Eternals - Cheap Thoughts

Without a doubt, best Power Rangers film there is. That’s only partially a joke. Eternals genuinely has more in common with that franchise than it does The Avengers. A group of diverse super powered beings united by the power of a godlike being instructing them to protect Earth from alien monsters, even down to their human clothes being consistent to the colour scheme of their superhero outfits. Of course the only thing that’s missing if the over the top comedic nature of Power Rangers, which yes, is ironic to say for an MCU film though not entirely unwelcomed.

Eternals is certainly the least like an MCU film we’ve had in a while and has very minimal to do with the franchise outside of an odd reference here or there, and yet it’s in an interesting placement as it could not exist without it, and not just because it’s the 26^th film in the franchise. Eternals being well aware of where film audiences stand with superhero stories allows it to skip through the majority of the origin and simply show audiences the highlights, even jokingly showing that these immortal demi-gods will have no desire to hide their secrets depending on the person because they live in a world with superheroes, it’s just the status quo at this point.

Where it gets more interesting is when it delves deeper into the philosophy of these beings. A dozen beings who were brought to Earth with specific purposes in mind and yet naturally their time there will change them, make them question their orders, their history, their relationships. What are these people willing to sacrifice and what do they gain from being here? They all go on to live very different lives and have different experiences, they are not always going to agree and when the film sits down to talk about it is when it becomes the most interesting, and not just because the fight scenes are all so very boring.

This is where the whip of Marvel comes striking down because when the film needs to fold into this suffocating mould the film is dull, aiming for the most obvious jokes, the least compelling fight scenes and ending with some of the most obvious, unnatural and annoying sequel bait this franchise might have ever seen. If a film with absolutely zero connections to the rest of this universe can’t escape this overbearing desire for consistency and force every film to look like the same grey indistinguishable blob from one another then what hope does any other film have?

The film’s biggest flaws are not unto its own shoulders, but the family of which it finds itself connected to, which is rather fitting for a film about characters who are being forced to fulfil certain roles for the sake of an all-knowing all powerful being, and if the film could escape that shadow much like the characters attempt to, they might have had something here.