Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” is a new, but uncomfortable step away from The Avengers [spoiler-free review]

If you were tasked with paving the way past the massive successes of The Avengers, what would that new way be? It’s something that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had been thinking about years ago, and found it in director Chloe Zhao and her pitch for the “Eternals.”

Like meeting the Avengers for the first time 10 years ago, we are now having to meet new characters and the worlds they exist in. Unlike the Avengers, however, this next chapter of the MCU begins with us meeting the entire ensemble all at once.

That entire cast of characters are 10 in all, each one inspired in name and superpower by mythology from different cultures, which all tie into the plot of their origins and their stories.

Right from the beginning, though, we find the difficult task of having to acquaint ourselves with all of them. There’s a difficulty in doing that, which is why we had the individual Iron Man, Captain America, and Avenger films before we got to see them work together. They, in many ways, need to use the 2+ hour film to earn our love (hero) or hate (villain).

Meeting all the Eternals in the 2 hour 30 minute film felt rushed because like Marvel’s screen superheroes, they each have their own internal demons that they need to battle as they battle those evils in the world they live in. It’s tough to do that for one character and then relate to them to carry us through the entire picture.

The scope of the film feels very large, as you’ll span civilizations on Earth through space and time. Flashbacks throw to ancient places like Babylon and present-day places like islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Add the cosmic part where Deep Space and demi-gods exist and you have a grand film that will take you places.

The visual effects in the movie are the transport to those places in every sense of the art form. Some of the effects are breathtaking giving way for you to suspend your believability for what may be lacking in story or character.

Marvel Studios Eternals’ Chloe Zhao (director) and Richard Madden (Ikaris)

But taking you places is very much what director Chloe Zhao likes to do in her films, and does so by looking intimately at every aspect of life from the Earth’s moon to a kiss shared between lovers.

In all, while the characters might be difficult to connect with all in one movie, you’ll be moved by their humanity and be in awe of the beauty that is the tension between the cosmic threats and the very human Eternals.

It’ll take another Eternals film, perhaps even one that focuses on them individually, for us to really connect and maybe love them as much as we did The Avengers.

Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” comes to theaters on November 5 and later to Disney+.

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Details (from IMDB) –

Runtime: 157 minutes (including one mid-credits scene and one post-credits scene)

Rating: PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, some language, and brief sexuality

All reviews are personal opinions and may not reflect the attitudes of other writers for DisneyExaminer.com unless stated otherwise.

These films have been screened prior to the release date for review purposes and therefore are viewed without charge courtesy of Marvel Studios/The Walt Disney Studios.