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Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

 Grimskul wrote:
There's this bizarre idea that once everyone has all the wealth they need


How much I need & how much I want are very different things.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




I really, really hate plot points that involve giving humans technology. It is so incredibly lazy and renders any attempt by said stories to tell morality moot.

Edit:
I'm glad Paper Boi (Atlanta) got a big role. It wasn't the best showcase of his talents.
Salma Hayek had a surprisingly minor role.
Sprite was just...odd.
The actress who played Sersi somehow had a more impactful role to me in Captain Marvel. She and Icarus were very bland leads.
Blonde Jolie as a warrior-goddess worked well, but she was probably the most talented actor in the movie.
Kumail was fine.
The rest of the Eternals were forgettable or grating. Why one was mute (and deaf?) was very odd.
The action scenes, especially the FTL combat was vastly inferior to Man of Steel.
The movie doesn't do much beyond lore dump and set up future plot threads. It's instantly forgettable. On par with Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 for me. Worst MCU film in a while, but not necessarily the worst. I didn't love Far From Home either, but at least that had a couple of visually interesting moments. Captain Marvel had better action and better comedy.

I think Eternals biggest issue wasn't the ensemble cast. It was just bland. Unsalted. Strangely devoid of conflict and stakes.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/13 04:51:03


The only way we can ever solve anything is to look in the mirror and find no enemy 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




trexmeyer wrote:
I really, really hate plot points that involve giving humans technology. It is so incredibly lazy and renders any attempt by said stories to tell morality moot.

It depends on the stories and the moral focus. If you're moralizing about honesty and integrity, for example, 'here is laser gun' doesn't render anything moot. It might even make a story about 'don't kill people' easier to tell, if you focus on the moral problems with being able to easily kill.

And 'giving technology' can be kind of weird as a concept. You could say that about any form of schooling, really, as students didn't in any way earn or understand the implications of what they're being taught. It doesn't matter if you're teaching them to make bows, rifles or lasers. And for Eternals specifically, better farming and medicine would have helped the real goal (pure pop growth), and not really caused much in the way of problems.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/01/13 04:51:00


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





trexmeyer wrote:
It's instantly forgettable. On par with Thor 2

How tastes vary. Thor 2 is the best Thor movie IMO.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

trexmeyer wrote:


I think Eternals biggest issue wasn't the ensemble cast. It was just bland. Unsalted. Strangely devoid of conflict and stakes.


Ahh, so very comic accurate.
   
Made in ca
Fireknife Shas'el






ccs wrote:
trexmeyer wrote:


I think Eternals biggest issue wasn't the ensemble cast. It was just bland. Unsalted. Strangely devoid of conflict and stakes.


Ahh, so very comic accurate.


Yes, and it really makes you wonder why they bothered making an Eternals movie. This is probably the most boring corner of the Marvel IP. At least the Inhumans had royal infighting and funky looking people.

I mean, geez, they could have done a Power Pack movie and made all the moneys, because that's basically a bog standard Disney kids movie in a Marvel wrapper.

   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






To be fair much the same could have been said about the Guardians and look how well that one turned out?

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Well, whilst this movie was pretty stand alone within the MCU, it’s introducing an entirely new super powered and heroic race, plus potential future antagonists.

Plus Inhumans was tried on telly and was cack

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Plus Inhumans was tried on telly and was cack


Well, it was supposed to be a movie originally and announced as such after Ultron before they learned not to plan quite that far ahead and take a more experimental approach to things.
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




 AduroT wrote:
To be fair much the same could have been said about the Guardians and look how well that one turned out?


Guardians at least tied into the main storyline and hit the right tone for the brand (and honestly had better name draw for MCU films, at least in terms of target audience).
Eternals had to take time out of their own story to apologize for not giving a crap about the end of the world. Or any other major crisis for the entire history of humanity.
At least with new heroes, there's no need to excuse their existence.


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






 LunarSol wrote:
 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Plus Inhumans was tried on telly and was cack


Well, it was supposed to be a movie originally and announced as such after Ultron before they learned not to plan quite that far ahead and take a more experimental approach to things.


Thats not what happened.

Universally horrible person and head of Marvel Ike Pearlmutter wanted to make Inhumans to spite Fox for having the Mutants. He forced the Inhumans movie onto the slate before Kevin Feigie went to the Disney suits and got himself freedom from the Marvel Council headed by Ike. Then Kevin canceled Inhumans, a movie he never wanted to do, and went forward with plans that didn't suck. Ike Pearlmutter, took his toys and went home to Marvel TV where he shoved Inhumans into every corner of Agents of Shield and that fething awful TV show.

Feige is always planning ahead. Inhumans was a plan made by committee that he disagreed with.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/14 01:59:08



These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in ca
Fireknife Shas'el






 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Plus Inhumans was tried on telly and was cack


Not exactly the fault of the Inhumans. I mean, giant teleporting doggo! THINK OF THE MERCH! But they tried to do it on a shoestring budget when it should have been Shakespearian Epic.

Guardians at least was always full of characters with character, and you're off in space so you have all the aliens to draw from for villains/cosmic entities. The Eternals have always been pretty wooden. Heck, they all have the same power set, they just vary in how well trained/practiced they are with each of the powers.

And geez, they could have done the entire Eternals movie "Pre-Snap" and set up a reason for them not being on Earth during that period (like they re-settled on Titan to avoid Asgardian attention or something).

   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






I was fine with the Inhumans in Agents of Shield. I thought that worked just fine. The separate Inhuman series itself was just Bad. Medusa in particular was done hella dirty.

 
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






 AduroT wrote:
I was fine with the Inhumans in Agents of Shield. I thought that worked just fine. The separate Inhuman series itself was just Bad. Medusa in particular was done hella dirty.


You were fine with them being treated wholesale as Mutant replacements? "Concentration camps" and all?


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

I enjoyed the film a lot more than I thought I would, given that I knew very little about it and wasn't too sure what to expect.

I liked that there were some really quite powerful subtexts between the different characters, and the moral ambiguity of the protagonists. I liked Ikarus in particular; he was the obviously intended to be the 'muscles' of the group, but he wasn't suited for leadership and was unable to process the decision that Selma Hayek's character had made after holding onto that secret for so long (the one that had cost him the chance to live his life with his love) and his anger at that betrayal lead him to murder his master. A decision he could no longer live with, when it ended with him being unable to kill the person he loved, even though that then removed his reason for being. So all of that physical power but actually quite vulnerable, I found that moment quite powerful.

I thought as well - was Sprite placed there deliberately as a child, so she would never be comfortable in that world and so wouldn't become attached to it? And then ultimately do what needed to be done when the time came - if that was a deliberate activity by the Celestial that was an interesting move. If this had happened millions of times on millions of worlds, presumably they would become quite proficient at it.

I thought something that detracted slightly was the evolution of the Deviants and the "oh look I'm sapiant" and then not really getting a chance to explore that before being killed by Angry Angelina Jolie (although the relationship between her and Gilgamesh was again quite heartfelt). That plotline perhaps could have had a film of its own.

And not something I ever thought I would find myself writing on a forum, but the costumes (and sets in general) were beautiful. Someone had really given thought to the colour co-ordination, and Gemma Chan in that emerald green getup just looked - wow.

My better half didn't enjoy it that much because it felt disconnected from the other Marvel films, didn't have the same level of humour, and perhaps was a bit too wishy-washy. But that was perhaps exactly why I liked it; it showed the MCU can create a thought provoking, actually quite emotionally powerful film, without it just needing to be humorous quips and explosions (as much as I enjoy those films).

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Can we not mention that character?

I mean, there are actual actors out there. You don’t need some scrawny get from a god awful manufactured boy band from barrel scraping reality shows.


I'm gonna say that final clip probably dropped the film half a star in my rating - really felt out of place.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/14 10:59:40


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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






I definitely appreciate this wasn’t Marvel By Numbers. But I can see why that might be offputting for others.

For instance, let’s say Marvel is a really good Burger. Nothing too fancy, but you know the franchise is going to deliver something to scratch that itch.


Eternals is more….a Steak Sandwich. Same basic ingredients, but if you’re craving a burger, it may not quite do it for you, but the next buyer might appreciate the change.

   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I definitely appreciate this wasn’t Marvel By Numbers. But I can see why that might be offputting for others.

For instance, let’s say Marvel is a really good Burger. Nothing too fancy, but you know the franchise is going to deliver something to scratch that itch.


Eternals is more….a Steak Sandwich. Same basic ingredients, but if you’re craving a burger, it may not quite do it for you, but the next buyer might appreciate the change.


Wait... it wasn't Marvel By Numbers? Run-time eating origin story, weak and irrelevant villains, shallow character relationships... hmm. A little less banter, I guess, but I think it really seized on the weakest parts of the Marvel formula and ran with it. Some great cinematic landscape pans don't save it from its standard take on the usuals.

And then went a bit further with some really weaksauce moral 'arguments:'
Ok boss, I'm on board with letting 7 billion people just die. Its fine.
Murder and mass murder for the 'love of ages' because its just so... whatever and stuff.
Life-long (centuries-long!) dependency is a positive relationship! (And not an utter horror)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/14 15:04:54


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




It had all the moral complexity of sitting on a nail.

The only way we can ever solve anything is to look in the mirror and find no enemy 
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






The only thing Eternal about this movie will be how forgettable it is.
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

To me, it was the most "Superhero" of all the MCU so far.

That is why it is so funny to me to see some many fans hate it.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




What makes it 'superhero' to you, out of curiosity? It almost feels like a deconstruction to me.

None of these characters are particularly heroic- they trip over the most basic morality, there's no 'rise,' no inspiration of others, no call.

They accidentally found out one of their own got killed, and some of them stumbled into doing vaguely the right thing just before their 'between jobs' hiatus was over. They were all pretty content just ignoring the world.
Half of them didn't even have a motive. The mostly-not-in-this-movie speedster was bored, flashbacks lady was simply pointed in the correct direction, mind control guy just... kind of went along with it?
The lead character kind of did it out of sympathy, maybe, but mostly out of an accidental 'hey, my powers do what?'

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/01/17 16:24:31


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

A group of capes get together for the purpose of protecting people, but eventually fall apart due to personality disputes, but are then reluctantly forced back together to face a common threat. However, not all of them are who they seem to be. The true enemy ends up being much closer to home.

That is a by-the-numbers Superhero team story that you read in X-men, Avengers, JLA, etc all the time.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in gb
Legendary Dogfighter





England

Saw it today. At no point did I care about any of the characters.
And the ending was garbage of the highest order.
What was the point of the deviant having the ability to absorb their power / memories? It felt like it was building up to it being the hero, and killing the eternals would cause it to be the omni mind thing and stop Tiamat. Then it’s cut in have with a sword for no reason.
And the part emergence, that would have been a planet killing event in its own right. Ripping its way out of the earths core to the surface. Turning it to stone doesn’t change the fact the earths core is now gone, and a giant section of the mantle is rock. Every volcano on earth would be erupting and earth quakes planet wide. Mega ash clouds, nuclear winter level stuff. Hell the change to earths mass alone would F up the planets rotation / orbit.

The whole thing felt disconnected from reality. Remember when tony built an armoured suit in a cave, that level of believability has long since gone.

it's the quiet ones you have to look out for. Their the ones that change the world, the loud ones just take the credit for it. 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




What was the point of the deviant having the ability to absorb their power / memories? It felt like it was building up to it being the hero, and killing the eternals would cause it to be the omni mind thing and stop Tiamat. Then it’s cut in have with a sword for no reason.


I think the point was to illustrate that they were the same kind of monsters, but they could choose to be better and it... couldn't?
Because it was ugly and had a bad-association-word name.
But it wasn't ever going to be the hero.

\shrug
Really its another case where the comics version is a LOT more nuanced. They were a pre-humans (experimented on and 'improved' by the Celestials) with an extensive civilization that went wrong. But they were capable of logic and reason and truces, not just animal-level killers to be killed in turn.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2022/01/18 03:04:51


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






Arguably a lot of what is in the comics can still be in the mcu. The opening crawl is full of misinformation and lies, and arishem isn't exactly a reliable narrator in that he would be fine lying to its servants.

The robots bit is more likely to be genetic creations. More replicants than androids.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




 Lance845 wrote:
Arguably a lot of what is in the comics can still be in the mcu. The opening crawl is full of misinformation and lies, and arishem isn't exactly a reliable narrator in that he would be fine lying to its servants.

Eh. Unreliable narrator doesn't work when we see the Deviants as animals, acting like animals and only animals until they start in on Eternals in the present day.
That's a pretty far cry from the comics' ancient empire that subjugated early humans, warred with Lemuria and Atlantis (and vaguely/questionably responsible for the sinking of both) and made peace treaties with the Eternals.

Maybe the Celestials reduced an ancient Deviant empire to animals off-screen in the long long ago, but I can't see any way that would matter.


The robots bit is more likely to be genetic creations. More replicants than androids.

Yeah, I figured that. They went with 'living robots' or whatever as shorthand for the audience. Replicants are (potentially) a lot more interesting, but the movie was already dragging with Too Much Stuff.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/19 02:33:15


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Finally got the time to watch this and was quite pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. Really enjoyed the characters, how they were built up and woven really quietly all things considered. The plot grew to an organic and character driven conflict conflict with some of the visual spectacle at the end having some fantastic camera work to capture the scale of it. Really enjoyed this one. Not likely to revisit it, but found it far more engaging than I expected.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Finally watched this yesterday. It was fine, I guess, but could have benefitted from having about 30 minutes cut from the runtime.

It did take itself a little too seriously for the most part and suffered from character overload. There were quite a lot of eternals but only maybe a single personality between them. Maybe it's just me, but I did find the casting of two brothers from GoT, alongside a character called Sersi, a little distracting. Maybe that says more about the merits of the film. Could have been worse, I guess. Harry Styles could have had more than just a cameo.

The villains and plot were pretty poorly conceived/borderline nonsensical, the fight scenes annoyingly badly shot and I thought there was a lack of chemistry between any of the leads. The Indian eternal at least seemed to be having fun. It says a lot that I can only remember half of the character's names...
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



London

 Shadow Walker wrote:
trexmeyer wrote:
It's instantly forgettable. On par with Thor 2

How tastes vary. Thor 2 is the best Thor movie IMO.


Tastes do indeed vary
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

Slipspace wrote:

The villains and plot were pretty poorly conceived/borderline nonsensical, ~~~ It says a lot that I can only remember half of the character's names...


Yup, that's Comic Accurate concerning an Eternals plotline.
   
 
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