Things are not looking good for Eternals, which has received less than favourable reviews from critics. It has a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Marvel Studios’ latest film, Eternals has not impressed the critics. The film currently has a 62% score on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. While the score itself is not the worst, it is the lowest that any film Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever got.
The 62% score was aggregated with 92 critics reviews. For context, Thor: The Dark World and Black Widow, which are both considered among the worst films in the franchise, have 66% and 79% scores, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum are Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame with 96% and 95% scores, respectively.
Eternals is the 26th film in the MCU and is directed by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. It stars Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie.
It’s not a backlash, really, because backlash suggests a reflexive reaction driven by a sudden, overwhelming need to reject, to force out, to detoxify. What some critics and audiences are manifesting now, as they find themselves wading clavicle-deep through whatever particular numbered MCU Phase we find ourselves in, is something softer and sadder — a weariness bred by familiarity.
International publications have mostly panned the film as dull. Polygon’s review called it a ‘mess’ and that it ‘isn’t bold, merely incongruous’. The Guardian’s Steve Rose wrote, “There’s just too much going on: it’s all headed towards yet another ‘race against time to stop the really bad thing happening’ climax. It’s not exactly boring – there’s always something new to behold – but nor it is particularly exciting, and it lacks the breezy wit of Marvel’s best movies.”
Chloe, known for her humane stories set against sweeping vistas such as Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider and Oscar-winning film Nomadland, said she wanted to go big scale-wise while retaining the intimate tone of the story.
The Eternals are an alien race living on Earth for over 7,000 years who team up to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. Also starring Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh and Laura Ridloff, Eternals is set for release in Indian theatres on November 5 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
