Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao’s first Marvel film breaks cultural, racial and gender boundaries. Here’s why you should watch it
There’s no doubt that Chloé Zhao, the first Asian woman to direct a Marvel Studios film, is making a point about diversity in her first Hollywood superhero blockbuster, Eternals. While its predecessor on the Marvel calendar, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, released just two months ago, combines mythical Chinese dragons and Asian warriors who fight using tai chi-like moves, Eternals attempts to represent racial diversity in a less fanciful manner. The Marvel film is fantastical still, of course, but Zhao addresses contemporary social issues in a more realistic way.
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*Be warned, there may be plot spoilers ahead*
Eternals follows an immortal race with varying superpowers called Eternals. Thousands of years ago, they battled, and defeated, the evil Deviants to protect humankind, remaining on Earth for more than 7,000 years to ensure humans’ safety, only to find out that they are but the pawns of their creators, the alien Celestials that feeds on the energy of planets like Earth. The film is based on the comic book series created by Jack Kirby in the late 1970s.
The complexity of the story is one reason why the film is the second longest Marvel film to date (soon to be third longest after Spiderman: No Way Home's release in December), at two hours and 37 minutes. But the length is also partly due Zhao’s love of capturing long shots of natural landscapes, and closing up on her characters against a stiller background to focus on their inner thoughts.
Read more: Chloé Zhao On Why "Nomadland" Is a Film For Everyone—And Working With Marvel
