AKIRA

As many of you know Marvel’s The Eternals released in theaters on November 5, 2021. It was one of the most diverse cast (especially comparing it to the Avengers)which I am happy to see. I had the pleasure of seeing it with family and can honestly say it was as good as I expected it to be. Hold on, I’ll elaborate, but first:

SPOILER ALERT!

The movie’s premise is entirely about the 10 higher powers bringing forth their purpose from Arishem. He is the head honcho in the movie. He created the Eternals and gave them their reason for living, which is to kill deviants. Deviants are monsters that destroy everything and everyone. The Eternals goal was to kill all of them and they did for a while until they started reappearing in present day. Now the supreme beings have been around for centuries, millennia’s, I’m talking B.C and A.D. Of course like in any good movie, they had split up and had to come back together to fight the good fight. Typical? yes, realistic? yes again! However, there’s the good ole conflict. One of them felt they needed to follow their mission which is to let the emergence happen, which involves letting the earth become destroyed after a celestial is born from the depths of the earths core, thanks to Arishem. Now, none of the Eternals knew this except mother hen, Ajak. She knew what was going to happen to earth but after being there for so long she began to feel bad and decided to tell the others so they could stop the emergence from happening and save earth. She didn’t keep these thoughts to herself, she told Ikaris. He was the typical alpha male that everyone looked up to including his ex-lover/Eternal Sersi. The group of course had their differences, but when it came down to it, they followed through with the cancelling of the Emergence, but here’s my problem with some of the members. I’ll break them down since now you have gist of the movie.

Ikaris: Leader, Alpha, Butthole, Murderer.

He was so blinded by his devout love for Arishem that he was willing to kill every single Eternal that stood in his way from letting the Emergence take over. He lied to everyone until the end when he thought there was no way to stop the inevitable (he was clearly wrong). People followed him simply because he was a white guy and it seemed like the most obvious choice since Ajak was killed (he did it). 1/10

Sersi: Lackluster, Cool powers, Kind

She was chosen for the emergence because she was the only other person besides Ajak, who could bring the group back together and actually want to stop the emergence. I assume that’s apart of the reason why Ajak chose her to be the new leader. Their ideas aligned. Thankfully she stopped the emergence but to be honest, she wasn’t strong enough to do it on her own and shouldn’t get as much credit as Marvel would probably want her to have; A plus side is she didn’t let her love for Ikaris get in the way of the greater good unlike this next person. 7/10

Sprite: Storyteller, Selfish

In the beginning, I was team Sprite. She was vibrant, a great storyteller and seemed innocent, but here’s my problem with this child. I use that term loosely because she may look like a child on the outside but she has the knowledge of a 50 million year old human being. She looked pubescent, but she has the ability to shape shift. This is important because she had been in love with Ikaris for years, but he loved Sersi. Sprite wanted his attention but since she was always viewed as the kid, she never got his love in return and simply because he wasn’t into her. This causes a problem towards the end when she decides to take Ikaris’s side instead of Sersi’s to continue with the emergence. In her head with Sersi out the way, there was hope for them, but to be honest there never really was. She was jealous and she figured if she helped Ikaris, she’d have him, so she stabbed Sersi. It was very Et tu Brute?

My confusion comes in here, I understand love can make you do crazy things, but if you can shape shift and make yourself look older, which she did earlier in the movie to blend in at a party, why not shapeshift into an older person as to not be viewed as a child anymore. In my mind, I feel like you should never betray your family in the way that she did, especially over unrequited love. She was a 3/10.

Makkari: Fast, Smart, Side character

As much as I enjoyed seeing inclusivity in the MCU, this character didn’t seem to provide much of anything to the Eternals as far as their end goal. She seemed more like a side character that helped calm Druig when he became too dark for his own good. She was excellent in picking up on things through vibrations and I think that goes to show how she was able to use her disability and still kick behind, but she still didn’t feel that important to the overall movie. There wasn’t much to her besides the fact that she was connected to Druig as his love lady (which people now ship. They do make a nice couple) and was deaf. She should’ve had more development. 3/10

Druig: Realist, Powerful

Druig was an interesting character. He didn’t seem like he would have much but his ability to take over the mind over large groups of people was impressive. He was giving cult leader vibes and stopped a war that probably should’ve happened. He was attached more than he  liked to be which made it hard to stay out of the humans wars. I think this is why he stayed hidden in his private area in the woods. He had his village and was happy by his self without having to view the wars he couldn’t be involved in. I would say his character was the most emotional one because it was hard for him to detach himself from the humans like the others. Everyone’s heart was involved eventually but he was the most affected by it which is why he was isolated. It could also be that he thought humans were idiots and could only live a peaceful life if he infiltrated their minds. His abilities are another reason why they were able to stop the emergence, but I’ll leave it at that. 8/10

Gilgamesh: Strong, Protector

This guy here, was the goat. I say that because he understood the true definition of love, whether it was platonic or not. He protected and served. Thena was mentally unstable and instead of staying idle or turning his back on her, he took it upon himself to protect her and be there for her. He learned her on a deeper level and ultimately sacrificed himself for her. As far as the over all endgame (no pun intended) he died too early, but he was hilarious and pulled his weight when needed. 9/10

Thena: Goddess, Mentally unstable

Regardless of her mental state, she was a warrior. She single handedly killed the evolving deviant by herself, which the others couldn’t do. She fought mentally and physically and I think that made her the strongest, but most vulnerable. Her mind was going but she had Gil to keep her steady, with him gone, it was easy to manipulate her which the Deviant did. She was graceful and provided the unexpected factor. In all honesty, it seemed like her scenes were the most entertaining due to her action, especially towards the end. 8/10.

Kingo: Comedic, Self-absorbed

You would’ve thought he was going to be a badass guy and in some scenes he was. His powers were pretty dope, he basically had guns for hands. He started off strong and he had the potential to really be great but he was the most arrogant, self-absorbed character and not in a Tony Stark kinda way. He didn’t even help fight in the biggest fight and thought if Ikaris wasn’t involved, the plan would fail. He was nothing but a man who had his head in the clouds and didn’t care about anything but fame and notoriety. His faith in his family was little to none and that shows just how much he had disconnected from them. He was useless through the whole movie and added to a few laughs. I get that you have to have at least one character that’s funny, but that seemed to be his whole purpose. He provided nothing of substance. 1/10

Phastos: Genius, Big heart

Their would be nothing without Phastos. He was the genius of the group and I think he was an excellent character. He was constantly helping humans advance even to the point where he thought it was his fault the wars had gotten so bad (guns), but honestly without him the ending would’ve been crap. He came up with the idea to create the Uni-mind, which adds all the Eternal’s powers together into one mind/person, which is why I said Sersi couldn’t do it alone. He also created the device to allow this to happen. Phastos was funny, smart, level-headed and an openly gay married father. Side Note: the ban over the one gay scene, which was literally a kiss, is sickening. 10/10

Ajak: Motherly, Protector

Ajak was a pawn like the rest. I was a little confused as to how she was able to remember the other planets that were destroyed but didn’t suffer from Mad Weary like Thena. She did her part in leading the team but she knew it was wrong in the end, which is why she had to speak the truth, too bad she told the wrong person. Her death wasn’t a huge loss because she didn’t have any special capabilities. Her death scene was sad, but it showed that her skills were not up to par with everyone else’s. Her purpose in the movie was to be the nurturer and when she died, it was as if a mother bird had let her kids prove that they understood everything she tried to teach them. Overall, she was a good character and stayed as long as she needed to in the movie.

In the end, the movie was good, but the final scene was lackluster. It didn’t give me the big wow that I was expecting from Marvel but still worth seeing. 7/10. The action was good and there was a love scene that I felt was moving towards rated R had they not cut it in time, a first for Marvel fans.