Our Rating: C+

To say the least, Marvel’s “The Eternals” was accompanied with large amounts of hype and expected to continue Marvel’s success after the stellar release of “Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings.” Instead, the film failed to deliver and is a Marvel movie fans will likely forget.

The main criticism of the films is the poor individual character development. Some characters, especially those who met their end, had unfulfilling storylines that felt incomplete and shallow. Because the audience is introduced to a wide array of new characters at once, it is difficult for significant characters to establish themselves individually and stand out rather than occupy the background.

“My favorite part of the movie was the special effects. The characters had nice looking powers and the artificially created settings also looked really good throughout the movie,” senior Dario Cobas said.I thought that Marvel did a good job with the comedy this time around. I felt like the jokes implemented were delivered effectively and they did a good job at brightening the serious scenes of the movie,

One of the strongest aspects of the film is the computer-generated imagery. Marvel’s access to high quality technology and CGI artists is evident throughout the movie. From the cosmic energy utilized in a unique way by each eternal to the ancient settings of Tenochtitlan and Mesopotamia, the movie is greatly enhanced by the use of CGI. However, the movie greatly relies on CGI because of the other areas where it falls short.

The most significant downside of the film is its lackluster flow. For a majority of the running time, the story lacked coherence as the characters come and go while the film travels between time periods without clear plot progression. Also, for a good part of the film, it seems as if the main conflict is between the Eternals and the Deviants but the buildup of this conflict is quickly abandoned as the main cast of characters must now face an entirely different conflict for the latter part of the film. The film contains many elements that are presented as significant but fails to connect them and utilize them for an effective progression of the story.

“During the movie, I felt that the scenes lacked structure. For a majority of the movie, the flow was confusing and few of the elements felt connected and significant until the end where the movie became more organized,” senior Daniel Michel said.

Within the lackluster elements of the film, one of the film’s saving grace is the comedy. Within the lackluster scenes of the characters travelling to ancient Mexico or visiting a Bollywood movie set, the movie is filled with successful comedic moments. Kingo and Karun are easily the funniest characters and consistently brighten dull scenes. But despite these moments, the film’s comedy is not enough to warrant a positive interpretation of the film as a whole.

Overall, although the film has significant downsides, the movie is not a complete failure as a result of its impact on the marvel franchise as a whole. This singular movie may not be the best, but it introduces concepts and characters that Marvel fans can be excited to learn more about in future movies. Hopefully Marvel will learn from its mistakes and the upcoming installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can make up for the underwhelming “Eternals.”