eternals separated, we learn that she read almost every book on the face of Earth. Makkari is absolutely charming and the most empathetic character. The scene works because it really shows that even though the character is hearing impaired, she still has powers with equal strength compared to the other Eternals.

For me personally, I thought the movie was too fast paced. The movie covered thousands of years of history and although the film was a whopping 2 hours and 37 minutes, I feel like it skipped over major events of the Eternals’ life on Earth. As a result, the character development doesn’t make as much sense.

Another notable thing about this movie was the reviews, prior to its release, was given a 5.7 out of 10 points on Rotten Tomatoes. Seeing this, many fans including myself were skeptical. But I still loved the movie.

According to Deadline, Marvel’s “The Eternals” had the pandemic-era’s third best preview night following Marvel’s “Black Widow.”

Overall, “The Eternals” is in my top 10 MCU films as of now. I urge you all to go watch this film in the theater as it was meant to be. Also, the end credit scene had the entire theater on the edge of their seats and gasping. But I guess you’ll have to watch the movie to find out more.