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ETERNALS (Spoiler Discussion Thread)

RIPPA

By RIPPA
in "COMIC BOOK" MOVIES & TV

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Contentious C

Contentious C

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's all right.  Neither as bad as the criticisms nor particularly good.  If they completely stripped away all the Marvel trappings, had the same cast, plot, and director, and then called it "The Cosmic Trolley Problem", critics probably would have found a way to gush all over it.

It sets up a lot for the future, so that's good.  But it could've been 20 minutes shorter, the sound mixing and design seemed *really* off for the wham-bang stuff (especially after seeing Dune twice), and the most interesting characters either get merked or just nope out when the shit hits the fan.  Oh, and at least at my theater, it was just hard to see; the visual contrast was not right for the kind of lighting you'd have in a theater.  The dark scenes were too dark and the light scenes looked too plain.

Edited by Contentious C
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TheVileOne

TheVileOne

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Posted
On 11/4/2021 at 10:30 AM, J.T. said:

Fair enough.  It's just that all of the negative reviews sound the same.  No one is really saying anything substantive about why they don't like Eternals.  If it is drab, I want to know why you feel it is drab and so forth. I just see article after article of the same moaning which just leads you to believe that these people bash the movie because it is en vogue.

You two have conveyed more in a few sentences than some critics have said in an entire article.

Some other things I didn't like:

Sersi and Ikaris for example have no chemistry. They supposedly had this whirlwind romance and were madly in love, but there was no chemistry there at all. No fire. I believed Seri wanted to get naughty with Dane Whitman, but not Ikaris. Secondly, Richard Madden was just so wooden. I know he's capable of better. He's performed much better in Rocket Man, Game of Thrones, and even that mediocre live-action Cinderella film. 

Angelina Jolie looked bored and like she was phoning in every scene. What's happening with her is that her memories of her past are haunting her and she has PTSD. She is the person who knows what's happening and what's going on.

Kingo I actually found fun and charming. But then he's taken out of the film pointlessly. 

The Deviants add nothing to the film. Kro is horrendous. What was even the point of the Deviants and Kro? They are a minor plot device. Another pointless bait and switch antagonist. 

Spoiler

I can sort of get that the Eternals are highly advanced robots, but they don't even know that until they are in present day. Beforehand they just believe they are super-advanced alien humanoids from a different planet. I don't think Chloe Zao was sort of able to marry this idea of them basically being robots to finding their humanity.

 

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The Natural

The Natural

Posted
Posted (edited)

@TheVileOne: Reading your last post, rare Marvel Studios miscasting? Casting is one of the strongest things in the MCU: Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Captain America's Chris Evans', Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin and Tom Hiddleston's Loki.

Edited by The Natural
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TheVileOne

TheVileOne

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2 minutes ago, The Natural said:

@TheVileOne: Rare Marvel Studios miscasting?

I wouldn't say Marvel Studios mis-casting is rare to be perfectly honest. There's a lot of miscast roles I think. 

Also, I'm not sure miscasting is this movie's problem either. It's script, premise, execution, direction, presentation, a lot. 

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The Natural

The Natural

Posted
Posted
Just now, TheVileOne said:

I wouldn't say Marvel Studios mis-casting is rare to be perfectly honest. There's a lot of miscast roles I think. 

Also, I'm not sure miscasting is this movie's problem either. It's script, premise, execution, direction, presentation, a lot. 

That's a lot of problems. Sometimes you can get away with one or two if the rest can do a carry job.

My bottom five MCU movies:

19: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).

20. Iron Man 3 (2013).

21. Iron Man 2 (2010).

22. Thor: The Dark World (2013).

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008).

I'm on 23 as I'm yet to see Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings (2021) and Eternals (2021).

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Jamal

Jamal

Posted
Posted

I agree that it was ok. Not as bad as reported but not near my top tier Marvel movies. It managed to keep me interested and into it despite the length and this is coming from a dude that has never remotely been into the concept (except for Sersi). It definitely helps set up some new potential MCU storylines. 

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Casey

Casey

Posted
Posted

It’s possible Phastos has a connection to the ten rings, but it isn’t confirmed or anything. People are saying that because of a post credits scene in Shang-Chi, and something that’s said, heard and seen in Eternals involving Phastos. But it’s all just fan speculation, until it isn’t.

So, no. But Shang-Chi is added to Disney Plus in a few days, so… watch both!

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J.T.

J.T.

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just got back from Eternals.

Not as bad as reviewed but certainly plodding and nowhere near the middle of the MCU pack.  An interesting if convoluted take on the Dreaming Celestial saga.  The movie definitely tried to cram a few decades worth of Eternals storyline into one bloated movie, so I expected the heel turn since I remember Ikaris going batshit insane somewhere near the end of the meta arc.

I kinda hated the whole robots thing and I also didn't care for the repackaged Deviants.  Kro joins the list of underdeveloped and easily dispatched MCU villains.

I did recognize Mahershala Ali's voice as the one asking Dane Whitman if he was ready to inherit the Ebony Blade.  Not a stretch to assume the the MCU version of the sword is cursed so we shall see how the Black Knight and Blade the Vampire Slayer work out in the future.

Was also left flat by the introduction of Starfox.  If you were going to use Eros, I think it would've been best to introduce him during the Infinity War meta, or maybe in one of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.  However it does make sense that Thanos himself would be an MCU Eternal robot and that his galactic campaign of mass genocide was all part of somehow keeping future Emergences from taking place.  If that is the context, it brings new depth to Thanos and makes him out to be much more than some murderous despot.

Pip is everything I want him to be.  Bring on Adam Warlock.

Kingo and his personal valet were the best.  DID YOU GET THAT~?  YES, I DID~!!  I also like how they handled Sprite, as she was always one of the more fleshed out Eternals in the comics and wasn't just the plucky sidekick.

I thought it was cool that the MCU Eternals had a wide array of abilities.  The original Eternals almost had nearly identical powers so they always felt fairly generic.  I figured that Proteus would have pulled a Batman and had like a million gadgets prepared to take out any of his fellow Eternals that strayed to the dark side.  It is cool how the Celestials are the MCU Cthulu Old Ones and are scary because they are indifferent and not because they are evil. 

The whole Emergence world destruction thing kinda infringes on Galactus's gimmick though, or maybe they will bring in Galactus as some sort of Celestial Killer that targets pre-Emergence planets and the Celestials will manipulate events behind the scenes to force confrontations between the FF and other MCU heroes and Galactus?

I also like how the UniMind was designed not to be deus ex machina / get out of danger free card as they can only perform it under the most precise circumstances.

Edited by J.T.
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odessasteps

odessasteps

Posted
Posted

I wonder if Eros’ power would be too similar to MCU Mantis to have them both in GOTG. 
 

it also depends if they play his power for laughs or make it dark. I wonder if Styles would agree to play a creeper/Me Too version of Starfox. 

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J.T.

J.T.

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 11/7/2021 at 8:46 PM, odessasteps said:

I wonder if Eros’ power would be too similar to MCU Mantis to have them both in GOTG. 

In the comics he is a projecting empath, so his power would be similar to Druig's if they go in that direction.

On 11/7/2021 at 8:46 PM, odessasteps said:

it also depends if they play his power for laughs or make it dark. I wonder if Styles would agree to play a creeper/Me Too version of Starfox. 

I think they already did that with Kilgrave / The Purple Man in the Netflix Jessica Jones dealie.

Edited by J.T.
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keith_h

keith_h

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, christopher.annino said:

Fuck, I forgot about Kilgrave and how wonderfully slimy David Tennant was... 

Kilgrave has to be a top 3 MCU villain. Just so evil. Up there with Thanos and Kingpin as the best villains. I’d say Loki too but I feel like he’s evolved into something more. 

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(BP)

(BP)

Posted
Posted

It was fine. I hit the vape pen a little too hard before it started and couldn’t make heads or tails of the opening crawl, which was a fun way to be dropped in. Sersi very concisely explains what’s happening a few scenes in anyway. 

It felt like Marvel made something a bit different than what they’ve done before, but not different from other comic book property adaptations. There’s a lot of previously traveled territory. The Amazon Invincible series covers some of the same ground and I enjoyed that more.

Angelina Jolie is in a class with Cruise or Pitt where they’re too famous to be in shit like this. It’s always going to seem beneath them and be a distraction. 

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Coletti

Coletti

Posted
Posted (edited)

Brad Pitt was in Deadpool 2 for a micro-cameo. Also, an episode of Jackass and the height of his fame. 

Jolie was in fucking TOMB RAIDER ?

Cruise? Yeah, probably "too good" for the MCU... Wait, shit, Tropic Thunder.

Edited by christopher.annino
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(BP)

(BP)

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

Did you think that about Robert Redford being in Winter Soldier? 

Yes, now that you mention it.

7 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

Brad Pitt was in Deadpool 2 for a micro-cameo. Also, an episode of Jackass and the height of his fame. 

Jolie was in fucking TOMB RAIDER ?

Cruise? Yeah, probably "too good" for the MCU... Wait, shit, Tropic Thunder.

It’s not the quality of the movies. It’s more 
about disappearing into an ensemble. We’re  seeing the movie primarily from Sersi’s perspective, and Ajak is the leader. Thena’s got her arc, but it’s a pretty thankless role.

I think my favorite part of the movie was the Highlander treatment of the timeline. More Highlandery stuff please. 

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odessasteps

odessasteps

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Posted

It makes me wonder who they will eventually cast as Doom: arguably the most important Marvel character for them to introduce (putting aside the X-folks for a second). 

Will they go super A list famous actor? (Dare I say Arnold) Or hot at the moment, younger (RSC type) actor? 

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