Eternals (Digital) review

[David Vaughn]

Eternals (Digital) review

Studio: Marvell / Disney
Release Date: January 12, 2022 (Digital) / February 15, 2022 (UHD/Blu-ray)
Rating: PG-13
Film: 3/5

Plot
Marvel Studios’ Eternals follows a group of ancient heroes from beyond the stars who had protected Earth since the dawn of man. When monstrous creatures called Deviants, long thought lost to history, mysteriously return, the Eternals are forced to reunite in order to defend humanity once again.

My Thoughts
There have only been a couple of Marvel films that I haven’t ventured out to the theater to watch and in most cases, I’ve regretted my decision. In regard to Eternals, I had zero desire to see this film in the theater after hearing mostly tepid or outright bad reviews of the film, so I decided to wait for it on home video. With Disney’s new policy of only providing digital copies to most reviewers, I’ve decided to roll with the punches and use this as a measuring stick to see if I’d want to spend my own cash on the eventual UHD release.

Overall, Eternals is a mixed bag. One thing that hampers it is the expectations set for any film set in the Marvel universe and on this score, it falls somewhere in the lower third of their offerings thus far. My biggest gripe with the movie is its length—it clocks in at a little over 2.5 hours. There is a lot to absorb in the first act in regard to the multitude of characters but overall, I think the director did a good job of integrating everyone. Unfortunately, the second and third acts are a bit bloated with action scenes that should have been trimmed down a touch to lower the overall runtime of the film.




Conclusion
I’m not sure how well this film would have been received if it were outside the Marvell universe. My wife and I ended up liking it a lot more than we thought we would and at the end we decided that we’d probably buy the UHD when it goes on sale because it’s something we could see ourselves watching again at some point in the future and I’d love to compare the physical disc to the UHD stream. I think we enjoyed it more than most because we went in with such low expectations, so keep this in mind when you sit down to watch it.

Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
JL Audio Dominion F110 Subwoofer x 2
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[DLCPhoto]

I watched this a few days ago, and agree with your overall assessment. I enjoyed it, but didn't find it as compelling and captivating as many others.

I'm also a Gemma Chan fan, which helped. I became aware of her with the series Humans (now on Amazon), which was fantastic. Worth checking out if you haven't watched it.

[Barry]

Once again I reviewed it for us and no one remembers

https://discuss.avscience.com/index.php?topic=3093.msg21933#msg21933

[Paul Heroy]

I just saw Eternals last weekend on Disney+. 

Barry, I remember your review but at the time I hadn't seen the movie so it was hard to make anything out of it. I'm not as into comics as you but I agree with your review. I found it very hard to get engaged with the movie. There were bits here and there of good action or interesting themes that just didn't seem like they were developed or gelled well. As you said, too many elements. It was an origin story that skimped on giving us enough of that to get us to know or care about these characters, and that was a big problem because I had no clue who these beings were. 

Eternals might be my least favorite of the Marvel character movies in the Feige / MCU era.

[David Vaughn]

Once again I reviewed it for us and no one remembers

https://discuss.avscience.com/index.php?topic=3093.msg21933#msg21933

Sorry Barry...I promise to try and link these in the future

[bmoney]

I didn’t mind it. Wasn’t the best marvel movie but not terrible either. I’m not a comic fan by any means. But it was enjoyable enough. 

[Ralph P.]

Greetings,

Nice review Dave. I saw this in the theater and we are in agreement. I thought that the presentation in the theater was pretty decent. Once I receive the UHD I will be better able to comment on the two.


Regards,