Marvel Studios’ Eternals, featuring Chloé Zhao
In spring 2018, Marvel Studios hired Ryan and Kaz Firpo to write a script based on Jack Kirby’s Eternals. At the time, part one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s season finale, Avengers: Infinity War, had just hit theaters, and part two, Iron Man & Captain America swan song Avengers: Endgame, had finished initial production. In a couple months, cameras would roll for Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last film in Marvel Studios and Sony’s initial contract to share the web-slinging icon. And, Marvel parent company Disney was in a bidding war to acquire 20th Century Fox, who held the movie rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four.
During the marketing for the resulting Eternals film, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talked about how director Chloé Zhao’s pitch was why they decided to make the film. However, Zhao was part of a shortlist that also included Bumblebee director Travis Knight, and also part of their shortlist of potential Black Widow directors. Her official signing came five months after the initial discussion of Eternals as a “Phase 4” release. And, based on recent comments from Zhao and Feige, it sounds like the final movie’s plot and focus on a “diverse” cast was largely in place before this signing.
When I personally first heard of Zhao’s involvement, I was immediately intrigued. I had just seen The Rider: a gorgeous, intimate western with semi-autobiographical amateur performances and a Terrence Malick influence that was obvious but not derivative. I was in love. However, pretty much everything compelling about The Rider… didn’t seem particularly applicable to the Marvel Studios formula. And, directors who don’t mesh right with that machine typically get ground to paste by it.
So, how did Chloé Zhao’s Eternals turn out? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. But, I did see Marvel Studios’ Eternals featuring Chloé Zhao. And honestly, it was a mixed bag with occasionally baffling choices, though I did like it a fair amount for what it was.
If I had to pick one superhero film to compare Eternals with, it would probably be The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Which, if you agree with the popular consensus on that film and don’t know my take on it, that probably sounds harsh. Cruel even! However, believe it or not… I actually happen to like that one for what it is, too. It’s got a lot of great qualities, some of which it does better than any other live action Spidey film. (I went more in depth on that movie on Deanna Chapman’s Welcome to Geekdom podcast, which could be a nice warm up for Spider-Man: No Way Home.) However, the promising comic book adaption collapsed through a grotesquely unfocused script, with too many unnecessary side conflicts, baffling details, and teases of potential future stories weighing it down.
These same basic problems weigh down Eternals. There are puzzling subplots like Thena going ~*crazy*~ and a Deviant inexplicably gaining sentience late in the film, neither of which adds anything to the story. There’s a bizarre, poor taste decision to give Phastos an Oppenheimer-esque moment of regret literally set in the fresh radioactive ashes of Hiroshima. There’s the forever-young Sprite wishing she could have a grown up body so she could date Ikkaris. And, there’s Dane Whitman, who could’ve been a helpful point-of-view character for this dense world of Eternals but instead exists on the fringes, just to confusingly tease a Black Knight story that I guess also involves Blade?
That last bit seems weird to shove into a film that already has to deal with ten ancient demigods created by planet-size deities, who inspired our mythology Chariots of the Gods-style. Or, at least it does until you remember that this was conceived in the midst of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers bowing out, at a time when the future of Spider-Man and the X-Men were up in the air. And, it was intended as one of the first following Avengers 4, which at one point was going to be followed by an Inhumans film instead.
This is why I call it “Marvel Studios’ Eternals.” Chloé Zhao’s fingerprints actually are evident at times, shockingly so for a Marvel movie. And, as someone who loves both the studio’s best work and Zhao’s work, I dug that. I also dug Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Lia McHugh, Lauren Ridloff, and the brief Harry Styles appearance as Starfox. The final film maybe be messier and less of a crowd-pleaser than most stuff in the Avengers’ world, but I enjoyed it more than I enjoy two-thirds of their filmography. And, I don’t believe that the director can be resolved of everything I didn’t like about it.
But, it’s not really a Chloé Zhao film. It’s episode 26 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Results will vary on if that’s enough.
