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| November 11, 2021 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A—15
‘Eternals’ fails to live up to potential of its inspiration ~
filmmaker Chloé Zhao’s
cinematic adaptation of
comics creator Jack Kirby’s
“Eternals” is incredibly faith-
ful, in that both tried to estab-
lish a semi-independent uni-
verse-in-microcosm within a
broader Marvel universe, and
neither one quite managed to
stick that particular landing.
While “Eternals” has been
review-bombed online, it mat-
ters why it doesn’t work, which
is far different from the rea-
sons motivating a number of
internet trolls with grudges.
Zhao is to be commended
for making Kirby’s collection of
otherworldly immortals more
gender—balanced, and even
more ethnically diverse, than
they were in the comics, while
also delivering an emotionally
earnest portrayal of the Mar-
vel Cinematic Universe’s first
openly gay couple, and she ab-
solutely nails the existentially
terrifying scale of the cosmi—
cally powerful Celestials.
But in so many other ways,
“Eternals” is victimized by
Disney’s glaringly obvious
attempts to turn it into the
MCU’s first “prestige cinema”
In one important sense,
KIQK BGXLEETNER
IN THE
DARK REVIEWS
project, complete with an Acad-
emy Award-winning director
and a cast of multiple Academy
and Emmy award-winning and
nominated actors and
actresses, and a mostly somber
tone throughout, that stands in
complete contrast to the sheer
bombast with which Kirby told
these same tales (even his nar-
rative captions always ended
in exclamation points).
Given that “Eternals”
shares a premise with the
“Ancient Aliens” TV series,
it’s perhaps understandable
that this film would want to
overcompensate into the terri-
tory of demanding to be taken
super-seriously (a few tonally
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021
11 a.m.
Veterans Hall
113 W. Cota St. ' Shelton
(360) 426-5060
A gathering of Mason County’s
military veterans to commemorate
Veterans Day.
The veterans will sit down and enjoy
, _a breakfast prepared for them by
Veterans. This year’s Veterans Day
meeting is aren'ewai of a traditional
” sfprograrn Which'W'a‘s nothe'ld ast year
" 'due'pto cox/10:19.
This year's program IS specral. veterans
will recognize and honor Marine
Sergeant—Major Dan Hernandez, the
recently-retired Senior ROTC instructor ‘
at Shelton High School. The Serge‘ant- '
Major has instructed and advised our , .
'1 ’ 0! youth for 20 years. Asa”- ‘
is edication, hard work,
" t to our youth, the
OTCProgram at Shelton
dissonant moments of obliga-
tory MCU—style wisecracks
notwithstanding), but forcing
almost all of the actors to limit
themselves to graven facial
expressions for the better part
of three hours ironically robs
a lot of scenes that could have
been far more moving of their
potential dramatic “oomph.”
V And with a primary cast
of characters this eXpan-
sive, “Eternals” really should
have been made as aDisney+
streaming series instead, since
it’s bad enough to cast already
well-known stars like Ange-
lina Jolie and Salma Hayek ‘
and then give them so little to
do, but it’s downright criminal
to cast international talents
like Kumail Nanjiani and Don
Lee and then only afford them
enough time onscreen to make
us realize we were robbed by
not seeing far more of them.
I should be thrilled to see
Gamma Chan, of AMC’s 2015-
18 series “Humans,” receiv-
. ing broader exposure, but her
performance as the Eternal
Sersi (like all Eternals, her
character is meant to have
inspired the characters in hu-
manity’s ancient legends) feels
strangely constrained.
Yes, I’m going to be That
Guy Who Won’t Shut Up About
The Comics, but the Sersi I
remember from the Marvel
Comics of the 1980s and ’90s
was fascinating for how she ,
hid the traumas of immortality
behind a mask of frivolity, as
a well-connected high-society
social butterfly who was al-
ways up for a party, and I find
myself wishing that Chan had
been afforded that chance to
cut loose.
In a similar vein, while
Zhao brings her signature
naturalistic cinematography to
“Eternals,” it actually detracts
significantly from several key
action sequences, which are
rendered muddy and unclear
in a bid to make the intricate
CGI constructs seem more
earthy, grounded and “real.”
The costume, technology
and creature designs for this
film are all suitably other-
worldly and impeccably well-
rendered for what they’re
meant to be, but'they’re simply
not Jack Kirby, whose chunky,
untamed, crude-yet-elegant
combination of hieroglyphic
and futuristic is only ever
Eternals
approached by the aesthetic of
the Celestials themselves.
If you’re wondering what
a more authentically Kirby-
esque “Eternals” would have ,
looked like, go back and watch
“Thor: Ragnarok,” specifically
the scenes set on the trash
planet of Sakaar.
Indeed, “Thor: Ragnarok”
director Taika Waititi would
have been much better helm-
ing this franchise than Chloé
Zhao, as Alejandro Jodorowsky
seemed to recognize when ‘he
chose Waititi to direct a film
adaptation of J odorowsky’s
mind-blowing sci-fi graphic
novel series, “The Incal.”
In the meantime, I found
myself drawing the most enjoy-
ment from the Easter eggs left
in this film’s margins, from Kit
Harrington playing Sersi’s hu-
man love interest Dane Whit-
man, who becomes the antihe-
roic Black Knight in Marvel
Comics, and a mid-credits
appearance by a member of
the Infinity Watch (I’m not
spoiling it, so Wikipedia it on
your own if you wish) and the
one member of Thanos’ family
I never expected to see in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe.
517 Franklin St. - Shelton (Across from Safeway)
24 Hour Movie info (360)426-1000
www.5heltoncinemas.com
Showtimes for week of Nov. 12 to Nov. 18
i.v‘.‘i'i v .i ,4”. mm.
EUGGES
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Daily at 6 pm.
Plus Sat. Sun.
matinee at 3 pm.
Daily at 5 pm.
Plus Sat. & Sun.
at 2:45 pm.
see it...
his mind?
Didherea
orwmiionly
Hunting Bigfoot
Daily at 7 pm.
\
Veterans Day Event
CDMING SOON: GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (PG-13) / EN CANTO (PG)