Eternals -- Marvel's Next Guardians of the Galaxy? Jolie, Hayek, Jon Snow, Robb Stark, and More

[UT_OB1 2224]

9 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Shang Chi was good and Spider-Man just made $1B. Marvel is fine.

I’d say most on this site weren’t the primary audience for Black Widow. I wonder how it would have done in theaters with no Covid. My daughter loves the movie and is torn between BW and Hawkeye-Kate as here favorite now. 

[utxmike05 1828]

Watched it last night....not bad.  I thought I was familiar with most of the Marvel characters...but it was definitely weird not knowing any of these characters until now.  Their names are so random though lol.  Names are kinda funny and not a strong hero name. Sprite?? Gilgamesh?? Droig?? 

I probably would watch a sequel, but not dying to see it.

[Hmbre97 6325]

2 minutes ago, utxmike05 said:

Watched it last night....not bad.  I thought I was familiar with most of the Marvel characters...but it was definitely weird not knowing any of these characters until now.  Their names are so random though lol.  Names are kinda funny and not a strong hero name. Sprite?? Gilgamesh?? Droig?? 

I probably would watch a sequel, but not dying to see it.

That's what I'm curious about with these comic book movies going forward. People who didn't read the comics knew who Captain America and Thor and Iron Man were. Now that they've kinda used up the mainstream characters, they're digging into the lesser known heroes. I am not a comic book reader and like you, had no idea who most of these characters were. After watching a few review videos on youtube made by people who ARE very familiar with the comics, this shit all made sense to them.  Hell, I didn't even know Blade was a Marvel comic until a couple years ago. 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

9 minutes ago, Hmbre97 said:

Hell, I didn't even know Blade was a Marvel comic until a couple years ago. 

Spoiler

And Blade makes a cameo in the credits of The Eternals

 

[utxmike05 1828]

1 hour ago, Hmbre97 said:

That's what I'm curious about with these comic book movies going forward. People who didn't read the comics knew who Captain America and Thor and Iron Man were. Now that they've kinda used up the mainstream characters, they're digging into the lesser known heroes. I am not a comic book reader and like you, had no idea who most of these characters were. After watching a few review videos on youtube made by people who ARE very familiar with the comics, this shit all made sense to them.  Hell, I didn't even know Blade was a Marvel comic until a couple years ago. 

Exactly, digging into the bullpen.  And I really do know a lot of characters but not a comic reader either.  Just based on movies, video games, old tv shows, pop culture, etc...  I mean Guardians of Galaxy was new to me when it came out.  

Wife was coming in/out of living room and said she thought it was a spoof of Game of Thrones bc she heard "Sersi" and also saw Jon Snow and King of the North on screen lol.

I only saw one post-movie scene...need to go back and watch the other I guess

 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

30 minutes ago, utxmike05 said:

only saw one post-movie scene...need to go back and watch the other I guess

Spoiler

Blade is the voice talking to Jon Snow

 

[DanRydell 799]

sang chi, black widow, and eternals. Lol.
 
It might be end of days for superhero flicks. Or at least we maybe finding the boundary of super hero films. 
if this boundary solidifies, maybe they’ll go back to making more original movies. 
 
or hollywood would double down and just keep rebooting the big names - iron man, capn america, wolverine.  
 
 

Those three were as good or better than much of the MCU lineup like the first two Thor movies, the Iron Man sequels, the Ant Man movies, Age of Ultron, and The Incredible Hulk.

[UT_OB1 2224]

25 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

Those three were as good or better than much of the MCU lineup like the first two Thor movies, the Iron Man sequels, the Ant Man movies, Age of Ultron, and The Incredible Hulk.

I will fight you about IM2. 

[Herpa Derpa 6126]

Man, was that a boring snoozefest. Likely the only MCU film I'll only watch once. Bad acting all around, but particularly Keogh and Jolie.

Disagree with those that would prefer a series. There was barely enough plot for the 2.5 hours.

[achooloco 1072]

Didn’t expect much but it was just okay. Not great but not as bad as people have said. Thought it was loads better than Shang chi, that one definitely the worst MCU movie I’ve seen. 

agree with the above that the “greatest” feat was making salma ugly. 

[ajax 2620]

Made it 1/3 of the way through last night. Man, what a slog. We're gonna power through and finish it but only because I'm a stubborn sumbitch.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19128]

I would have liked to see it as a series to give more background on what the characters did.  I mean, you had Thena (who turned into Athena and saved Athens), Gilgamesh, etc..  There could have been a lot of character building with a series which a 2 or 2.5 hour movie could not do.  

[Buzzrock 14935]

12 hours ago, achooloco said:Thought it was loads better than Shang chi, that one definitely the worst MCU movie I’ve seen. 

 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

2 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

I would have liked to see it as a series to give more background on what the characters did.  I mean, you had Thena (who turned into Athena and saved Athens), Gilgamesh, etc..  There could have been a lot of character building with a series which a 2 or 2.5 hour movie could not do.  

And while I enjoy Salma Hayek, and Jolie to a lesser extent, they clearly weren't needed.  Save that money, cast somebody else, and spend it elsewhere (or don't).  The most interesting characters were the inventor (Phastos?), Gilgamesh, Quicksilverish, Sersei.  I watched it because it was MCU, not because Salma Hayek or Angelina Jolie were in it.

And we should have had

Spoiler

Jon Snow truly reveal himself as the Black Knight

There actually was plenty of meat for a limited series, and I'm saying this as somebody who would have had it way down their viewing list.

[Buzzrock 14935]

Watching with the family now. It’s not very good. Boring heroes and monsters.

[Scary Stranger 1715]

Just finished watching with my kids.  We were all pretty meh on it.

[Buzzrock 14935]

The guy who played Phastos annoyed me. He tries to hard to be funny all the time.

So who is Kit Harrington supposed to be in that final post credits scene? King Arthur? Conan?

[Herpa Derpa 6126]

28 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

So who is Kit Harrington supposed to be in that final post credits scene? King Arthur? Conan?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(Dane_Whitman)

[Buzzrock 14935]

Great, another Marvel character no one has ever heard of. When can we get some Gambit up in here?

[mdmost 43011]

We watched it last night. It was okay. Definitely on the lower tier. All the criticisms I've seen are valid. Too many characters. Too much going on and a bit of a retread of other movies. Visually, it was great. The Celestials were cool to see on screen and it will be interesting to see how they work them into the MCU. It definitely sets up Galactus.

I had the thought when Sprite was made human, wouldn't Phastos want that as well since he has a husband and child who will grow old but he will outlive them both?

[atomheartbevo 89758]

8 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

When can we get some Gambit up in here?

Disney didn't spend $70 billion on Fox just to ignore Gambit.

 

[hornian 5222]

5 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Disney didn't spend $70 billion on Fox just to ignore Gambit.

 

You give them too much credit 

[mdmost 43011]

You guys almost had Channing Tatum playing Gambit so thank your lucky stars that it never got made by Fox. 

[crash_davis 23114]

Could've been a better movie with a different director. Nothing about the movie flowed, nothing was convincing. Right up there with Thor 2 in mehness.

[hornian 5222]

7 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Could've been a better movie with a different director. Nothing about the movie flowed, nothing was convincing. Right up there with Thor 2 in mehness.

I agree. It was disjointed. Editing and cutting some scenes would have helped it flow, and putting some flashbacks in a different order. 

[NWBuck 8576]

Finally got around to watching this. Big bucket of "meh". My 14 year old daughter summed it up best- "I have no reason to care about any of these people..."

[Rimbo 26020]

On 1/13/2022 at 8:01 AM, utxmike05 said:

Exactly, digging into the bullpen. 

Eh, that's been true for a while. But that didn't keep, say, Ant-Man from being one of the better MCU characters, because it was well-executed.

On 1/13/2022 at 5:07 PM, Herpa Derpa said:

Bad acting all around, but particularly Keogh and Jolie.

There was nothing wrong with Jolie's acting; the character of Thena is wooden.

On 1/13/2022 at 6:25 AM, utxmike05 said:

Their names are so random though lol.  Names are kinda funny and not a strong hero name. Sprite?? Gilgamesh?? Droig?? 

There's nothing random about their names. Their names are supposed to be similar to characters of epics and myths. The idea being that our myths were based on the Eternals themselves. 

And Gilgamesh is one of the more obvious (The Epic of Gilgamesh.) Phastos is Hephaestus. Thena is Athena (duh). Sersi is Circe. And so on.

On 1/15/2022 at 9:35 AM, mdmost said:

I had the thought when Sprite was made human, wouldn't Phastos want that as well since he has a husband and child who will grow old but he will outlive them both?

The problem Sprite had is that she could never even pretend to have a normal life, because once she failed to age for more than a couple of years, everyone got suspicious of her. At least the rest can pretend they're aging gracefully (or even use makeup). It's too obvious for Sprite.

 

Anyway, overall, I thought the movie was okay. It's not Thor: Ragnarok, but it's not Thor: The Dark World, either.

[Viper 12109]

On 1/15/2022 at 11:35 AM, mdmost said:

We watched it last night. It was okay. Definitely on the lower tier. All the criticisms I've seen are valid. Too many characters. Too much going on and a bit of a retread of other movies. Visually, it was great. The Celestials were cool to see on screen and it will be interesting to see how they work them into the MCU. It definitely sets up Galactus.

I had the thought when Sprite was made human, wouldn't Phastos want that as well since he has a husband and child who will grow old but he will outlive them both?

 

7 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Eh, that's been true for a while. But that didn't keep, say, Ant-Man from being one of the better MCU characters, because it was well-executed.

There was nothing wrong with Jolie's acting; the character of Thena is wooden.

There's nothing random about their names. Their names are supposed to be similar to characters of epics and myths. The idea being that our myths were based on the Eternals themselves. 

And Gilgamesh is one of the more obvious (The Epic of Gilgamesh.) Phastos is Hephaestus. Thena is Athena (duh). Sersi is Circe. And so on.

The problem Sprite had is that she could never even pretend to have a normal life, because once she failed to age for more than a couple of years, everyone got suspicious of her. At least the rest can pretend they're aging gracefully (or even use makeup). It's too obvious for Sprite.

 

Anyway, overall, I thought the movie was okay. It's not Thor: Ragnarok, but it's not Thor: The Dark World, either.

Also there's no way to include the actress in a sequel unless they let her character age. 

[Herpa Derpa 6126]

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

There was nothing wrong with Jolie's acting; the character of Thena is wooden.

Agree to disagree. You say the character of Thena is wooden. The film failed to express that to the viewer. As someone unfamiliar with the characters, it just came across as another Jolie personality performance, devoid of depth and substance.

Acceptable wooden acting:

 

 

[Rimbo 26020]

18 minutes ago, Herpa Derpa said:

You say the character of Thena is wooden.

Well, she's clearly the person who inspired the myth of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war, and being really really dull.

 

[Superhero 8832]

On 11/12/2021 at 6:53 PM, GreenspointTexas said:

I went in expecting crap. It wasnt total crap. Watchable, decent plot, decent acting, but sloooowwww.

 

best part of the movie was the Indian Valet guy. Hilarious

Hilarious how his camera got smaller and smaller. I was expecting him to shoot video with his phone when it was all said and done. 

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

Threw this on after the Dallas game.  Paused partway through to google eternals, celestials, arishem. Have a better understanding, but a lot of things from the comics are not the same as what they are putting in the MCU. 
 

Then at the end I had to google Eros/star Fox and then Dane whatever.  Black knight doesn’t seem to fit into phase 4. 
 

I think they might lose me if they dive into celestials, the other race of celestials that galactus is, watchers, all these beings. 

[Viper 12109]

They already dove into the watchers in what if 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Viper

[YChang 3455]

Agree with others that it should have been a tv show or miniseries instead.

[boilerhorn 1393]

Most of my complaints about it have been mentioned before, but I'll reiterate...

• Poor casting
• Poor directing
• Poor character development
• So-so writing

I considered the possibility of doing it as a series. 

I might have worked if someone like Jon Favreau was the writer and/or director.  It would have pushed them into a different dimension relative to funding of talent, too.  Rather than a ton of recognizable actors, they cast with talented lesser-knowns.  

In the same vein, when considering a series, I lamented, "Holy crap, I cannot imagine dragging this out to 10 episodes."  However, different writers, directors, and actors would have made it more consumable.  Moreover, you only have to suffer through 45-50 minutes on a "weak" episode.  The worst of the Mandolorian or Boba Fett episodes provided character development value, context value, etc.  Each Eternals episode could have had a standalone thought/idea as needed.

At some point, someone inside Disney gave the green light to a 2+ hour theatrical release.  At that point, they established an acting budget and target cast that would appeal to darn near every demographic.  Gemma Chan is an attractive person and has performed well in other roles, but she was stiff and uninspiring here.  Jolie is an overrated actress and just did not seem to fit.  As noted, Madden as Ikarus - meh.  Nanjiani - with each smile/smirk I saw Silicon Valley.  (BTW - he is cast in the upcoming Obi Wan Kenobi seris).

I do believe it opens up another door in MCU and could be the springboard for some new/different storylines.  Let's hope they clean it up a bit and do a better job at casting and directing.

[ajax 2620]

I hate every character except for the old Indian guy with the camera, and maybe the speedy mute girl. Everyone else could have died a fiery death and I wouldn't have cared. 

And they obviously made Sprite human so that when she's a foot taller in the sequels there won't be any explaining to do.

[Buzzrock 14935]

Nitpick but this movie made me think about it: the speedy superheroes would not be able to save people at full speed like that. You’d have whiplash and broken bones and arms pulled out of sockets all over the place. Like the A-Train scene in The Boys.

And if they hit a bug going Mach 1 or whatever they would be killed instantly.

[utee94 15835]

16 hours ago, Herpa Derpa said:

Acceptable wooden acting:

Ha!  I'd also allow:

 

 

[Not a cat 5660]

50 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Nitpick but this movie made me think about it: the speedy superheroes would not be able to save people at full speed like that. You’d have whiplash and broken bones and arms pulled out of sockets all over the place. Like the A-Train scene in The Boys.

And if they hit a bug going Mach 1 or whatever they would be killed instantly.

And everyone acted like all of them together have no chance against Icarus, when the Flashette did a pretty good job of beating his ass for a bit.  Hell, I've always wondered how anyone beats the flash or quicksilver.

[henrygandorf 29194]

On 5/25/2021 at 8:22 AM, Richard Kimball said:

The trailer epitomizes where Disney is with Marvel, now. Hayek was selected as the lead, according to the director, because she's in her fifties, and everyone needs to fight ageism in Hollywood, and because she thought it was time for a Hispanic female super hero.

finally got around to watching this warm turd last night, then went back to read the beginning of the thread again.  thought this ^^ was a funny look back to last may.

did the director call her a lead and say it was about agism and time for a hispanic female super hero, or is this fan fiction?  hayek was in the movie for about 5 minutes and did little super hero-ing.

agree with whomever said madden wasn't right for the part he played.  for all the talk of "what a big cast" it was, it really wasn't.  familiar faces, sure.  but no backbone.  no strong main character to revolve the movie around (like pretty much every marvel movie has).

a different cast and telling of this in a 6-8 episode tv series could've worked, but only because they would've possibly benefitted from showing the eternals living normal human lives, and character studies done well are enjoyable to watch. 

by the end of the pilot, you're caught up to present day, and everyone goes their separate directions.  by episode 4, you start getting the band back together.  because of the timeline jumping, the "rounding everyone up for one mission" was blurred out and seemed fairly insignificant in the movie.

starting the movie with everyone together as a group, all equipped with their individual powers and skills makes for a rough origin story begging for 50 minutes of exposition.

[Js1 85449]

Well I liked it 

[CooterBrown 18015]

The problem with all these minor characters is that there are only so many super abilities to go around and all of their powers are already taken by more popular superheroes.

For example, the only unique power among the Eternals is a guy builds stuff.  He's Tim the Tool Man of Marvel.

 

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

That, and we saw that they can be easily killed/destroyed by the deviants yet were only given a select power instead of them all having multiple or all of the powers. Most origins can’t allow for that, you get what you get, but these were purpose built.  

[ajax 2620]

Does Arishem have no gravitational pull or does he have zero mass? Cause his appearance should have caused cataclysmic tidal shifts.

[Js1 85449]

34 minutes ago, ajax said:

Does Arishem have no gravitational pull or does he have zero mass? Cause his appearance should have caused cataclysmic tidal shifts.

A giant celestial coming out of the Indian Ocean should have set off a worse tsunami than 2004. 

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

A giant celestial coming out of the Indian Ocean should have set off a worse tsunami than 2004. 

That was one thing that got me. He got his head and hand above water, and he came from the center of the earth. Shouldn’t that have done sufficient damage to destroy everything?

[joeycovers 391]

10 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

That was one thing that got me. He got his head and hand above water, and he came from the center of the earth. Shouldn’t that have done sufficient damage to destroy everything?

Nah, Off Screen  Dr Strange just held back the waves like in End Game. Deleted Scene only on the Blu Ray 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

6 hours ago, Not a cat said:

 Hell, I've always wondered how anyone beats the flash or quicksilver.

While The Eternals is the second movie to feature Pink Floyd's Time, I feel like Days of Future Past used it better.

 

[atomheartbevo 89758]

5 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

a different cast and telling of this in a 6-8 episode tv series could've worked, but only because they would've possibly benefitted from showing the eternals living normal human lives, and character studies done well are enjoyable to watch.

I would have liked to have seen more about the legends they inspired, rather than a few flashes of them beating Deviants, or Sprite telling a story or two.

That could have been done in 6-8 episodes - maybe give each one 15-20 minutes or so showing their backstory, etc.

[Herpa Derpa 6126]

59 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

While The Eternals is the second movie to feature Pink Floyd's Time, I feel like Days of Future Past used it better.