'Eternals' an intriguing, ambitious adventure

In the 1970s, comic book artist/writer Jack Kirby created a new superhero team for Marvel Comics. Over the years, the Eternals have returned in comic form in quite a few limited series.

Now, Marvel Studios brings this superhero team to the big screen in its most ambitious entry of the MCU yet.

Marvel Studios’ latest film, ‘Eternals,’ features an exciting new team of super heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years.

Following the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants. ‘Eternals’ is a visually incredible film and, to date, it’s the most ambitious yet. The latest MCU entry delivers quite a few amazing action sequences that are scattered throughout the film. There aren’t as many action-packed moments as other MCU releases. But the action scenes that are in the movie are still very intriguing and visually stunning.

One thing that is really enjoyable and interesting with this movie is the cosmic side of the franchise. Marvel already introduced some of the cosmic side in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies and the last two ‘Avengers’ movies. Here, they dive deeper into the cosmic side back thousands and thousands of years. These moments are extremely intriguing and also hints at the direction that the MCU is going with their next slate of projects.

Granted, ‘Eternals’ can be complex at times and is all over the place. But, the film’s story is truly compelling and some of the twists and turns that are revealed in the film are incredible.

So, die-hard MCU fans come out to the Dietrich and check out the latest from Marvel Studios on the big screen. Filled with great twists, amazing visuals, compelling sequences and a long run time, ‘Eternals’ is not to be missed. And, as usual, stay for two end credit scenes that teases what lies ahead for the MCU.

The cast: Gemma Chan (Raya and the Last Dragon) as Sersi; Richard Madden (1917) as Ikaris; Angelina Jolie (Those Who Wish Me Dead) as Thena; Salma Hayek (House of Gucci) as Ajak; Kumail Nanjiani (Netflix’s The Lovebirds) as Kingo; Lia McHugh (Songbird) as Sprite; Brian Tyree Henry (Netflix’s Woman in the Window; Godzilla vs. Kong) as Phastos; Lauren Ridloff (AMCs The Walking Dead) as Makkari; Barry Keoghan (The Green Knight) as Druig; Bill Skarsgard (Netflix’s The Devil All the Time) as Kro and Kit Harington (HBOs Game of Thrones) as Dane Whitman. ‘Eternals’ is written by Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway), Ryan Firpo and Kaz Firpo, and directed by Zhao as well.

A film adaptation of the ‘Eternals’ comic series has been in active development since April 2018. Marvel considered ‘Eternals’ to be a perfect transition into its next phase of films along with projects such as ‘Captain Marvel,’ allowing the studio to cast a diverse group of actors to portray the various Eternals.

‘Eternals’ is set roughly eight months after the events of ‘Endgame’ and addresses why the Eternals didn’t interfere in any past conflicts in the MCU films. In September 2021, Disney announced that the film would have an exclusive theatrical release for a minimum of 45 days.

‘Eternals,’ believe it or not, marks one of the rare MCU films to receive heavily mixed reviews from critics. But, that didn’t stop Marvel fans from checking the film out. During its opening weekend, the MCU feature grossed $71 million domestically, and $90.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $161.7 million (as of Nov. 7).

‘Eternals’ is rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality and has a running time of 157 minutes.