Eternals

Zhao ultimately robs the artist’s comic of its sweep by constantly turning a space opera into a repetitive character drama.

Eternals is far from perfect, but it pushes the MCU into promising new territory....it feels like an amalgam of what Marvel does best - splendidly chaotic fight scenes, dazzling special effects, and stories that speak to who we are as human beings.

Eternals makes for an alienating first watch. ... Dig a little deeper, however, and this behemoth of a superhero flick has its rewards too.

Clearly, we're supposed to leave the cinema filled with an urgent sense of anticipation. But all I felt was relief that the two-and-a-half hour running time had finally come to an end.

In many ways, what it means to be human is the central question that drives Eternals... But the movie's dizzying star power and twisty backstories render it too clunky and overstuffed to concisely answer said central question.

Gorgeous and vacant, The Eternals is the most numbing entry in Marvel's 13-year-old MCU franchise -- even as it struggles to be its weirdest and most philosophical.

Nonetheless, in spite of its very lengthy running time, it feels strangely insubstantial.

Eternals feels the most disconnected from previous MCU films, something that is both a blessing and a curse.

Watching “Eternals,” it becomes evident that Zhao, the film’s co-writers, and its co-editors wanted emotion to drive the story from its first frame to its last.

It’s not the definitive statement of a brave new world that Marvel probably wanted. But it is a sign at a crossroads, pointing in the right direction.