The Eternals: "We'll Fix it in Post!"

 I just watched Marvel's Eternals. It was not bad. I wouldn't say that it was a stand out success, but it contained solid storytelling elements that were obviously created by someone who understood the mechanics of writing compelling characters and narratives. It was as if a few initial writers were told to "go ham" and create whatever they wanted, and afterwards a team of experienced writers went over the script and added in elements a la "Save the Cat." Humanizing elements are hard when you have a cast of ten characters. This movie did it better than I have seen in a long time. It worked within its limitations to create the best version of the story that, in my opinion, could have been told with the source material. 

The Eternals, I believe, could not have received the green light if it hadn't been Marvel. Also, since it was Marvel, it received a budget that was comparable to other Marvel properties. This, I think, was a large contributing factor to its success. The special effects budget was enormous, and this allowed the series to play with fantasy elements in a way that would not have been possible on a smaller budget. 

While I went in fearing that social justice themes would be overbearing, I was pleasantly surprised by the relative tastefulness of its implementation. There was a gay kiss and a girl who spoke only in sign language, but I believe that the more grounded writers kept the political and social ideological bits subdued. I do imagine a fierce fight behind the scenes between the justice warriors and the old guard writers. The resulting mess of a thematic structure was better than the alternative, which would have been full on social propaganda, a movie born not to entertain but to include. Still, I fear that as the old guard is replaced, the new younger writers with that kind of mission will push for more and more territory. 

Movies that deal with a large number of characters can be difficult to pull off. Each character needs their own screen time, and the relationships between all the characters need to be established. Each extra character in the movie increases the number of relationships exponentially. I have not read the source material, but I imagine that with the serial nature of comic books and the extended space that they provide, this would have been manageable. However, the movie was actually pretty adept in its portrayal of ten characters. Each character was given, at the very least, a personality and a motive. There were quite a few "save the cat" moments; i.e. small humanizing moments that attach us to a character. I was surprised at the end of the movie when I was able to remember each individual character and I was satisfied with most of their arc conclusions. In all, I think the movie handled ten characters as well as could be hoped within its time frame. 

And that brings me to my conclusion. I felt the fingerprints of many people and many revisions on the script of the movie. It was born first as a crazy experimental/progressive art piece, with the license that modern comics give. Then it was passed over by a cadre of experienced writers who understood the craft intimately, and they were the ones who ultimately saved the story from becoming an incoherent mess.