Chloé Zhao directed Eternals for Marvel Studios, which distributed the film through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It runs 156 minutes and is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on October 18, 2021.
It is also one of the least-loved entries in that run. Eternals lands at 5.2 of 10.
Trailer, via Marvel Entertainment.
Arishem, the Domo, and the 5,000-Year Errand
The setup is genuinely strange for a superhero film. In 5000 BC, ten Eternals arrive on Earth aboard the starship Domo. Arishem, a Celestial, sends them to exterminate the Deviants, invasive entities that hunt the planets’ native populations. The last Deviants die in 1521. After that, the team splits over how much it should still involve itself with humankind, and the ten spend the next 500 years mostly apart, waiting for orders.
The cast is enormous. Gemma Chan plays Sersi, the lead. Richard Madden is Ikaris, Angelina Jolie is Thena, and Salma Hayek Pinault is Ajak. Kumail Nanjiani plays Kingo, Lia McHugh plays Sprite, and Brian Tyree Henry plays Phastos. Lauren Ridloff is Makkari, Barry Keoghan is Druig, and Don Lee is Gilgamesh. Bill Skarsgård voices Kro, and Kit Harington plays Dane Whitman.
Sersi is the lead. Producer Kevin Feige said so, and the film treats her that way. She can manipulate and transform matter by touch, she has loved Ikaris for centuries, and in the present day she works as a museum curator in London and dates Dane Whitman.
What the Reunion Actually Costs
The present-day plot turns on a death and a promotion. The Eternals regroup in South Dakota and find Ajak dead. Sersi is chosen posthumously as her successor, which gives her the ability to communicate with Arishem. Through that link she learns the real mission: the Eternals were never here to save Earth. They were here to prepare it for the Emergence of a new Celestial, Tiamut.
Arishem has planted Celestial seeds inside planets for millions of years, letting the energy of large populations grow them. The Deviants were originally sent to wipe out apex predators so intelligent life could develop. When the Deviants evolved and began hunting the planets’ own populations, Arishem created the Eternals to counter them.
With the end of the Blip restoring Earth’s population, humanity has reached the size Tiamut needs. The Emergence will destroy Earth. The Eternals reunite to delay it.
Here is the running order of the film’s key turns:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 5000 BC | The ten Eternals arrive on the Domo |
| 1521 | The last Deviants are killed |
| Next 500 years | The team lives mostly apart, awaiting orders |
| Present day | Kro attacks Sersi and Sprite in London, and Ikaris drives it off |
| South Dakota | The team finds Ajak dead; Sersi is chosen as successor |
| Amazon | The Eternals reunite at Druig’s residence |
Zhao’s Freedom Shows, and So Does the Weight
Zhao was given unusual creative freedom. She rewrote the script, drew on Terrence Malick, and used more locations and natural lighting than previous MCU films had. Ryan and Kaz Firpo wrote the original script, and Patrick Burleigh joined later. Shooting ran from July 2019 to February 2020 at Pinewood Studios and on location in England and the Canary Islands.
You can see that on screen. The problem is what it carries. Zhao said she and Chan wanted a nuanced female superhero rarely seen in the genre, and Chan plays Sersi as free-spirited, gentle, fond of humans. Madden said his hardest job was showing a man who has “seen everything and done everything” without seeming bored. That is a real acting problem, and the film does not solve it.
The most useful ranking of what Eternals gets wrong:
- Ten leads means no one gets a full arc.
- The Celestial reveal reframes the whole film too late to land.
- The Deviants, including Kro, are a threat without a personality.
- The 156-minute runtime is earned by lore, not by feeling.
Kingo Is the One Who Breathes
Nanjiani’s Kingo is the clearest exception. He becomes a Bollywood star to blend in, and Nanjiani built the performance from John McClane’s wisecracking attitude in Die Hard. It is the only strand that sounds like a person rather than a concept.
The rest is a film about immortal beings that never makes immortality feel like anything. Sersi and Ikaris have loved each other for centuries, and the movie tells us that far more often than it shows it.
The Ceiling Inside the Franchise
Eternals is not a disaster. It is a large, sincere, beautifully located film that mistakes scale for depth. It is also the clearest evidence yet that creative freedom inside a franchise still has a ceiling.
5.2 of 10.
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