“Eternals” (well, they are sort of like Angels in my own “Second Epiphany” script)
“Eternals,” directed by Chloe Zhao with a Marvel-universe story by Ryan and Kaz Firpo, presents, to me at least, the full range of intelligent populations that could colonize he Universe.
In fact, “the Eternals”, as such, roughly compare to Angels in my own script “Second Epiphany” based on my three DADT books. (Angels don’t have comparable spectacular powers for comics.)
The Eternals (Wikipedia), with their varied arrays of powers, protect the world from the “Deviants” (real monsters, and an unfortunate term); however they learn that the “Deviants” are really in cahoots with thr “celestials”, who emerge from the volcanic bowels of a planet and necessitate the destruction of the planet so that more new planets can be prepared for life. Imagine moral or philosophical; conflicts based on this!
The movie spans 7000 years, starting with a confrontation near Ur, and leading to scenes of Babylonia (570 BC) and Aztec civilization before modern Mexico City (1500’s). That is certainly a note about colonialism and enslavement. The Deviants start reappearing in London and elsewhere (like the Amazon and Alaska), to soften up humans for scheduled demolition. The Eternals realize they must pass judgment on whether Earth civilization is worth saving from an emerging Celestial.
The Eternals have varied personalities (Wikipedia) but my favorite is Druid (Barry Keoghan, Oct. 29, 2017). Ikaris (Richard Madden) is quite striking with his laconic assertiveness and laser eyes. The outer world of gods, Gilgamesh, O’Neill-like space caverns, and a spaceship based on the slab from 2001, are all striking.
Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), a technology inventor, is Marvel’s first openly gay superhero, and is married to a human Ben (Haaz Sleimann) woth a (apparently surrogate son. Disney refused to remove the scene for Middle Eastern Islamic countries, which see the idea as a threat to their patriarchal values.
Eternals don’t age. But Sprite (Lia McHugh) frozen as a 12-year-old wants to be human and have a finite life.
The Celestials appear to be stone beings that grow out of supervolcano calderas, said to be in the Indian Ocean, but filmed in the Canary Islands, where volcanic landslides could someday pose a tsunami threat to the US East Coast. Why not use Yellowstone?
Ramin Dwajadi composed most of the music, which is often dour, stepwise and in triple time.
Imagine the best young adult role models in your life. Maybe if you’re gay, they’re perfect males, but pieces in a fantasy of idolization (not just idealization). No one else then can possibly matter. No wonder we have radicals wanting to legitimatize non-binary.
The Punch Bowl Social restaurants seem to have design elements from this movie.
Name: “Eternals”
Director, writer: Chloe Zhao
Released: 2021/11/5
Format: IMAX 3-D
When and how viewed: Ballston Quarter 2021/11/9 6 pm small
Length: 157
Rating: PG-13
Companies: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Link: Marvel
Stars *****
(Posted: Wednesday November 10, 2021 at 10:30 PM EST)