(by Prakash Alagarsamy)
I am a fan of the MCU having read some comics. But on hearing the news that eternals is being made I was unsure. The comic book story is cliche as cliche gets. Even gaiman’s story is a done to earth superhero origin story. And seeing the all Star cast my doubts increased. Marvel films usually casted lesser/unknown actors who embodied that role and gained acceptance. Will eternals be able to do that. And after release seeing all the mixed reviews I felt vindicated. But duty called and I saw the film in theatre. And I thoroughly enjoyed it
God: celestials are presented as creators of universe. If ever there was a god he would be like arishem. Uncaring of the people he created. And why would he. We are just like cattle to him. We bring cosmic food is a much better explanation of all the sufferings/ sin we see around us. I never imagined a comic book will have a better explanation of the nature of God than the so called revelations and scriptures.
Power: I always hated superman. His smug belief that helping people will automatically lead to a better world. Here we have the eternals genuinely grapple with what people have become. Some don’t care. But some want to actually help even if it meant loss of free will or technological backwardness. And the characters felt old. They looked like beings who actually lived 7000 years, With memory loss, bitterness, anger, loneliness. Their motivations in what they did felt organic. Greater good: so many films and novels have attemped to answer this question. I believe there are no easy answers. Here to the heroes debate among themselves. But I believe the finality of a planets destruction is too cruel. Maybe the celestials could have given us a warning to enable other planets colonization. But we don’t matter to them. We are ants. Disposable matter. Just fuel like petrol. And some of our heroes can’t bear that. Maybe they view us as their pets. But they do care. Icarus was a fascinating character. Maybe some Nazis were like him. Rationalising his sins for the so called greater good. His guilt and apparent suicide was well acted. You could feel his inner conflict.
Marvel movies are bashed(somewhat deservedly) for being too fluffy with no real stakes. In that aspect eternals was deep( as Deep as a comic book movie can be). Maybe that was the reason for the mixed review. The audience I watched kept making stupid comments during the introspective scenes. But you expect critics to analyse a movie on its merits. I strongly believe eternals did well what it was set out to do. Maybe it will be appreciated in the future. Hope the MCU keeps making these kinds of movies too.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Yajiv
November 22, 2021
FWIW I liked Eternals far more than Shang-Chi. The conflict here made far more sense to me. Agreed in that it was a different attempt in the MCU. I enjoyed some of the philosophical questions they touched on and wished they had explored it in more detail. This really should have been a miniseries not a movie, I felt. The MCU has been feeling a bit stale for me post Endgame. I hope more future scripts take risks, even if they fall flat at times. Thanks for the write-up, Prakash.
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Satya
November 22, 2021
“….Rationalising his sins for the so called greater good. His guilt and apparent suicide was well acted. You could feel his inner conflict….”
Why that sounds more like a description of Albus Dumbledore, a character in fiction I love for his compassion and positivity. Yes, I see them in him. More on that later.
I wanted to wait until I watched the film myself, and agree with Yajiv that this would be better as a web series. There is a vision that actually makes it special compared to the recent MCU films (which I didn’t hate). And there is a lot of heart. But…
What I am not in love with are the Eternals themselves. All these characters are not worth taking seriously, not one bit. Leaving Sprite, whose glorious monologue is interrupted by a stone to her head (it was that silly), none of these characters are worth feeling something for. Take Gilgamesh, the friendly chef with stronger hands (Bheema? Maybe, Maybe not). When something happens to him and Thena, it never hit in the way it was intended to.
This is not to say Eternals is completely bad or unwatchable. It just needed more space, and as a film, it has too much to tell in a limited time. To make us invest in these extra terrestrial entities robbed of free will, it is important that we get some time to understand and agree with their desire to break the cycle. To see their salvation from a never ending painful journey.
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Prakash Alagarsamy
November 22, 2021
Ya it could have been a mini series. Thank for the comment
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