Eternals (2021)

While Eternals has most of the benchmarks of a Marvel movie, Zhao's sprawling superhero epic is unlike anything the MCU has produced before.

Chloé Zhao gives the MCU just the kick in the pants it needs at this phase in its evolution.

What makes Eternals feel special is that, for once, the director genuinely cares as much about the character within that spectacle, as the spectacle itself.

Eternals is beautifully shot and terrifically acted, but it bites off more than it can chew in its third act.

With Eternals, Marvel turns a risky gamble into another piece of the puzzle. Its cosmic ambitions, its prevailing humanism amid a nihilistic outlook, and its gestures at maturity — the (real!) sex scene, the depth and warmth that they give to Henry's LGBTQ relationship — are not enough to make Eternals more than just another film to fit neatly in the Marvel Studios mold. But even so, Zhao brings an elegance to the film and the cast bring a vulnerability and care to their characters that leave a lingering impression, even as the last super-punch fades.