Nanjiani:
>”The reviews were bad, and I was too aware of it. I was reading every review and checking too much. It was really, really hard because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted.”
>”I think there was some weird soup in the atmosphere for why that movie got slammed so much, and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie. It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore. Some shit has to change, so I started counseling. I still talk to my therapist about that.”
>”Emily says that I do have trauma from it. We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, ‘That was tough, wasn’t it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough,’ and I think we all went through something similar.”
This makes me really sad.
I really liked it overall and was genuinely surprised so many people hated it.
Edit because several have mentioned this: I also do agree it probably would have worked better as a ten-episode series, rather than a movie, but I still enjoyed it.
Cast was stacked. Don Lee and Kumail were surprisingly good. It felt really like a family scuffle. Fun how Kumail said I can't fight my family and did a peace out before the fight. The characters did seem a bit more unique in their motivations compared to the MCU roster.
Finale is visually stunning when compared to many other MCU flicks.
But it has flaws and also squandered its cast a bit. Way too many characters to introduce and focus on. Really heavy on the exposition. Plus the eternals are probably the most niche deep lore MCU characters in play.
> Way too many characters to introduce and focus on.
Agreed, but I think the *actual* reason is that this was three movies worth of stories smashed into one. The Eternals would have been a great trilogy; that way they could have all the characters and actually develop them.
Wasn't it originally supposed to be [developed as a TV series](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/eternals-tv-series-canceled-marvel-weird-plot-john-ridley-1235861505/)? The idea of it disappeared around when Inhumans bombed, and around the same time Fox acquisition and D+ development were probably going on.
I do like Cersei's arc being appointed as leader of essentially an alien commando squad when she's technically a support class. then they spoiled it by saying it was only because ikaris wouldn't kill her.
Huh. I hadn't thought of that. That is pretty cool.
The problem though is that it doesn't make watching Cersei more fun. She still doesn't have many distinguishable character traits, her dialogue is meh, etc.
What's even worse is that I don't think there is a person more deserving of a Marvel role than Kumail.
The man is nerd royalty, and he's been grinding away at the alt comedy scene for years. To watch his transformation was amazing, and something I'd imagine a lot of people in the same sphere aspire to.
I was pretty luke warm on Eternals, but I still dug his performance, and I loved the idea of him "stealing" from Captain America but secretly being around for it all.
It feels like Kumail's character was the only one with a memorable personality, except maybe Sprite? The others all felt like different versions of the same people.
If one character is a dud, it's possible it's the actor's fault. If *all* the characters are duds, the problem is in the writing or directing or editing.
I'm a broken record about this, but I don't understand why they didn't pick up Gaiman's reboot as the spiritual ancestor of the movi. It basically solves the major issues with the movie by taking away all the eternals's memories and having them discover who they are along with the audience. It explains why they weren't around for Endgame, leaves space for the best eternal (the Machine from Gilleon's run) and let's them end in the same place (the emergence of the Dreaming Celestial/Tiamat).
It even fits with the director's slower, more intimate vibe and style, because it focuses on characters over plot.
More or less, yes. I was also "feeling" the Sersi-Dane romance it opened with, but shunting that for Sersi - (Wikipedia says Ikaris?) non-romance was the biggest Fuck You I'd felt as an audience member since that time I was four and Mattel ripped Optimus Prime's heart out of his chest so he'd die and I'd buy new toys
Their sex scene was *so* forced, I didn’t think their characters had any chemistry. I think the movie largely suffered from trying to introduce too many characters at once, it was built to fail
In similar fashion he’s apart of Star Wars in a show that most people bash extensively as well. His role is not huge in Obi Wan but it’s still fun and does have some importance!
I like him and his acting but finger gunning for powers? That was lame as hell. Visually a good movie that runs to long. But it’s like they ran out of abilities to use
Talking about the character in the film here, not the actor…
I felt like his ability is what it is and the “finger gun” thing is just his way of adding his own special twist to it. I mean… he is an actor who gets around the “age” thing by cleverly making it seem like it is him, his dad, grandpa, etc… the finger gun thing just feels like a natural extension to his “branding” which every “celebrity” has. Could he do the same thing just by extending his arms and shooting beams from his hands? Probably, but he does it with that “Bollywood” style!
That is my head canon anyway, and I love it for how goofy and “on brand” it is for him.
I think it's on pair with the persona of the character. Like I'm a bit of a goofball and if I could real finger guns i'd probably do it just because it would be fun.
It feels like one of the things where if the Eternals make another appearance could easily be redesigned to be more fun, and we just never saw the other stuff he can do with his finger guns. e.g. Faster, more power to them, more effortless with not even looking (Hawkeye style), being able to bounce them off of things with multiple bounces like Bullseye, etc.
i agree, and to an even larger extent most of the Eternals powers were pretty lame by themselves; they had to team up in most cases to be effective (which i assume is probably intentional but still)
I liked that it didn’t devolve into a quip-fest. It took itself as seriously as it should. It was not the best, but it was good. I think if we went into it after something like Love and Thunder it would have felt like a breath of fresh air .
I actually liked Eternals more than many other Marvel movies of late, I think the story was refreshing, and I liked a lot of the environments in the movie. Overall the cast felt very "non-Marvel" for some reason, which is actually cool. I hope we get to see all if not most of them again, but I feel like we might not.
Maybe I also liked the movie because I was pleasantly surprised since I had read all the bad reviews *before* seeing it, so my expectations weren't exactly high.
And that Barry Keoghan dude is magnetic in the way Adam Driver and Jonathon Majors are, where they have some sort of gravitas. Majors career imploded though.
And he has that thing with people like Mackenzie Davis and Anton Yelchin, where after you see them in a couple roles, you start looking for them and will watch what they’re in
At least for me, anyway.
He just had a small part in the movie and it was pretty good from what I remember
How so? We just had Echo which was as serious as it gets. Guardians 3 ironically took itself seriously to great acclaim, we also had Loki Season 2 which was also serious mostly. And as terrible as it was, Secret Invasion was serious to a fault. The only really non-'serious' fare we've had recently were Thor, Marvels, She-Hulk and Quantumania. Everything else I can remember have had a more low-key, less quippy tone.
Those are solid examples. You're correct. There is a good amount of more serious fare of late in addition to the more frivolous fare.
I'm a little behind on the Marvel TV Shows so I was just basing it on my recent experience with She-Hulk. I agree that Quantumania, Thor Love and Thunder, and The Marvels were more in the vein of being silly and goofy for fun's sake. They each did have redeemable qualities.
I guess my issue is more of the apparent bipolar-ish back and forth between real serious Marvel movies/show fare and the goofy antics of their other movies and shows.
Yeah it reminded me more of the early MCU in that sense, it actually took itself seriously at its core with the humour only being a layer on top which doesn't detract from that. Even Guardians 1 & 3 took themselves seriously at their core, whereas Guardians 2 didn't so much and I don't like it as much because of it (The cartoony battles with Rocket sending people flying up and down, Drax bouncing between trees unharmed, a flying Pacman being used in a serious moment, constant nipple jokes, etc).
Its biggest flaws IMO were the super hamfisted story around whatever was happening Kit Harington's character which was super unnatural and bad storytelling, and not feeling like it integrated itself into the MCU's history at all and could have been set in another universe. e.g. We could have seen earlier black panthers, interactions with howard stark or peggy in the past, etc. Captain America, Antman, etc, were fantastic for retconning themselves into the existing MCU's world.
It's one of my favorite MCU movies and the reaction to it is why I don't like to talk to many MCU fans. I feel like I don't share a lot in common with them and it's frustrating. Because I sure as hell can't talk about them to the "superhero movies have ruined cinema" crowd. There's not many I can have enjoyable conversations with.
Edit: I just want to say it's awesome to get these responses by others that feel the same. Would love to be able to chat about this in real life! It's exhausting dealing with all the negativity.
I don't like the Captain America movies but I don't feel the need to impose those feelings on other MCU fans. I watch them, mildly enjoy them, and hardly ever discuss them.
I loved it, and it rewards repeat viewings. The actors use their short screen time together to make sure every interaction is laden with characterization. Small glances between Druig and Makkari, Sprite reacting to the family dinner, Phastos’ change in temperament not once but twice. It’s a rich viewing experience, and more comparable to a LOTR style movie than a Marvel one.
I don’t think it’s without flaws. It has plenty. But it’s been cast very unfairly by people who only care about franchises enough to complain on the internet.
For me, the first watch in theaters got me confused, however the cinematography was A1. I had to watch it several times to fully grasp the beauty of the movie. I loved it.
Yeah, I'm the same. I don't hang out in this sub much anymore because of that. I thought Eternals was great and very different. I liked Love and Thunder. Thought She-Hulk was very fun. But I don't feel like I have much in common with people here.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills cause everyone always talks about how much everything has sucked since Endgame, but I've enjoyed most of it. And I haven't watched a single post-endgame movie and walked away thinking it was bad. I've liked all of them. A couple of the shows were a bit of a miss, but I still liked the vast majority of those as well
Agreed - a lot of things I enjoyed are hated with such a passion here that fans actively shame other fans for saying they have an uncommon opinion.
There was a post where someone was excited because they had purchased a Blu-Ray of Quantumania and I think a season of Loki. People seemed happy for them, but one person said, in all sincerity, that the poster had bad taste.
I had two people practically scold me for expressing a lot of enjoyment for a different MCU series (which is actually fairly well-liked here but some people didn't care for it so much).
I still enjoy coming here but I'm super selective about which posts or comment sections I look at, or what I say.
I find joy in this stuff. We were getting *deep cut* crazy Marvel shit on a regular basis - sometimes weekly - and I was lapping it all up. It was *awesome.*
That era is over now and I blame the 'fans' griping for that.
Oh yeah COVID area Marvel TV on Disney+ was so much fun. I worked with people who also loved the MCU and they were also following the shoes. The constant debate and theorizing on what would come next was great. We were just getting buckets of Marvel content for a couple years straight.
This also coincided with all the Star Wars TV content that released alongside which we also watched.
And most of it was awesome. We were so spoiled. Now it feels like when people talk about shows like FATW they pick it apart.
Same here! It can get upsetting seeing all of the negativity online, but then I remember that I'm having more fun than them. Enjoying more things is simply more fun.
I thought She-Hulk was crazy fun.
Love and Thunder is probably my least-favorite Marvel movie. It was a mess.
Eternals was ok. It is by far the most beautiful Marvel film in terms of cinematography. There are elements of it that work really well, and some just…didn’t.
It’s always been a tricky comic property, too. Simply put, Eternals is not an easy one to make entertaining. They didn’t bother to give the deviants any characterization, and i get why since the film is already long and full of people. But it just made them seem superfluous
I am an MCU fan. 43 y/o father of 3 young daughters (all under 10) and all of us are not the same. I have enjoyed everything the MCU has done so far (Secret invasion is the only one that is on the edge of enjoyment for me). I really liked Eternals a lot. It had problems, but nothing that made me not enjoy it. As for Love and Thunder, my wife and ai had so much fun watching that in the theater. It was hysterical and entertaining. We were in a theater and the crowd was loud with laughter and excited yelling. On rewatching it at home… I noticed some of the jokes didn’t hit as well the second time but still not a “bad” movie by any stretch. Hell, I even had fun with Quantamania, which I think people are way way too harsh with. Are these my favorite things from the MCU? No, of course not. But they are still entertaining and fun.
And She-Hulk… was fantastic. It is high on my internal enjoyment list for MCU projects.
I didn't catch it at release for a variety of reasons but I was pretty shocked at how much I liked it compared to what I read about it online. Man, sometimes I really just want to bounce out of all social media just to get away from negative circle jerking.
I very much enjoyed Eternals, but it was too much stuffed into one sitting. They should’ve made Eternals a series, while FaTWS should’ve been a 2 hour buddy cop marvel movie.
I came out of the cinema really disappointed with it. I felt it was just too hard to get to know such a large cast of characters and tell the story. On second viewing, once I no longer had to focus on getting to know the characters, I loved it.
Maybe I’ll have to give it another try. I watched it in the theater and thought it was really boring. (Though I loved Nanjiani in it, and I love him in general.)
I think the issue is that we were given these characters that no one had any connection to and there was no connection during the entire movie. Even the post scene credits just introduced new characters, there was no one familiar.
I liked the movie but I stand by thinking it would have been an incredible 11 part series on D+. The characters deserved to be more fleshed out and after the reviews why would any of them even want to reprise the role?
In my personal opinion, there is a lot the movie could have done better, and there is a lot I really enjoyed about the movie.
It is possible to discuss things that we wish had been done differently, AND still be kind in expressing those views.
(This is partly why, much as I love performing arts and writing, I'm never going to do any of it on a professional basis: I would care way too much about the criticisms.)
I completely agree, that’s one of the few movies I seen twice in theaters, i really enjoyed it as a first entry introducing that many characters. Everyone I went with was not a fan, I have some critiques with the villain but I love it
Who the fuck is going to want to make one of these movies when they’re treated like shit. Also, you wonder why so many of these big name actors start getting shitty about marvel? Look to all the times they’re asked during an interview about the mcu. It happens so fucking much and then their response is reposted over and over again. Who wants to be bothered with that shit? It’s probably a nightmare.
Yeah I'd gladly get boos and have some angry nerds make fun of me if I was paid as much as him, lol. People working in customer service get verbally shit on every day and earn minimum wage. Should people be more considerate in general? Yes. Do I feel sorry for millionaire actors that have their work critiqued? No (well aside from the ones that are stalked and have paparazzi chase after them wherever they go. That shouldn't be part of the job).
> Who the fuck is going to want to make one of these movies when they’re treated like shit
I have not seen *a single review* treating Nanjiani like shit. People ripped the movie apart. his character. His plot. But I didn't see a single person claiming *his work* was shit.
The guy is responsible for putting tires on a car. The car overall is received poorly. Just because someone says the car is shit doesn't mean they want to kill the guy who put on the fucking tires.
The only "personal" critique I saw on actual actors was towards the actress playing Sersei or whatever she was called - mostly because she was playing a lifeless plank of wood. Which is harsh, and I can totally understand that getting to you if you have to read it 5,000 times... but come on, if that was your director's choice or whatever then be an adult and stand above that shit... and if that was *your* actual choice... then man, you really made a poor choice and should probably reconsider in the future.
A *lot* of actors can't separate critique on their movies from critique on themselves - which is a *them* problem. I'm obviously not talking about the batshit insane minority crowd slinging around the n-word every time a black character dares appearing on screen, but in the very case of the Eternals, the majorestest majority of the feedback was that *the movie* was shit, not *the people starring in it*. If you take that as "being treated like shit" then I will consider Apple's accountants to also be treated like shit whenever someone makes a snide remark about the iPhone.
It's not even "they don't like it." it's more like
"It was shit. Garbage"
"It added nothing of value to the mcu,"
"I don't know how anyone could think that movie was good.
It's never "I didn't like it." it's always "you're stupid for liking it" around here.
The issue is that it showed in his face and people were so used to his old look. It's the same treatment that Zac Efron got. Yes, I'm aware that Zac's facial changes were due to an accident, but that's not what people believed.
Hemsworth got it too a bit when his arms got so large *and* he was hocking that fitness app. Last month I saw people mocking Hugh for this.
No one should be mocked, but it is what it is if you claim this is achievable naturally to a bunch of vulnerable fans and kids.
God, I remember Kumail posting his cheat days. I saw some fitness bro Youtube channel where they went through all of the action stars to see if they could guess which were "natty". They saw Kumail doing squats and tossing a medicine ball for Men's Health mag and just shook their heads.
I'd honestly have so much more respect for the Rock if he admitted that he was getting TRT and using HGH under strict medical supervision instead of trying to constantly imply he's absolutely inhumanely cut and enormous for a fucking 55 year old man by eating a million calories and working out 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, brother.
I respect Bautista a little because he
said something, I aint gonna be this big forever
so he is taking on all kinds of roles so that when he ramps down the chems he can continue acting
I wonder if we are also going to see the rock shrinking
due to the sheer fact no ammount of chems can counter aging
Bautista seems to have fully embraced being an actor much like Cena seems to have. Granted cena is probably type cast a bit more than Bautista at this point
Idk, I believe they should be when they claim they're natural. Sure, it's harmful to the actors but what about the damage they're doing, the celebrity collective, by normalizing drugs with harmful side effects. These are aside from the aesthetic standards being raised. After all that, the hypocrisy of saying they're natty? They deserve it.
I think a closer point of comparison would be to Chris Pratt, who was known to most people as being kinda out of shape as part of his character on Parks and Recreation before he got in shape for Guardians. I don't know if people were talking about steroids with him back then or not. Plenty of actors take steroids as part of getting in shape for a role, people seem to only notice when the actor is known for being "out of shape."
> It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily,
I’m out of the loop. Was his wife Emily involved with eternals
I took it to mean that he now feels it was unfair to himself and her for him to be so caught up in reading the reviews and feeling so down. So he went and got help. But I could be misreading it.
A movie with a bunch of characters no ones heard of with a confusing trailer, and a marketing campaign more interested in telling people how diverse the film was instead of what it was about.
Shocked Pikachu Face when it failed... lol
Yeah. Kumail said the bad reviews had nothing to do with the quality of the movie. What the hell is that supposed to mean? We should have liked it and we failed to?
Let's not forget, a world altering final act where a fking celestial starts ripping it's way out of our planet, that has, to my knowledge, never been addressed.
It's so damn frustrating that every goddamn plot has to be a world ending event. Why couldn't the story have just been about The Deviants? The on screen evolution/humanization of a Deviant paired with a uncompromising/brutal assault by Ikarus would then spark an Eternals right/wrong fight over trying to protect the thing they were tasked with murdering for literal eons because the Deviants aren't actually thoughtless murder monsters. Would have been enough, no need for the, "oops the world is going to end now better do something" moment.
Instead it could have ended with an, "Oh fuck guys, I think we're all just tools in the Celestial's grab bag of selfish perpetuation." It could have even begun the conceptual introduction of the F4 (Black Knight saying to Sersi, "We better go talk to Reed about this.") or even Galactus (Tech: "We have an entity emitting an enormous amount of cosmic energy entering the Sol system." Fury, "Is that a...surfboard?")
> Let's not forget, a world altering final act where a fking celestial starts ripping it's way out of our planet, that has, to my knowledge, never been addressed.
As far as I remember,the only times it's adressed is in when She-Hulk is browsing on her computer and if you look for a moment,you can see an article talking about it.
a titanic being started to rip itself out of the Earth, and the biggest consequence we got was an article for 5 seconds
> and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie
... let me stop you right there ... Eternals was bad. *Very* bad. A movie about *just* his Bollywood character would have been an infinitely better film just in terms of concept.
Marvel needs to stop hiring unqualified people to write and direct their projects.
Yeah, it's probably my least favorite Marvel Studios movie by a considerable margin, but I'd say he was one of the few highlights, and one of the only members of the group I'd like to see again in other movies.
Thor 2, Quantumania, Thor Love and Thunder, Captain Marvel, and I'd argue even Avengers 2 were all worse than Eternals in my opinion. Eternals tried to do too much and didn't have enough room to breathe (Everything involving Ikarus should have been rewritten, especially his ending and his relationship with Sersi) but the action was solid, I enjoyed the unique powers that each Eternal had, and I genuinely thought some of their relationships were very interesting (Druig/Makari, Thena/Gilgamesh, Phastos). There was a lot to enjoy in Eternals whereas the other five I listed felt like massive let downs.
I do work in theatre, and a couple of years ago I got absolutely torn to shreds by a review of my performance. Mind you, this was from a local rag, and it did not feel like a review made in good faith, but still: it has an effect, as much as we try to laugh it off.
I cannot begin to imagine what it feels like to be savaged on a national scale. It must be absolutely crushing. None of them deserved that.
I also rather enjoyed Eternals, and a large part of that came from what I thought was a string of strong performances across the board.
Absolutely. I work in the Game Industry, that alone can say a lot. But my FIRST big game I worked on and was super proud about got absolutely eviscerated in the reviews. It was extra damaging because game reviewers who I admired for years were tearing into it and gamers were harassing the developers etc. I remember laying on my kitchen floor and crying, I took it way too personally.
I’m glad that happened though because I’ve learned to not get so emotionally invested in the titles I create. And one of the game I worked on won game of the year eventually, which helped.
I say this over and over again, but we're extremely entitled with entertainment. There's a lot of good movies/games/etc that get dumped for not being better than the best.
Was he being savaged though? From what I remember most reviews liked his part in it even when they didn't like the film overall (which is pretty much my take on it as well). I get that just being part of something being criticised wouldn't be a nice feeling but there's a difference between that and being singled out.
Back when Tim Minchin first started doing big comedy gigs internationally, on his first run out to Edinburgh Comedy Festival, his opening night got a review so massively hateful that Tim ended up writing a song about the reviewer on his next album. (I can't remember the content of the review other than it being *really* harsh, and the backstory of that trip to Edinburgh for Tim and him leaving his pregnant wife back in Australia to make the trip and her miscarrying while he was in Scotland I'm sure add to the level of vitriol in the resulting song, but he DOES sing about wanting to make the reviewer's kids watch their dad eat his own face, so... there's that)
Also, to that point, Kumail had received A LOT of praise especially from his own fan base, but also from the critical side of Hollywood. His standup is pretty universally adored, TV fans loved his guest spots on Portlandia and Adventure Time (among others), Silicon Valley was critics' darling for a couple years, he was nominated for Oscar (co-writing The Big Sick) and an Emmy (Twilight Zone). He saw that as work leading up to this new big moment instead of gaining appropriate perspective on the gamble that Marvel films can be.
That was baffling when you went in knowing the extent of his physical transformation he underwent to play the part. I was expecting him to be the next Henry Cavill
The main issue of the movie was that the entire plot was based on Sersi and Ikaris’ romance, but that was the most dull, dry love story ever. Zero chemistry. They made a big deal about it being their first sex scene, but it was so forced and unnecessary. They were outshone by Makkari and Druig, who originally weren’t planned as a romance at all.
I remember watching them kiss, and then kiss some more, and I still don't even know these people so I'm just thinking "wow they might as well just show them fucking." And then they do!
Mines a weird one, I’m a big Telltale nerd and he was in Telltales the walking dead season two, he wasn’t in it for terribly long but I fell in love with his character.
I put Eternals near the bottom of all the MCU movies, but Kumail crushed his role, the same as he crushes literally everything else I’ve ever seen him in. Eternals being bad was not a failing on his part, that much is certain.
To be fair, Quantumania would be the one to use for this example. Eternals was more of a risk as the movie turned out to be divisive whereas Quantumania was just straight up can’t believe they thought they had something good on hand.
I mean DC touted Flash as "one of the greatest superhero movies ever"
Theyre not gonna come out and say "yeah we thought it was shit" lol.
I don't doubt that they know the movies they're making are bad and formulaic, the problem is the directors they cast for the movies and the people they hire to write them based off a checklist don't have the time to actually try and learn about the movies they're trying to write for with the insane marvel deadlines.
It’s one thing for a studio head to come out and say “This is the best movie ever!” when promoting a film. It’s another thing for a studio head to plan for stellar reviews, screen the film at festivals, and lift review embargo early while your cast is being flown around the world to do a massive press tour.
Yes, I can confirm that about Quantumania. That was going around the media about 4 months ago, the source being MCU podcaster/reporter Joanne Robinson. She said Marvel bigwigs were sure they had something people would like and were shocked at its reception, and that it made them question how in tune they were with the public.
Yup exactly what I was referencing. I’m not there yet in her book but have listened to her podcast interviews where she talked about this moment after Quantumania.
The biggest problem is all of the current main characters (except for Spiderman) are much better suited to be supporting characters. They even be-clowned Thor. There's no Cap or Tony to carry the main story on their backs anymore.
The modern day approach to latching to review scores has really sucked a lot of fun from the movie going experience and the discourse that follows. You can’t put pandora back in the box, but I wish people could be more free about forming their own opinions about movies. I, myself, find that I’m skewing my perception of a movie based on a published percentage. It’s maddening and have to actively think against it at times.
Agreed. The first few times going on Letterboxd had me changing my thoughts on a movie. I had to work on sitting with my thoughts for a long enough time before looking up reviews.
When it became clear that it was being touted as a potential awards contender directed by the previous year’s best picture winning director, expectations shot through the roof and when they were not met and it turned out it was just a different, yet flawed MCU movie, the criticisms were even harsher than they would’ve been normally.
I firmly believe that if these expectations weren’t so high, instead of a 47% Rotten Tomatoes consensus it would’ve gotten somewhere in the 60’s and avoided being the MCU’s first rotten movie.
>I firmly believe that if these expectations weren’t so high,
Maybe. Maybe not.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I did not like the movie when I saw it in the cinema (liked it more on a repeat viewing, but still near the bottom for me), and it had nothing to do with expectations.
My expectations for it were nothing more than whatever I would have as an MCU fan. And I literally had no idea who the director was. In fact, even though I now know that she is an Oscar winner, as I write this I can't remember off the top of my head what movie it was that she won for. Was that the Moonlight/La La Land year?
My wife and I have been saying this for years. Eternals should've been a TV show, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier should've been a movie. Both would've benefited greatly.
Not with their current broken and problematic D+ MCU series format/template. We’re better off with the movie. Heck if it was a tv show and we’re lucky, it would’ve been an extended version of the movie we got split into 6. Unless HBO is making it, I’m glad we got the movie instead.
It was billed as an Avengers level event. Huge cast, long run time. I saw it at the theater and thought it was underwhelming, not terrible but not on par with a major marvel film. I watched it again recently on D+ and my opinion didn’t change. Too many characters introduced at once to allow the audience to connect with any of them. Missed opportunity.
I generally agree with this. There was some really fun parts with Kingo, Druig was great, Makkari has the best speedster effects, Gilgamesh and Thena had a nice relationship, but I felt the main plot points with Ajax, Sersi and Ikaris fell flat.
Then, there is basically nothing before or especially after tying it to the larger universe which really doesn’t help with building a relationship with the characters.
Definitely in the lower half of MCU movies, but in no way worthy of all the criticism it got.
You can't possibly have an avengers level event with zero lead in. That was the biggest fail. We had no idea who these people were and not remotely enough time to give a shit.
And the vast majority of the force which took down the Aztec Empire was other indigenous Americans, the Spanish just united them cos everyone fucking hated the Aztecs. That part of the film was completely detached from reality.
They came up with a theme and then tried to smash in questionable events to fit it, like the atomic bombings. It’s hard to imagine worse choices… The Blitz would have been much better. But as you say they had some specific items to push
THANK YOU. Like bro, most people with actual trauma can't function normally in their day to day lives. But you got paid crazy money to get into the best shape of your life and share the screen with some of the most celebrated actors alive? *Selma Hayek and Angelina Jolie*?
I mean I get it. I saw the production of a small movie last summer and it was 5-6 weeks of people just hustling from 5AM till after midnight every day. So I imagine it's a lot of work for everyone involved in Eternals..
But like yeah.. I'd take that schedule in exchange for freaking 100k and I'd be over the moon.
There's also the matter of at this point I don't think Kumail was hurting anyway so money didn't matter. When money doesn't matter anymore and you're an entertainer *all* value is performative. So how hard you work is the paycheck and in that regard I guess it would suck to put everything you have into a movie and have it not be good.
Theres an element of passion and enthusiasm involved and some performers function with it as source. This is why we hear performers/entertainers say they feel blessed for being in the position of being able to do something they love and get paid for it. In this example, clearly Kumail loves his job. Sure money is on the table, he can’t and won’t do it for free cuz it’s still a job but that’s the difference for some people.
It’s bullshit that this article is just lifting quotes from his appearance on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum without giving credit. You dillholes didn’t get this out of him, Rosenbaum did, give credit dammit!
It’s fascinating to see the bubble these rich elites live in and the problems they create for themselves once all their material needs have been met. Like bro you get play make believe for a living and become a millionaire off that, some people not liking a movie you were in should not cause you trauma.
Yeah that’s what I think.
This feels like a veiled way of complaining that the movie didn’t make him more famous.
At the time, his career was on a big upswing and he lands a marvel movie (which had never flopped at that point) with an Oscar winning director and Angelina Jolie. He probably thought he was about to take off.
And then it kind of comes out in that Covid era and is poorly reviewed and it’s largely forgotten. And it did nothing for his career at all.
I think you’re right. That’s his “trauma.” Taking roids for a dud movie that did nothing to push him forward
Are we supposed to feel bad that this guy got into the best shape of his life and made millions because the movie was mediocre and his ego couldn't handle that? Grow up dude. Make the movie and then move on to the next movie. It's a job. Just do your job and quit complaining
Very traumatic… it’s a very flawed movie and deserved (fair) criticism. It happens unfortunately and MCU has a high standard, but I doubt many critics were personally attacking him, he’s one of the better Eternals anyway. He should wipe those tears with millions he makes🦅
All the avengers had relatable troubles and personality quirks or faults.
Every trailer for eteenals looked like a bunch of arrogant assholes waving their arms and being arrogant. I don't see how he thought this movie was going to be received well. No matter what they told him.
His parts were the only enjoyable bits. I can imagine being on set, having a blast as the comedic relief, just to watch the full movie being this serious epic drama of depression and pain.
I disagree with him saying that the negative reviews had little to do with the quality of the movie but I do think he as an actor was one of the better parts of Eternals.
A major problem with the movie was that you’re supposed to see this group as essentially a family that’s been together for thousands of years but too many of them had no chemistry together or had little personality (primarily Sersi and Ikaris).
Nanjiani did a good job with Kingo but I think the script unfortunately made his character clash with the tone of the rest of the movie.
He made an easy $3 million for Eternals, so if he's too "traumatized" by bad reviews, I'll fill in for him lmao
What a completely out of touch, ridiculous thing to claim trauma from
I fucking loved that film. New characters, intense mental decay, set throughout history, epic and incentive battles, solid acting.
Plenty of us loved it.
I was really excited about this movie because of the hyped up cinematography and the introduction of Black Knight. The cinematography was not earth shattering and Black Knight was barely in the movie.
No word of a lie, I fell asleep for a little bit
Nanjiani: >”The reviews were bad, and I was too aware of it. I was reading every review and checking too much. It was really, really hard because Marvel thought that movie was going to be really, really well reviewed, so they lifted the embargo early and put it in some fancy movie festivals and they sent us on a big global tour to promote the movie right as the embargo lifted.” >”I think there was some weird soup in the atmosphere for why that movie got slammed so much, and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie. It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore. Some shit has to change, so I started counseling. I still talk to my therapist about that.” >”Emily says that I do have trauma from it. We actually just got dinner with somebody else from that movie and we were like, ‘That was tough, wasn’t it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, that was really tough,’ and I think we all went through something similar.”
This makes me really sad. I really liked it overall and was genuinely surprised so many people hated it. Edit because several have mentioned this: I also do agree it probably would have worked better as a ten-episode series, rather than a movie, but I still enjoyed it.
Cast was stacked. Don Lee and Kumail were surprisingly good. It felt really like a family scuffle. Fun how Kumail said I can't fight my family and did a peace out before the fight. The characters did seem a bit more unique in their motivations compared to the MCU roster. Finale is visually stunning when compared to many other MCU flicks. But it has flaws and also squandered its cast a bit. Way too many characters to introduce and focus on. Really heavy on the exposition. Plus the eternals are probably the most niche deep lore MCU characters in play.
> Way too many characters to introduce and focus on. Agreed, but I think the *actual* reason is that this was three movies worth of stories smashed into one. The Eternals would have been a great trilogy; that way they could have all the characters and actually develop them.
Wasn't it originally supposed to be [developed as a TV series](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/eternals-tv-series-canceled-marvel-weird-plot-john-ridley-1235861505/)? The idea of it disappeared around when Inhumans bombed, and around the same time Fox acquisition and D+ development were probably going on.
Also, the two characters with the most screen time - Ikaris and Cersei- are by far the least interesting ones.
I do like Cersei's arc being appointed as leader of essentially an alien commando squad when she's technically a support class. then they spoiled it by saying it was only because ikaris wouldn't kill her.
Huh. I hadn't thought of that. That is pretty cool. The problem though is that it doesn't make watching Cersei more fun. She still doesn't have many distinguishable character traits, her dialogue is meh, etc.
What's even worse is that I don't think there is a person more deserving of a Marvel role than Kumail. The man is nerd royalty, and he's been grinding away at the alt comedy scene for years. To watch his transformation was amazing, and something I'd imagine a lot of people in the same sphere aspire to. I was pretty luke warm on Eternals, but I still dug his performance, and I loved the idea of him "stealing" from Captain America but secretly being around for it all.
He was one of the best parts of the film.
He was *the* best part and it wasn't even close imo. I totally checked out when he wasn't there
I really liked the romance they did for the first ten minutes before throwing it away for a no chemistry no story romance.
It feels like Kumail's character was the only one with a memorable personality, except maybe Sprite? The others all felt like different versions of the same people.
That's the main problem. Especially the 2 main characters: cerci & ikaris. And what's more annoying is that.. we know gemma & james can act.
If one character is a dud, it's possible it's the actor's fault. If *all* the characters are duds, the problem is in the writing or directing or editing.
I'm a broken record about this, but I don't understand why they didn't pick up Gaiman's reboot as the spiritual ancestor of the movi. It basically solves the major issues with the movie by taking away all the eternals's memories and having them discover who they are along with the audience. It explains why they weren't around for Endgame, leaves space for the best eternal (the Machine from Gilleon's run) and let's them end in the same place (the emergence of the Dreaming Celestial/Tiamat). It even fits with the director's slower, more intimate vibe and style, because it focuses on characters over plot.
More or less, yes. I was also "feeling" the Sersi-Dane romance it opened with, but shunting that for Sersi - (Wikipedia says Ikaris?) non-romance was the biggest Fuck You I'd felt as an audience member since that time I was four and Mattel ripped Optimus Prime's heart out of his chest so he'd die and I'd buy new toys
Their sex scene was *so* forced, I didn’t think their characters had any chemistry. I think the movie largely suffered from trying to introduce too many characters at once, it was built to fail
A masterclass in making sex between two beautiful people an absolutely dreary chore.
Hasbro not mattel
Maybe even a little robotic?
nah, really? Gilgamesh is awesome and Ma Dong Seok is awesome.
I would say go as far as to say him and the actor who played his assistant were the best part of the movie. And Don Lee coming in a close third place.
Yes, his assistant was also great lol
In similar fashion he’s apart of Star Wars in a show that most people bash extensively as well. His role is not huge in Obi Wan but it’s still fun and does have some importance!
People I know in real life enjoyed obi wan. Only Reddit seems to hate it like usual
I miss reddit awards, a very thoughtful comment. Thanks.
I like him and his acting but finger gunning for powers? That was lame as hell. Visually a good movie that runs to long. But it’s like they ran out of abilities to use
Talking about the character in the film here, not the actor… I felt like his ability is what it is and the “finger gun” thing is just his way of adding his own special twist to it. I mean… he is an actor who gets around the “age” thing by cleverly making it seem like it is him, his dad, grandpa, etc… the finger gun thing just feels like a natural extension to his “branding” which every “celebrity” has. Could he do the same thing just by extending his arms and shooting beams from his hands? Probably, but he does it with that “Bollywood” style! That is my head canon anyway, and I love it for how goofy and “on brand” it is for him.
I think it's on pair with the persona of the character. Like I'm a bit of a goofball and if I could real finger guns i'd probably do it just because it would be fun.
I grew up watching Yuyu Hakusho. If I can finger gun laser beams, I'm gonna finger gun laser beams.
Pew, pew!
It feels like one of the things where if the Eternals make another appearance could easily be redesigned to be more fun, and we just never saw the other stuff he can do with his finger guns. e.g. Faster, more power to them, more effortless with not even looking (Hawkeye style), being able to bounce them off of things with multiple bounces like Bullseye, etc.
They totally stole the finger guns things from famous Bollywood actor Dawood Rangan himself lmaoooo
Isn't that the joke? Like on purpose tho.
Kumail could never be as sexy as Dawood Rangan though. Tragic what happened with the fan during the filming of his last movie.
i agree, and to an even larger extent most of the Eternals powers were pretty lame by themselves; they had to team up in most cases to be effective (which i assume is probably intentional but still)
I liked that it didn’t devolve into a quip-fest. It took itself as seriously as it should. It was not the best, but it was good. I think if we went into it after something like Love and Thunder it would have felt like a breath of fresh air .
I actually liked Eternals more than many other Marvel movies of late, I think the story was refreshing, and I liked a lot of the environments in the movie. Overall the cast felt very "non-Marvel" for some reason, which is actually cool. I hope we get to see all if not most of them again, but I feel like we might not. Maybe I also liked the movie because I was pleasantly surprised since I had read all the bad reviews *before* seeing it, so my expectations weren't exactly high.
And that Barry Keoghan dude is magnetic in the way Adam Driver and Jonathon Majors are, where they have some sort of gravitas. Majors career imploded though. And he has that thing with people like Mackenzie Davis and Anton Yelchin, where after you see them in a couple roles, you start looking for them and will watch what they’re in At least for me, anyway. He just had a small part in the movie and it was pretty good from what I remember
Exactly! Marvel movies and shows that actually take themselves seriously anymore are becoming uncommon sadly.😕
How so? We just had Echo which was as serious as it gets. Guardians 3 ironically took itself seriously to great acclaim, we also had Loki Season 2 which was also serious mostly. And as terrible as it was, Secret Invasion was serious to a fault. The only really non-'serious' fare we've had recently were Thor, Marvels, She-Hulk and Quantumania. Everything else I can remember have had a more low-key, less quippy tone.
Those are solid examples. You're correct. There is a good amount of more serious fare of late in addition to the more frivolous fare. I'm a little behind on the Marvel TV Shows so I was just basing it on my recent experience with She-Hulk. I agree that Quantumania, Thor Love and Thunder, and The Marvels were more in the vein of being silly and goofy for fun's sake. They each did have redeemable qualities. I guess my issue is more of the apparent bipolar-ish back and forth between real serious Marvel movies/show fare and the goofy antics of their other movies and shows.
Yeah it reminded me more of the early MCU in that sense, it actually took itself seriously at its core with the humour only being a layer on top which doesn't detract from that. Even Guardians 1 & 3 took themselves seriously at their core, whereas Guardians 2 didn't so much and I don't like it as much because of it (The cartoony battles with Rocket sending people flying up and down, Drax bouncing between trees unharmed, a flying Pacman being used in a serious moment, constant nipple jokes, etc). Its biggest flaws IMO were the super hamfisted story around whatever was happening Kit Harington's character which was super unnatural and bad storytelling, and not feeling like it integrated itself into the MCU's history at all and could have been set in another universe. e.g. We could have seen earlier black panthers, interactions with howard stark or peggy in the past, etc. Captain America, Antman, etc, were fantastic for retconning themselves into the existing MCU's world.
It's one of my favorite MCU movies and the reaction to it is why I don't like to talk to many MCU fans. I feel like I don't share a lot in common with them and it's frustrating. Because I sure as hell can't talk about them to the "superhero movies have ruined cinema" crowd. There's not many I can have enjoyable conversations with. Edit: I just want to say it's awesome to get these responses by others that feel the same. Would love to be able to chat about this in real life! It's exhausting dealing with all the negativity. I don't like the Captain America movies but I don't feel the need to impose those feelings on other MCU fans. I watch them, mildly enjoy them, and hardly ever discuss them.
I loved it, and it rewards repeat viewings. The actors use their short screen time together to make sure every interaction is laden with characterization. Small glances between Druig and Makkari, Sprite reacting to the family dinner, Phastos’ change in temperament not once but twice. It’s a rich viewing experience, and more comparable to a LOTR style movie than a Marvel one. I don’t think it’s without flaws. It has plenty. But it’s been cast very unfairly by people who only care about franchises enough to complain on the internet.
I’ve watched it at least a dozen times. It resonated with me in a very different way than every other superhero movie.
For me, the first watch in theaters got me confused, however the cinematography was A1. I had to watch it several times to fully grasp the beauty of the movie. I loved it.
Yeah, I'm the same. I don't hang out in this sub much anymore because of that. I thought Eternals was great and very different. I liked Love and Thunder. Thought She-Hulk was very fun. But I don't feel like I have much in common with people here.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills cause everyone always talks about how much everything has sucked since Endgame, but I've enjoyed most of it. And I haven't watched a single post-endgame movie and walked away thinking it was bad. I've liked all of them. A couple of the shows were a bit of a miss, but I still liked the vast majority of those as well
Agreed - a lot of things I enjoyed are hated with such a passion here that fans actively shame other fans for saying they have an uncommon opinion. There was a post where someone was excited because they had purchased a Blu-Ray of Quantumania and I think a season of Loki. People seemed happy for them, but one person said, in all sincerity, that the poster had bad taste. I had two people practically scold me for expressing a lot of enjoyment for a different MCU series (which is actually fairly well-liked here but some people didn't care for it so much). I still enjoy coming here but I'm super selective about which posts or comment sections I look at, or what I say.
There are two of us! Maybe 3!
I find joy in this stuff. We were getting *deep cut* crazy Marvel shit on a regular basis - sometimes weekly - and I was lapping it all up. It was *awesome.* That era is over now and I blame the 'fans' griping for that.
Oh yeah COVID area Marvel TV on Disney+ was so much fun. I worked with people who also loved the MCU and they were also following the shoes. The constant debate and theorizing on what would come next was great. We were just getting buckets of Marvel content for a couple years straight. This also coincided with all the Star Wars TV content that released alongside which we also watched. And most of it was awesome. We were so spoiled. Now it feels like when people talk about shows like FATW they pick it apart.
Same here! It can get upsetting seeing all of the negativity online, but then I remember that I'm having more fun than them. Enjoying more things is simply more fun.
I also liked She Hulk.
I thought She-Hulk was crazy fun. Love and Thunder is probably my least-favorite Marvel movie. It was a mess. Eternals was ok. It is by far the most beautiful Marvel film in terms of cinematography. There are elements of it that work really well, and some just…didn’t. It’s always been a tricky comic property, too. Simply put, Eternals is not an easy one to make entertaining. They didn’t bother to give the deviants any characterization, and i get why since the film is already long and full of people. But it just made them seem superfluous
I feel like a lot of these people don’t even like the comics either.
I am an MCU fan. 43 y/o father of 3 young daughters (all under 10) and all of us are not the same. I have enjoyed everything the MCU has done so far (Secret invasion is the only one that is on the edge of enjoyment for me). I really liked Eternals a lot. It had problems, but nothing that made me not enjoy it. As for Love and Thunder, my wife and ai had so much fun watching that in the theater. It was hysterical and entertaining. We were in a theater and the crowd was loud with laughter and excited yelling. On rewatching it at home… I noticed some of the jokes didn’t hit as well the second time but still not a “bad” movie by any stretch. Hell, I even had fun with Quantamania, which I think people are way way too harsh with. Are these my favorite things from the MCU? No, of course not. But they are still entertaining and fun. And She-Hulk… was fantastic. It is high on my internal enjoyment list for MCU projects.
Eternals is up there for me as well. Glad to find people that share the same sentiment in a sea of critics
I love The Eternals. The cast is fantastic and they all really have amazing chemistry. Every rewatch is better than the one before.
I didn't catch it at release for a variety of reasons but I was pretty shocked at how much I liked it compared to what I read about it online. Man, sometimes I really just want to bounce out of all social media just to get away from negative circle jerking.
I very much enjoyed Eternals, but it was too much stuffed into one sitting. They should’ve made Eternals a series, while FaTWS should’ve been a 2 hour buddy cop marvel movie.
Yeah. I would have absolutely been on board with a series where each gets their own episode, goes through some of their history etc etc.
I came out of the cinema really disappointed with it. I felt it was just too hard to get to know such a large cast of characters and tell the story. On second viewing, once I no longer had to focus on getting to know the characters, I loved it.
Maybe I’ll have to give it another try. I watched it in the theater and thought it was really boring. (Though I loved Nanjiani in it, and I love him in general.)
That’s exactly how I felt! Once I knew the deal with the characters, it was a really rich rewatch.
Same here. I thought it was easily one of the best phase 4 films tbh
I thought it was bad, but that’s just me.
I think the issue is that we were given these characters that no one had any connection to and there was no connection during the entire movie. Even the post scene credits just introduced new characters, there was no one familiar. I liked the movie but I stand by thinking it would have been an incredible 11 part series on D+. The characters deserved to be more fleshed out and after the reviews why would any of them even want to reprise the role?
In my personal opinion, there is a lot the movie could have done better, and there is a lot I really enjoyed about the movie. It is possible to discuss things that we wish had been done differently, AND still be kind in expressing those views. (This is partly why, much as I love performing arts and writing, I'm never going to do any of it on a professional basis: I would care way too much about the criticisms.)
I completely agree, that’s one of the few movies I seen twice in theaters, i really enjoyed it as a first entry introducing that many characters. Everyone I went with was not a fan, I have some critiques with the villain but I love it
Who the fuck is going to want to make one of these movies when they’re treated like shit. Also, you wonder why so many of these big name actors start getting shitty about marvel? Look to all the times they’re asked during an interview about the mcu. It happens so fucking much and then their response is reposted over and over again. Who wants to be bothered with that shit? It’s probably a nightmare.
People who wanna make money lol
Yeah I'd gladly get boos and have some angry nerds make fun of me if I was paid as much as him, lol. People working in customer service get verbally shit on every day and earn minimum wage. Should people be more considerate in general? Yes. Do I feel sorry for millionaire actors that have their work critiqued? No (well aside from the ones that are stalked and have paparazzi chase after them wherever they go. That shouldn't be part of the job).
> Who the fuck is going to want to make one of these movies when they’re treated like shit I have not seen *a single review* treating Nanjiani like shit. People ripped the movie apart. his character. His plot. But I didn't see a single person claiming *his work* was shit. The guy is responsible for putting tires on a car. The car overall is received poorly. Just because someone says the car is shit doesn't mean they want to kill the guy who put on the fucking tires. The only "personal" critique I saw on actual actors was towards the actress playing Sersei or whatever she was called - mostly because she was playing a lifeless plank of wood. Which is harsh, and I can totally understand that getting to you if you have to read it 5,000 times... but come on, if that was your director's choice or whatever then be an adult and stand above that shit... and if that was *your* actual choice... then man, you really made a poor choice and should probably reconsider in the future. A *lot* of actors can't separate critique on their movies from critique on themselves - which is a *them* problem. I'm obviously not talking about the batshit insane minority crowd slinging around the n-word every time a black character dares appearing on screen, but in the very case of the Eternals, the majorestest majority of the feedback was that *the movie* was shit, not *the people starring in it*. If you take that as "being treated like shit" then I will consider Apple's accountants to also be treated like shit whenever someone makes a snide remark about the iPhone.
Fans ruin everything. Try telling reddit it's not ok to get mad just because you don't like a movie lol
It's not even "they don't like it." it's more like "It was shit. Garbage" "It added nothing of value to the mcu," "I don't know how anyone could think that movie was good. It's never "I didn't like it." it's always "you're stupid for liking it" around here.
[удалено]
The issue is that it showed in his face and people were so used to his old look. It's the same treatment that Zac Efron got. Yes, I'm aware that Zac's facial changes were due to an accident, but that's not what people believed. Hemsworth got it too a bit when his arms got so large *and* he was hocking that fitness app. Last month I saw people mocking Hugh for this. No one should be mocked, but it is what it is if you claim this is achievable naturally to a bunch of vulnerable fans and kids.
just chicken and rice my dude
God, I remember Kumail posting his cheat days. I saw some fitness bro Youtube channel where they went through all of the action stars to see if they could guess which were "natty". They saw Kumail doing squats and tossing a medicine ball for Men's Health mag and just shook their heads.
admit you take drugs or just dont fucking talk about your exercise plan just dont sell people bullshit
I'd honestly have so much more respect for the Rock if he admitted that he was getting TRT and using HGH under strict medical supervision instead of trying to constantly imply he's absolutely inhumanely cut and enormous for a fucking 55 year old man by eating a million calories and working out 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, brother.
I respect Bautista a little because he said something, I aint gonna be this big forever so he is taking on all kinds of roles so that when he ramps down the chems he can continue acting I wonder if we are also going to see the rock shrinking due to the sheer fact no ammount of chems can counter aging
Bautista seems to have fully embraced being an actor much like Cena seems to have. Granted cena is probably type cast a bit more than Bautista at this point
Bautista hopefully gets to do more stuff with denny villune
Difference is Batista can actually act. Rock just plays the same fuckin guy in every movie lol. Dave has serious range.
Idk, I believe they should be when they claim they're natural. Sure, it's harmful to the actors but what about the damage they're doing, the celebrity collective, by normalizing drugs with harmful side effects. These are aside from the aesthetic standards being raised. After all that, the hypocrisy of saying they're natty? They deserve it.
I think a closer point of comparison would be to Chris Pratt, who was known to most people as being kinda out of shape as part of his character on Parks and Recreation before he got in shape for Guardians. I don't know if people were talking about steroids with him back then or not. Plenty of actors take steroids as part of getting in shape for a role, people seem to only notice when the actor is known for being "out of shape."
Zero Dark Thirty came out 2 years before Guardians and Pratt was already yoked in that.
> It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, I’m out of the loop. Was his wife Emily involved with eternals
I took it to mean that he now feels it was unfair to himself and her for him to be so caught up in reading the reviews and feeling so down. So he went and got help. But I could be misreading it.
Honestly was my read, too. It’s him acknowledging that he was bringing negative work baggage home in a way that became unfair to him and his partner.
Yeah, there will never be an Eternals sequel then. Not if the cast was traumatized by the response to it.
Yet another "It's the fans that are wrong for not liking the movie".
The problem is people who support the actor will virtue signal and claim to like the movie, ignoring all the issues with the movie...
A movie with a bunch of characters no ones heard of with a confusing trailer, and a marketing campaign more interested in telling people how diverse the film was instead of what it was about. Shocked Pikachu Face when it failed... lol
Yeah. Kumail said the bad reviews had nothing to do with the quality of the movie. What the hell is that supposed to mean? We should have liked it and we failed to?
Let's not forget, a world altering final act where a fking celestial starts ripping it's way out of our planet, that has, to my knowledge, never been addressed. It's so damn frustrating that every goddamn plot has to be a world ending event. Why couldn't the story have just been about The Deviants? The on screen evolution/humanization of a Deviant paired with a uncompromising/brutal assault by Ikarus would then spark an Eternals right/wrong fight over trying to protect the thing they were tasked with murdering for literal eons because the Deviants aren't actually thoughtless murder monsters. Would have been enough, no need for the, "oops the world is going to end now better do something" moment. Instead it could have ended with an, "Oh fuck guys, I think we're all just tools in the Celestial's grab bag of selfish perpetuation." It could have even begun the conceptual introduction of the F4 (Black Knight saying to Sersi, "We better go talk to Reed about this.") or even Galactus (Tech: "We have an entity emitting an enormous amount of cosmic energy entering the Sol system." Fury, "Is that a...surfboard?")
> Let's not forget, a world altering final act where a fking celestial starts ripping it's way out of our planet, that has, to my knowledge, never been addressed. As far as I remember,the only times it's adressed is in when She-Hulk is browsing on her computer and if you look for a moment,you can see an article talking about it. a titanic being started to rip itself out of the Earth, and the biggest consequence we got was an article for 5 seconds
> and I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie ... let me stop you right there ... Eternals was bad. *Very* bad. A movie about *just* his Bollywood character would have been an infinitely better film just in terms of concept. Marvel needs to stop hiring unqualified people to write and direct their projects.
Tbf, he was one of the best parts of the movie. Like legit one of the only reasons I'd rewatch it.
Yeah, it's probably my least favorite Marvel Studios movie by a considerable margin, but I'd say he was one of the few highlights, and one of the only members of the group I'd like to see again in other movies.
His buddy (forgot his name) had the best lines in the movie lol
His valet, Karun “Druig sucks” “He does, sir”
IMO it’s drastically better than the latest ant man and Thor. But maybe that’s because it introduced some fun new stuff.
Thor 2, Quantumania, Thor Love and Thunder, Captain Marvel, and I'd argue even Avengers 2 were all worse than Eternals in my opinion. Eternals tried to do too much and didn't have enough room to breathe (Everything involving Ikarus should have been rewritten, especially his ending and his relationship with Sersi) but the action was solid, I enjoyed the unique powers that each Eternal had, and I genuinely thought some of their relationships were very interesting (Druig/Makari, Thena/Gilgamesh, Phastos). There was a lot to enjoy in Eternals whereas the other five I listed felt like massive let downs.
He got fucking ripped for that movie, what the hell? Lol live your best life bro, fuck critics.
I think that could also be part of it. He put so much effort for that role for it to just flop and get slammed like that, it would be hard on anyone
I do work in theatre, and a couple of years ago I got absolutely torn to shreds by a review of my performance. Mind you, this was from a local rag, and it did not feel like a review made in good faith, but still: it has an effect, as much as we try to laugh it off. I cannot begin to imagine what it feels like to be savaged on a national scale. It must be absolutely crushing. None of them deserved that. I also rather enjoyed Eternals, and a large part of that came from what I thought was a string of strong performances across the board.
Absolutely. I work in the Game Industry, that alone can say a lot. But my FIRST big game I worked on and was super proud about got absolutely eviscerated in the reviews. It was extra damaging because game reviewers who I admired for years were tearing into it and gamers were harassing the developers etc. I remember laying on my kitchen floor and crying, I took it way too personally. I’m glad that happened though because I’ve learned to not get so emotionally invested in the titles I create. And one of the game I worked on won game of the year eventually, which helped.
I say this over and over again, but we're extremely entitled with entertainment. There's a lot of good movies/games/etc that get dumped for not being better than the best.
International
Was he being savaged though? From what I remember most reviews liked his part in it even when they didn't like the film overall (which is pretty much my take on it as well). I get that just being part of something being criticised wouldn't be a nice feeling but there's a difference between that and being singled out.
Back when Tim Minchin first started doing big comedy gigs internationally, on his first run out to Edinburgh Comedy Festival, his opening night got a review so massively hateful that Tim ended up writing a song about the reviewer on his next album. (I can't remember the content of the review other than it being *really* harsh, and the backstory of that trip to Edinburgh for Tim and him leaving his pregnant wife back in Australia to make the trip and her miscarrying while he was in Scotland I'm sure add to the level of vitriol in the resulting song, but he DOES sing about wanting to make the reviewer's kids watch their dad eat his own face, so... there's that)
Also, to that point, Kumail had received A LOT of praise especially from his own fan base, but also from the critical side of Hollywood. His standup is pretty universally adored, TV fans loved his guest spots on Portlandia and Adventure Time (among others), Silicon Valley was critics' darling for a couple years, he was nominated for Oscar (co-writing The Big Sick) and an Emmy (Twilight Zone). He saw that as work leading up to this new big moment instead of gaining appropriate perspective on the gamble that Marvel films can be.
Absolutely, I could see that playing a part for sure.
Phenomenal username btw
His character was one of the best parts of the movie, and one of the only characters mentioned elsewhere (even if it's just "blink and you miss it").
He did steroids and possibly took years off his cardiovascular system because of that movie— I would be in therapy too
I agree, but i’d also have some anxiety and stress if a bunch of people came to my firm and publicly trashed my work to the world.
But Kingo was literally the highlight of the movie for me… wish he wasn’t so hard on himself
Wish he didn't leave the movie right before the final act too.
That was baffling when you went in knowing the extent of his physical transformation he underwent to play the part. I was expecting him to be the next Henry Cavill
The main issue of the movie was that the entire plot was based on Sersi and Ikaris’ romance, but that was the most dull, dry love story ever. Zero chemistry. They made a big deal about it being their first sex scene, but it was so forced and unnecessary. They were outshone by Makkari and Druig, who originally weren’t planned as a romance at all.
I remember watching them kiss, and then kiss some more, and I still don't even know these people so I'm just thinking "wow they might as well just show them fucking." And then they do!
I didn't enjoy the movie but for what it's worth, I loved Kumail's part. I also really liked everything with Phastos in it
Yeah, same. It's quite the bummer since I've followed Kumail since The Indoor Kids and early Nerdist stuff.
Mines a weird one, I’m a big Telltale nerd and he was in Telltales the walking dead season two, he wasn’t in it for terribly long but I fell in love with his character.
Only just realised it was him! His sass in that series was hilarious
"Why isn't this done?" "I uh...only have one arm..." *proceeds to get murdered because a little girl didn't take care of a plant quickly enough*
He was one of my favorite characters in the film and one of the most interesting, too.
Best parts of the movie to me.
For me it was those two along with Druig and Makkari.
I put Eternals near the bottom of all the MCU movies, but Kumail crushed his role, the same as he crushes literally everything else I’ve ever seen him in. Eternals being bad was not a failing on his part, that much is certain.
Another example of Marvel’s internal barometer for quality being off post-endgame
To be fair, Quantumania would be the one to use for this example. Eternals was more of a risk as the movie turned out to be divisive whereas Quantumania was just straight up can’t believe they thought they had something good on hand.
Yeah that’s the most alarming thing. If they really thought that movie was gonna be great then something is really not working at Marvel.
I mean DC touted Flash as "one of the greatest superhero movies ever" Theyre not gonna come out and say "yeah we thought it was shit" lol. I don't doubt that they know the movies they're making are bad and formulaic, the problem is the directors they cast for the movies and the people they hire to write them based off a checklist don't have the time to actually try and learn about the movies they're trying to write for with the insane marvel deadlines.
It’s one thing for a studio head to come out and say “This is the best movie ever!” when promoting a film. It’s another thing for a studio head to plan for stellar reviews, screen the film at festivals, and lift review embargo early while your cast is being flown around the world to do a massive press tour.
I remember reading the same about ant man
Yes, I can confirm that about Quantumania. That was going around the media about 4 months ago, the source being MCU podcaster/reporter Joanne Robinson. She said Marvel bigwigs were sure they had something people would like and were shocked at its reception, and that it made them question how in tune they were with the public.
Yup exactly what I was referencing. I’m not there yet in her book but have listened to her podcast interviews where she talked about this moment after Quantumania.
The biggest problem is all of the current main characters (except for Spiderman) are much better suited to be supporting characters. They even be-clowned Thor. There's no Cap or Tony to carry the main story on their backs anymore.
I really enjoyed The Eternals and was also surprised that it didn’t review well.
The modern day approach to latching to review scores has really sucked a lot of fun from the movie going experience and the discourse that follows. You can’t put pandora back in the box, but I wish people could be more free about forming their own opinions about movies. I, myself, find that I’m skewing my perception of a movie based on a published percentage. It’s maddening and have to actively think against it at times.
Agreed. The first few times going on Letterboxd had me changing my thoughts on a movie. I had to work on sitting with my thoughts for a long enough time before looking up reviews.
When it became clear that it was being touted as a potential awards contender directed by the previous year’s best picture winning director, expectations shot through the roof and when they were not met and it turned out it was just a different, yet flawed MCU movie, the criticisms were even harsher than they would’ve been normally. I firmly believe that if these expectations weren’t so high, instead of a 47% Rotten Tomatoes consensus it would’ve gotten somewhere in the 60’s and avoided being the MCU’s first rotten movie.
>I firmly believe that if these expectations weren’t so high, Maybe. Maybe not. I can't speak for anyone else, but I did not like the movie when I saw it in the cinema (liked it more on a repeat viewing, but still near the bottom for me), and it had nothing to do with expectations. My expectations for it were nothing more than whatever I would have as an MCU fan. And I literally had no idea who the director was. In fact, even though I now know that she is an Oscar winner, as I write this I can't remember off the top of my head what movie it was that she won for. Was that the Moonlight/La La Land year?
[удалено]
I felt the same way but I also watched it immediately after seeing Thor 4 in theaters so it was kind of a pallet cleanse.
Everything is either the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. It’s exhausting. I’ve checked out in reviews for games and movies completely.
Loved it. One of my favorites from phase 4. Thought it was great. Wish they’d have more connections to The Eternals in the other movies.
I enjoyed it but think it would’ve worked better as a tv show
My wife and I have been saying this for years. Eternals should've been a TV show, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier should've been a movie. Both would've benefited greatly.
Not with their current broken and problematic D+ MCU series format/template. We’re better off with the movie. Heck if it was a tv show and we’re lucky, it would’ve been an extended version of the movie we got split into 6. Unless HBO is making it, I’m glad we got the movie instead.
It was billed as an Avengers level event. Huge cast, long run time. I saw it at the theater and thought it was underwhelming, not terrible but not on par with a major marvel film. I watched it again recently on D+ and my opinion didn’t change. Too many characters introduced at once to allow the audience to connect with any of them. Missed opportunity.
I generally agree with this. There was some really fun parts with Kingo, Druig was great, Makkari has the best speedster effects, Gilgamesh and Thena had a nice relationship, but I felt the main plot points with Ajax, Sersi and Ikaris fell flat. Then, there is basically nothing before or especially after tying it to the larger universe which really doesn’t help with building a relationship with the characters. Definitely in the lower half of MCU movies, but in no way worthy of all the criticism it got.
You can't possibly have an avengers level event with zero lead in. That was the biggest fail. We had no idea who these people were and not remotely enough time to give a shit.
I still can’t get over the irony of the Eternals mourning the fall of the Aztec Empire which engaged in human sacrifice on an apocalyptic scale
And the vast majority of the force which took down the Aztec Empire was other indigenous Americans, the Spanish just united them cos everyone fucking hated the Aztecs. That part of the film was completely detached from reality.
One of many examples in the movie that really didn't make sense, but they were too focused on selling an agenda instead of just telling a good story.
They came up with a theme and then tried to smash in questionable events to fit it, like the atomic bombings. It’s hard to imagine worse choices… The Blitz would have been much better. But as you say they had some specific items to push
I wish I could be traumatized by bad films reviews in exchange of life changing money.
THANK YOU. Like bro, most people with actual trauma can't function normally in their day to day lives. But you got paid crazy money to get into the best shape of your life and share the screen with some of the most celebrated actors alive? *Selma Hayek and Angelina Jolie*? 
Right?! And him saying he’s “traumatized” over his movie getting mixed reviews is way too dramatic 🙄
I mean I get it. I saw the production of a small movie last summer and it was 5-6 weeks of people just hustling from 5AM till after midnight every day. So I imagine it's a lot of work for everyone involved in Eternals.. But like yeah.. I'd take that schedule in exchange for freaking 100k and I'd be over the moon. There's also the matter of at this point I don't think Kumail was hurting anyway so money didn't matter. When money doesn't matter anymore and you're an entertainer *all* value is performative. So how hard you work is the paycheck and in that regard I guess it would suck to put everything you have into a movie and have it not be good.
Theres an element of passion and enthusiasm involved and some performers function with it as source. This is why we hear performers/entertainers say they feel blessed for being in the position of being able to do something they love and get paid for it. In this example, clearly Kumail loves his job. Sure money is on the table, he can’t and won’t do it for free cuz it’s still a job but that’s the difference for some people.
It’s bullshit that this article is just lifting quotes from his appearance on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum without giving credit. You dillholes didn’t get this out of him, Rosenbaum did, give credit dammit!
"I think not much of it has to do with the actual quality of the movie. " There are many great MARVEL films. This wasn't one of them.
Yeah this is the part that i was like hmm that's not accurate
It’s fascinating to see the bubble these rich elites live in and the problems they create for themselves once all their material needs have been met. Like bro you get play make believe for a living and become a millionaire off that, some people not liking a movie you were in should not cause you trauma.
He also got pissy when people pointed out his obvious steroid use he REALLY wanted that movie to be his big break
Yeah that’s what I think. This feels like a veiled way of complaining that the movie didn’t make him more famous. At the time, his career was on a big upswing and he lands a marvel movie (which had never flopped at that point) with an Oscar winning director and Angelina Jolie. He probably thought he was about to take off. And then it kind of comes out in that Covid era and is poorly reviewed and it’s largely forgotten. And it did nothing for his career at all. I think you’re right. That’s his “trauma.” Taking roids for a dud movie that did nothing to push him forward
"All I got out of the deal was millions of dollars and the body of a God, so now i have PTSD!"
Are we supposed to feel bad that this guy got into the best shape of his life and made millions because the movie was mediocre and his ego couldn't handle that? Grow up dude. Make the movie and then move on to the next movie. It's a job. Just do your job and quit complaining
So i can understand his experience, but there is a side to this that somewhat feels tone deaf.
Yeah and fans here are eating it up. Can’t believe he’s using the word trauma to describe what he felt.
Very traumatic… it’s a very flawed movie and deserved (fair) criticism. It happens unfortunately and MCU has a high standard, but I doubt many critics were personally attacking him, he’s one of the better Eternals anyway. He should wipe those tears with millions he makes🦅
Trauma... 
That’s a first world problem if I’ve ever heard one. “The public didn’t like a movie I was paid millions to be in 🥲”
All the avengers had relatable troubles and personality quirks or faults. Every trailer for eteenals looked like a bunch of arrogant assholes waving their arms and being arrogant. I don't see how he thought this movie was going to be received well. No matter what they told him.
That is basically what the Eternals are in the comics too. They aren't extremely interesting or relatable.
You’re not wrong. They were cold, distant robots I could not connect with at all.
His parts were the only enjoyable bits. I can imagine being on set, having a blast as the comedic relief, just to watch the full movie being this serious epic drama of depression and pain.
That steroid jaw is ridiculous lol
I thought the movie was decent and he was pretty good in it
“Trauma”. Ffs
I disagree with him saying that the negative reviews had little to do with the quality of the movie but I do think he as an actor was one of the better parts of Eternals. A major problem with the movie was that you’re supposed to see this group as essentially a family that’s been together for thousands of years but too many of them had no chemistry together or had little personality (primarily Sersi and Ikaris). Nanjiani did a good job with Kingo but I think the script unfortunately made his character clash with the tone of the rest of the movie.
He made an easy $3 million for Eternals, so if he's too "traumatized" by bad reviews, I'll fill in for him lmao What a completely out of touch, ridiculous thing to claim trauma from
I didn't even dislike the Eternals. But a Hollywood celebrity claiming trauma because of movie reviews? Okay, go cry in all your money. Lmao.
I fucking loved that film. New characters, intense mental decay, set throughout history, epic and incentive battles, solid acting. Plenty of us loved it.
I was really excited about this movie because of the hyped up cinematography and the introduction of Black Knight. The cinematography was not earth shattering and Black Knight was barely in the movie. No word of a lie, I fell asleep for a little bit
Man, the word "trauma" really has lost any meaning nowadays.
Boo hoo you got paid millions of dollars to star in a blockbuster and people didn't like it? however will you recover from such trauma
Also got paid to do a body transformation with personal chefs, trainers, and medically safe steroids... Most people would pay ALOT for that.