Eternals: How a Single Number can Influence a Community's Opinion

Written by Santi Daza

Ever since the release of t

he first Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has grown to become one of the biggest

movie franchises ever. With (as of November 2021) 26 movies out, the fanbase has increased to where almost everyone has heard of a Marvel movie.

As a result of the popularity, every single new addition to the MCU becomes a popular topic, from trending on social media, to being talked about everywhere. The newest addition, Eternals, has an odd hype surrounding it. First, the Eternals aren’t as well known as other superheroes, such as Spiderman and Iron Man. They are characters comic lovers know, but the general audience doesn’t. Second, they have a much more complicated storyline and background, as they’re godlike beings that have to protect a certain planet. Lastly, not much was known about the film other than a lot of A-list celebrities would be in it, such as: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Kumail Nanjiani. Not only were there A-list celebrities, but director Chloé Zhao was bringing more attention to the movie, as she had won 2 Oscars the previous year.

Thanks to all of the mystery surrounding it, the movie had high expectations before it came out. The global premiere was on October 18th, and it was released in theaters on November 5th, 2021.

However, in the days following both premieres, controversy and mixed reviews have followed Eternals. There are plenty of mixed opinions on the movie, from critics to the movie goers. Unfortunately, there are some biased reasons why Eternals is getting bad reviews, to the point where people are review-bombing the MCU movie on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.

First, one reason the movie is getting review bombed is because of the uniqueness of Eternals. Director Chloé Zhao is known for bringing new ideas, and throughout the buildup to the release of Eternals, she described the movie as ‘something the MCU has never seen before.’ One reason it was different was because of its length. Eternals was 157 minutes long, which is the 2nd longest movie in the whole MCU. The movie had to introduce the audience to many new characters, and help the audience understand why the characters were important.

Another reason was because of its inclusion of people with different backgrounds. Not many POC or members of the LGBTQA+ community were part of the MCU, and if they were, they had a small role. Director Chloé Zhao sought out to change that. Within the 10 Eternals, there were people of color, which ranged from Indian descent, to Asian, African, and Latino backgrounds. The movie also had the first deaf superhero, Makkari, who grew to become a fan favorite. It also included the first gay superhero in the MCU, Phastos.

As a result of having a gay couple, Eternals was blocked and won’t be shown in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. The blocking comes as a result of the countries being anti-LGBTQA+.

I saw Eternals the first night it came out. I knew about the ‘bad’ reviews and controversy before it appeared on screen. 157 minutes later, I realized that the reviews weren’t telling the truth. I really, really liked the movie. The characters were all great, it was funny, the action scenes were amazing and it was beautiful to watch. However, it wasn’t perfect, with the flick feeling long and there was a lot of exposition, but it wasn’t even close to being one of the worst movies in the MCU. Every time I think about it, I like Eternals even more.

I went out and asked some friends of mine what they thought about the movie. Out of all of them, 70% of them said that they enjoyed the movie, while the rest said that they didn’t. In the comment section, 80% said that the movie felt long, and nobody said that the inclusion of people of color and different sexualities bothered them.

Overall, I personally think that if Eternals didn’t get review bombed, more people would watch it. As a result of people giving the movie bad reviews before even watching it, movie goers have been given the idea that it would be bad, when that's not the case. Eternals was a very good movie, and I think every person should give it a shot, regardless of its length or exposition. In Chloé Zhao’s words, “Eternals really is a fresh and unique movie for the ever expanding MCU.”

Cover Image: https://brobible.com/culture/article/eternals-director-teases-big-effect-on-mcu/