Marvel’s long awaited movie, The Eternals, has finally been released to the public on November 5th, and is the 26th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eternals is about a group of immortals who have lived on Earth secretly for thousands of years and have to battle with their mortal enemy, Deviants, which are monstrous creatures who were engineered by Celestials which are space gods in the Eternals universe. 

I would have to admit I was not the biggest Avenger’s fan when I watched this film, but I would have to agree this movie was very enjoyable. I didn’t know too much of the Marvel Universe, besides the fact that I watched all of the Spiderman movies, but this film was very easy to follow, and I could understand the concept and plot very well. I have recently heard very mixed reviews about this film from it was spectacular to it was a very mediocre or a plain film. I would heavily disagree with these other movie reviewers since the movie was very high action packed and thrilling.  I would have to say I was very surprised by this movie with how it engaged me to know more about this universe or specifically the entire Marvel Universe in general. 

The casting list was very thought out and included many well known and famous actors and actresses like Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden and Gemma Chan. Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie really did not disappoint in this movie with their incredible and inspiring acting. Hayek’s and Jolie’s performances were truly authentic, especially with the more emotional scenes shown here and there in this movie that made it feel like real life. I was truly awed with the stunning performances they displayed on screen as well as the fight sequences that we saw were truly captivating. A couple more people that deserve a worthy mention are Lauren Ridloff, Kumail Nanjiani, Don Lee and Lia Mchugh. Ridloff’s performance was very memorable since she plays a very strong and intelligent character. As well as Lia Mchugh’s which was a very honorable performance and I felt like she really understood her character and, even though her character was not perfect, made fans love this character she portrayed on screen. Many fans were disappointed to find out that Harry Styles, the iconic pop singer, who has been pretty hyped up throughout interviews and advertisements of the movie, was only in the film during the end credits. I was personally a little disappointed that Styles was only featured during the end credits of the movie as well but am still very excited to see him play a pretty important role and have him get more screen time as well in the inevitable sequel. 

The direction done by Chloe Zhao,who has won a multitude of awards and is a very well respected filmmaker,  was truly outstanding with how she captured the natural beauty of Earth. Some examples of this are scenes taking place in a jungle or a desert which made the audience feel like they were there capturing the exquisite world as well. Another thing I think was particularly fantastic in her direction was her cast selection, with the lead role being played by Asian actress, Gemma Chan as well with a lot more female leads too like Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Lia Mchugh, and Lauren Ridloff. This film I believe was truly one of her best works, next to her other film that won an academy award for best picture Nomandland, she has ever done and I can’t wait to review more. 

One of the fascinating aspects of this film is the visual effects and how it captivated the audience. I loved how these effects made the viewer feel like they were witnessing the action first hand as well as the sound effects which also created the feeling you were a part of the action. Adding on to the visual effects, the colors used in the film had a really nice accent to the emotion or feel of the scene with gold tints and hints of blue spread throughout the movie which give a more warmth and life to the film. 

The costumes were a little disappointing since most of the costumes in the Avengers film franchise have always done a very nice job  with the design and colors, but in Eternals I thought the costumes at times looked very cheap or just simply looked awkward on the actors. I also found that I didn’t really get as attached to the characters as I would have hoped. The writing in this movie could have been a little better in the character development realm, maybe adding more background on the characters or just seeing them evolve more since most of the characters stay the same throughout the entire movie.  There should have been better character development throughout most of the main characters so the audience and myself could feel like they know them better.  

But in spite of these aspects of the film I did not enjoy, I thought the overall plot and direction of the movie was very well done.  I was very pleased with the outcome of this movie and am inthralld with the idea of there being a second film to come out in the future. I would highly recommend this movie to anybody regardless of them being an Avenger fan or not. If this interests you the film can be found in theaters at this time.