3 reasons why Marvel's 'Eternals' is the worst MCU movie to be ever made
'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' has currently grossed over $422 million worldwide. At the time of writing, the 25th film in the MCU was praised for its choreography and representation of Asian culture. 'Eternals' appears to be far from any such praise coming its way or at least the early critic reviews seem to suggest so. The critic reviews saw Chloe Zhao-helmed superhero flick panned for being boring and labeled as an experiment that went horribly wrong.
The Eternals are superheroes who lived on Earth throughout the entire saga of the Marvel films. The bunch includes Ajak (Salma Hayek), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Klingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan) and Gilgamesh (Ma Dong-Seok). Their mission: Protect the earth from the Deviants, an evil race.
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Marvel's 'Eternals' critics' review: 'Beautiful yet dense'
Except, it does appear that the origin story doesn't seem to have been well received by the critics. Of the multiple reviews that bordered between bland and torrid, here's a look at three reasons why the movie was not the success it was projected to be.
#1 Complicated plotline
Marvel's movies are seldom complicated. The formula is simple — Pack in solid action with an intense villain, some crisp writing, dashes of humor, stack up a solid cast, and stick to a simple storyline. It does appear that 'Eternals' may have goofed on everything but the humor and the cast bit. Cnet in their review says, "It's a complicated task, involving multiple time periods, a huge cast, and plenty of infodumps." This unconventional route is probably one of the reasons why the movie opened to negative reviews.
#2 A history lesson
Origin stories come with their fair dose of history. 'Iron Man' and 'Captain America: The First Avenger' were probably the two best origin stories that Marvel dished out. The backstory was refreshing and informative. One was a genius, playboy, billionaire, and philanthropist who used his brains and tech to become the world's greatest superhero, while the other was an example of what it would be the most righteous heroes ever. 'Eternals' with an ensemble cast leaves room for complete backstories and even it does delve into detail, what does it intend to say?
#3 A weak antagonist
New York Post's Johnny Oleksinski simply sums up the baddies, the Deviants to be "wolves made out of twigs" and calls the film "one of Marvel’s worst movies so far." And that sounds like a dangerous gamble to have taken. Ultron was called one of the worst Marvel villains to date and was ranked 10th in Time's list of MCU's best villains, and by the looks of it, the Deviants may just jostle for that spot.
'Eternals' releases November 5 in the US.