After several glimpses earlier in the month, we’re finally getting a better look at the upcoming Marvel Studios film Eternals. Directed by recent Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao, the film follows the trials and tribulations of the cosmic race and family of the title and the way they shaped the earliest ancestors of humanity but then foreswore never to further interfere with human development… until now.
The film stars Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Barry Keoghan, Lauren Ridloff, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Kit Harington and Don Lee in the central roles. Eternals‘ release comes almost a year later than planned. It was originally due out on 6th November, 2020, then shifted to 12th February, 2021, before settling on 5th November, 2021. While the film certainly offers scope on a chronological and geographical level and there’s some impressive CGI in this latest trailer, there’s not a lot that’s ‘new’ in the imagery (except proof that many of the production designs draw from Jack Kirby’s art from the original comics) and it’s still hard to get a handle on the fuller story and any emotional resonance.
The trailer is set to Skeeter Davis’ haunting rendition of The End of the World, and though – thematically – that might be great for a cosmic Marvel movie, it doesn’t quite work given the lack of real urgency in the trailer itself and ultimately an odd choice.
Eternals will be the third Marvel film to release this year. Black Widow arrives in July, Shang Chi arrives in September… and, of course, the televisual side of the MCU will also boast the Loki series, arriving in June, the animated What If..? in August and Ms. Marvel in late 2021.
