Eternals

En primer lugar, tengo que señalar que Eternals es una de las películas más interesantes de Marvel. Es un espectáculo bastante extenso y quizás demasiado ambicioso que nos presenta a los héroes individuales y luego los pone rápidamente en acción colectiva, como si hubiéramos condensado todos los orígenes de la primera fase del MCU hasta el team-up Los Vengadores en una sola película. Así que se puede imaginar la tonelada de introducciones y explicaciones necesarias frente a la poca acción (y cuando la acción llega, es un lío digital terrible). Sin embargo, me ha gustado que los personajes principales resuelvan de forma bastante singular al menos algún dilema sobre si lo que están haciendo es realmente correcto, y al mismo tiempo los villanos son ligeramente ambivalentes: ¡quiero más de ese enfoque en el futuro! Y justo cuando estaba mecido en final bastante impresionante y prácticamente decidido a darle un cuatro, aparece la que probablemente sea la peor escena de pelea del Universo Marvel. Parece haberse caído de la animada Shrek y devalúa todo el entusiasmo de la historia anterior, porque nos recuerda que sigue siendo un producto calculado. Y si la propia Marvel no valora seriamente su película «diferente y ambiciosa», ¿cómo voy a valorarla yo? (02.11.2021)

Eternals definitivamente trae algo nuevo, lo que aún no hemos visto en el MCU, sin embargo, la duración excesiva es indefendible. Gracias a Kumail Nanjiani, quien trajo un poco de energía más ligera a esas aguas tremendamente serias. Richard Madden tiene la misma expresión en toda la película: el Superman marvelico en su interpretación no me convenció. Eternals se ha propuesto demasiado y su excesiva ambición se ahoga en un desorden digital sin escenas de acción memorables. El pasaje final es visualmente impresionante, pero carece de ritmo que enfatice lo que realmente importa. Sería necesario reducirlo a dos horas para que sea más digerible. (02.11.2021)

Marvel promised a slightly different comic book movie, and they delivered. But now, an hour after leaving the cinema, I don't know if that's a good thing. Eternals is a very ambitious film, but perhaps too much so, because it tries to tackle a lot of themes in a small space, and with a dozen heroes to boot. As a result, there's not much time to meditate on faith, fate, mythologies, religion and responsibility. Even at 160 minutes, it ends up feeling truncated in a way. On the other hand, the face of the new Marvel movie is indeed markedly different, with Eternals not even trying to reference other superheroes much (instead they make fun of DC) and confidently going its own way and in a rather different direction. I really don't know if that path is the right one right now. Chloé Zhao handles the action and all the attractions with aplomb, but she was clearly making a more ambitious film from that was supposed to be the start of something bigger. And at the same time, she had so many things to deal with in it that it just couldn't be done without compromises and shortcuts. So far, I'll say that Eternals is interesting rather than downright good. But it is very interesting. (03.11.2021)

I was completely indifferent to Eternals before its premiere, but in the end, it's surprisingly the first feature film from the MCU in a long time that I find at least interesting. For one thing, the motif of extraterrestrial beings overseeing the evolution of humankind for millennia and inscribing themselves in myths and legends is captivating, and I’d love to see something like that handled seriously outside the MCU. And secondly, I like the fact that the conflict underlying Eternals unfolds in morally quite ambivalent tones, which is not at all usual in this cinematic universe. I enjoyed it more when the characters solved these dilemmas, discussed them, than when they got into a fight with CGI creatures or with each other. But even the action scenes are among the best ones you can get. (06.11.2021)

Thanks for my beloved Pink Floyd in the opening, but otherwise, please disregard this God-knows-what episode of the cancer of the contemporary film industry. In the monstrously overblown runtime, it all emotionally passes you by in a big arc and deals with uninteresting things that have no continuity within the Marvel franchise. Kevin Feige may have made good on his promise to give space to unconventional directors, but I still wonder at the unconventional Chloé Zhao for going in as a mere disposable craftsperson. (29.01.2022)