Movie review: Eternals is a standard Good vs Evil film with an interesting link to mythology
Eternals film, 2021
★★★☆☆
The latest offering from Marvel’s stable of comic book heroes, Eternals (12A) is a superhero flick with a difference.
Opening in Mesopotamia in 5,000 BCE, it tells the story of how a band of immortals — which includes Sersi (Gemma Chan), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Druig (Barry Keoghan from Dublin) and Ikaris (Richard Madden), led by Ajak (Salma Hayek) — are dispatched to Earth by the Supreme Being Arishem (voiced by David Kaye), where their mission is to protect the human race from a ravening horde of intergalactic predators, the Deviants.
Having played their part in nurturing the great civilisations, however, the Eternals face their biggest challenge in the present day, when a more evolved version of the Deviants return to Earth, bigger and stronger and bent once more on devouring the entire human race.
So far, so superhero flick, but what gives Eternals an added dimension is the way in which it makes explicit the link between modern superheroes and their origins in ancient mythology, and which, in allowing the story to range far and wide throughout history, incorporates elements of the Greek, Babylonian and Aztec cultures, among others.
Indeed, the director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), who also co-writes, might well have profited from expanding this aspect of the story, because otherwise it’s fairly standard Good vs Evil fare. The exception is the subplot that involves Angelina Jolie’s Thena experiencing apocalyptic visions of planetary cataclysm, which briefly threatens to broach some rather interesting philosophical ideas; for the most part, though, the movie is concerned with showcasing the powers of the superheroes who are likely to inherit the mantle of the Avengers.
Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie are solid in their roles, and Kumail Nanjiani is good value as the comedy relief, but Eternals, despite some thrilling moments, doesn’t quite deliver on its considerable promise.
