The Oscar-winning director of ‘Nomadland’ Chloé Zhao floods ‘Eternals’ with pretentiousness and forces the diversity of characters without charisma
Nobody remembers since, in the mid-90s, the Marvel publishing house, born in 1936, declared bankruptcy in the middle of the crisis in the comic book publishing sector. They couldn’t even count on their big stars – Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four – because the rights belonged to other studios. So the mythical label had to settle for a ‘secondary’, ‘Iron Man’, to star in an independent production that cost 140 million dollars and raised 585. At the end of its credit titles it reserved a surprise: the appearance of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The warning that, in the future, the publisher’s superheroes would share the screen together in what was pompously christened the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Twenty-six films later and under the almighty aegis of Disney, ‘Eternals’ arrives this Friday on 982 Spanish screens to present ten new superheroes, emerged from the talent of Jack Kirby in the 70s. At the controls is Chloé Zhao, the second woman and the first Asian to win the Oscar for best director with ‘Nomadland’. Hopefully ‘Eternals’ fills some rooms in need of viewers, but cinematically we are facing one of the weakest titles in the MCU.
There are several problems with an exhausting film that lasts 157 minutes and which, in a reckless decision, is committed to delving into the psychology of more than a dozen characters. The Eternals are immortal heroes from Planet Olympia who came to Earth sent by the Celestials to protect us from the Deviants, a race of monstrous creatures that loom cyclically.
Dark photography
Flashbacks interrupt the action every so often to take us back to bygone eras, from Prehistory to Mesopotamia to Babylon and Aztec Mexico. In the present we will also jump from bustling London to deep America and colorful Bollywood in an endless journey dotted with twilights, a style trait of the director of ‘Nomadland’.
Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) fights a Deviant.
Like a Benetton ad, the ‘dramatis personae’ of ‘Eternals’ is a forced hymn to the diversity of races and genders. There is a Chinese, a Korean, an Irishman, an Indian, a teenage girl who looks like a boy, a deaf person and even a gay African American and father, married to an Arab (Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry). There is also a Latina, Salma Hayek, and a wasted Angelina Jolie. Unfortunately, none of the Eternals are overly charismatic. The kiss between two men is put there for exactly this: so that we can talk about it.
Zhao floods impossible dialogues with pretentiousness, the chase of “your mind fractures under the weight of memories.” Only the character of Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), who in his human life has become a Bollywood star, brings some humor and demystification. The wretched Eternals cannot interfere in human affairs, only save us from the Deviants. Condemned not to age like vampires, they are aware of their own nature as the Replicators of ‘Blade Runner’ and must face their creator to save some earthlings they have grown fond of.
‘Eternals’ has stunning digital effects but its photography is dark and lacks memorable moments. His two post-credit scenes advance new titles to make money.
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