The movie ETERNALS, directed by Chloé Zaho, was a beautifully executed fantasy/action film based on the Marvel comics series. This movie was ambitious, yet entertaining, especially considering it’s based on pretty unknown Marvel characters. Despite being a big Marvel fan, going into this film, I had low expectations because of its 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes and other negative reviews, but it did not disappoint.

The story of this movie gives a really captivating introduction to a new side of the MCU.  The movie is about cosmic beings known as the Eternals who have been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years in order to protect humans from the Deviants and help them evolve. But after killing the remainder of the Deviants the Eternals have a falling-out and disband. Years later, the Deviants are back and more powerful than ever, and the Eternals must get back together in order to stop them. This movie provides a fun journey with a few twists and turns within the story and does a great job to explain the lore between the Eternals, the Deviants, and the Celestials, making for an excellent cosmic origin for the MCU.

Zaho does a fantastic job of differing this movie from other Marvel movies. While most MCU movies have similar formula and vibe, this movie carries a lot more of a cosmic and serious tone while still having a lot of that classic Marvel humor. The cinematography in this movie is great, with many beautifully-framed shots, and it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

The ETERNALS was an action-packed, mythological film with some awesome effects. Especially when it came to the magical powers of the Eternals themselves. Each effect related to the Eternals’ technology starts with golden rings that slither and branch out and overall it creates a very cool aesthetic. The other great effect come with the Deviants (the villains of the movie). They have very slithery, organic bodies that makes them look very predatory and alien-like. The color scheme and organic movement throughout their body makes for an epic and quite frightening design for a villain.

Something I didn’t expect going into this was how much of a female led movie this was going to be, and I think they did a really good job with that. Sersi is the lead of this movie, and along with having to be a leader for the ETERNALS (one of the strongest teams in the Marvel Universe), she also had one of the coolest superhero powers.

Another main character of this film, Ikaris, had the ability to fly and shoot laser beams from his eyes, making him similar to Superman. This kind of reference was a bigger part of the movie than you would think, with multiple call-outs to Superman and other characters from the DC universe throughout. This was a pretty meta decision of Marvel to make their comic book rival canon in their universe, but it allowed for a pretty humorous effect.

Overall, I would rate this movie a 3.8 out of 5. It was very enjoyable and quite frankly, probably one of the better team-based movies I’ve seen in a while.  With incredible character-building that gave each character their time to shine throughout the movie, I truly enjoyed the marvelous (pun intended) film that this turned out to be.