Marvel's Eternals

I can't remember which of the Iron Man trailers I saw. I just went to see it because I'd always loved Iron Man (up until the comics went off the rails in the late '90s). I had fan-cast several people as Tony Stark over the years. Never RDJ. I didn't have high hopes... But higher than I'd had for the Fantastic Four movies or, really, anything since X-Men III dropped the ball. I was gobsmacked.

Since then? I gave Incredible Hulk a pass because I erroneously thought it was a sequel to the Eric Bana Hulk film. Never even watched a trailer. Then Iron Man 2, so of course I saw that one. Thor, Cap, Avengers -- hell yeah I was along for the ride.

Unlike some on here, I love Iron Man 3 and Dark World, as well as Winter Soldier. I like Age of Ultron a lot, in spite of its flaws. Which, as with Iron Mans 2 and 3, are chiefly that each should have been two films (escalation of cornerstone stories should have been a thing -- as the scope of the macro-story expands, so, too, needs the run-time to tell it: as AoU should have been two films, the Infinity Gauntlet story should have been three).

Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther I was all sooooooper skeptical about. Guardians was weird and had such a rotating roster I knew it was going to be a mess. Hank Pym is an abusive ass and I couldn't see a movie about him being remotely interesting. I had zero faith in Marvel's ability to depict the mystical side of things on the big screen. And there was no way I could see them making T'Challa and Wakanda compelling. And Spider-Man? I was actually mad at them for recasting Peter Parker yet again. I liked Andrew Garfield, dammit. How could they do better?

By now I have seen how many on here feel about all of those movies. I agree with some of you on some things, and some of you on other things. But I haven't hated, or even strongly disliked, any of the movies or streaming series (including the now-defunct Netflix series). I have issues still with some casting choices or story choices or pacing choices, but, in the end, I'll sit down and re-watch Dark World over many other options. So my takeaway is generally no real urge to watch the trailer, because I know I'm going to see it. Each time I've doubted -- based on the trailer or subject matter or actor, I've been wrong. Each time I've been overexcited about some installment, it's done something to disappoint. No, Marvel aren't perfect, but they are pretty ******* good and I trust them, regardless of what's in the trailers.

Which, by the way, I have watched, though it was someone else showing it to me. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about the Eternals. I expect a lot of what was in the teaser will be in the first forty-five minutes of screen time -- their arrival and what they've done down through the centuries, etc. Very, very little seemed to involve the here-and-now. Most notably the stinger at the very end, which made us all laugh, because we know the lore.

I really couldn't agree any more!
 
Oh. I apparently watched a different teaser trailer...
Not really sure what's going on either lol. Maybe they just spend the film building fun light sculptures or singing...
Is the the movie just people walking around in fields and twirly dancing?
I saw hardly any of that in the teaser I watched. Lots more action and main characters doing different things in different places in different eras. Definitely a few battles. And that wasn't a light sculpture. Most of the Eternals (in the comics) have some combination of super strength, super speed, flight, teleportation, shapeshifting, illusion-casting, and matter-manipulation. Dunno how things are exactly going to shake out here, but I expect the characters are going to have something resembling their comic abilities. That "light sculpture" I think you're referring to was Phastos, the engineer, literally building some device out of thin air.

I'm not one to say "wait until you see the movie", but I will call people on things that are either not in the trailer at all or who have apparently hyper-fixated on four shots our of four hundred that suit their negative narrative. There's a lot compressed into that 117 seconds (I'll leave out the ten seconds the title took up). Nearly half is their arrival tens of thousands of years ago (mostly in the beginning, with a few other shots after). That's slower-paced, to be sure. As it should be, for that.

But what has you so bummed adds up to literally less than one second out of the entirety, though. Have a link to the teaser that's all singing and dancing and walking in fields and "building fun light sculptures"?
 
As the Eternals are second tier characters (and hence less well known) for Marvel, maybe slightly more background on them in the first trailer would have been helpful. Instead I felt like I was watching the trailer for an art house movie by Terrence Malick. And I don’t mean that in a good way. While I enjoy some of Malick’s films, they tend to be beautiful movies where sean Penn or Brad Pitt whispers in hushed tones during internal monologues about the inherent struggle between man and nature. This is usually over an extended shot of a bird, lizard or leaf for ten seconds. Oh and there’s barely a comprehensible plot.

But I’ll reserve further judgment until additional trailers are released.
However, I remember having great expectations when another award winning, highly regarded art house director took control of The Last Jedi. And that did not work out for many people.
 
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People are free to have any opinion they want, of course. It just seems rather silly to form such a strong, negative opinion off such little information. Not to mention there's the whole "damned if they do, damned if they don't" when talking about movie trailers and how much they reveal.

I mean, I've seen a few of your posts in these threads. If my assessment of you is that you're a complete ******, would you consider that fair?
The fun thing about opinions is anyone can form them under whatever circumstances they'd like and are free to express them (within community guidelines obviously) which is and has always been my point. If I make comment on something someone says it's often someone I have some positive opinion of and therefore their thoughts matter at least to some degree. Sometimes not though. I only follow a small amount of people on here.

I haven't payed close attention to your posts and literally have no idea what kind of a person you are. If what I said bothered you, attempting to insult is an interesting choice, but you do you. I pretty much don't engage certain people as nothing good will come from it and certainly don't let it get to me. If you're one of those people, good to know. Anyway thanks for the feedback.
 
Congratulations. You completely missed the point of the post. For the record, I didn't insult you. I didn't make a statement about you. It was a hypothetical and I asked you a question.
 
Anyway, getting this back on topic...Is that the grail?

EternalsGrail.jpg
 
Congratulations. You completely missed the point of the post. For the record, I didn't insult you. I didn't make a statement about you. It was a hypothetical and I asked you a question.
I did answer it in my last "******" post lol. "The fun thing about opinions is anyone can form them under whatever circumstances they'd like and are free to express them."
 
Usually, Marvel is good at teasers and trailers but the one for Eternals tells us absolutely nothing about anything. We have no clue who the villain is. We have no clue what the story is. We just get ten main characters, which is a lot to develop in a single 2-hour movie, and none of them seem at all interesting, especially given what's come before.

I'm not saying it'll be terrible, but they did the same thing with Inhumans on TV and that failed miserably.
 
No, "they" did not do anything with the Inhumans TV show. That was produced back when Marvel Television was a completely separate entity from the films. Originally it was going to be produced by and for the MCU. They scrapped it and it was picked up by the television division. They're the ones who mucked it up, not the folks behind the films.
 
I think that's the point.

Some that know the characters, know how important they are in comics lore, & therefore, are looking forward to how they're used in the MCU, see this trailer & think it looks great.

Most that I've seen here that seem to be negative have admitted that they know little to nothing about the characters, yet know enough to say it's 'bad'.

I saw an article dated from back in December of 2019 that speculated that this film could have the longest runtime of any MARVEL film yet, even approaching the 3 hour mark (I'm sure that'll be jumped on..."This looks HORRIBLE! WHO WANTS 3 HRS OF THIS?!?!).

We've seen about 2 minutes of it.

As far as criticizing the teaser itself, the MCU has a fairly consistent fan base. It isn't an unreasonable expectation that if it's something a non-fan or just unfamiliar with the characters, they might read up.

That being said, I'm sure if it's a hit, it'll be a triumph, & if it makes $1.8 billion instead of $2 billion, it'll be further proof that Disney ruins EVERYTHING!
:lol: :lol: :lol:

I think it's more of saying the trailer looks bad and thus the film looks bad, from the available information, subject to change in the future. I don't think things need to have those footnotes though because they're implied by the fact that it's just a teaser trailer. Indeed the movie might be great and this might be just a poor trailer with minimal information. Opinions are usually subject to change whereas something like values are more permanent and harder to change. I'm sure you know these things and am just explaining my motivation.

People have every right to decide whether or not to see a movie or think whatever they want about a movie(or anything else) based on any criteria they want, knowing the characters or not knowing them, with or without anyone else's approval and can express it. Even just a 2 minute trailer. Making a blanket statement that implies all opinions that don't meet the criteria that you set forth are invalid (which further implies that those opinions can't or shouldn't be expressed) is why I replied, also because I value your ideas (even though sometimes I may not agree with all off them), also your ability to have a thought provoking discussion as opposed to another cliche internet argument.

LOL truth, I may have voiced disapproval of what Disney has done with SW and some of their evil empire tendencies. It's definitely not everything they've put forth. If Lucasfilm does something amazing I'll be all over it and super excited as I was during season one of the Mandalorian (R1 as well minus Jyn). I grew up with SW, love it and really want to enjoy future SW content (why I keep giving it a chance). Recent Marvel under Disney is another story, more faith in them than Lucasfilm. Never thought I'd say that lol. I've enjoyed both of their new shows a great deal, a little of their past content and am hopeful that some of the new content will be well done especially GOTG. Some prospects do look better than others though. I try to judge things solely on their own merits regardless of what franchise or brand they belong to and regardless of past success. Even the best directors, writers and franchises can have total flops or put forth junk. Thats my choice though and others are obviously free to do things however they see fit.

Marvel and Lucasfilm under Disney do very very well financially, there's no denying that. I'm sure there's some movies/shows that have been really successful that you didn't particularly care for or think are garbage. Probably some that I enjoy lol. Money/success are not always the best metric for whether or not content is enjoyable or decent. The general public isn't always the wisest, trends often come and go. Immediate success means nothing against the test of time. Sometimes initially under appreciated things, later enjoy great success. As I’m sure you know, throughout history there have been many many things in many different arenas of life that massive groups of people have loved and enjoyed that were horrible. Like Anne Murray for example lol. Not entirely the best litmus in my opinion. Just some thoughts.
 
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I don't think anyone here is out right saying that the movie has no hope of being good just because of the trailer. We're just saying this first trailer isn't very good. Maybe the next will be great, probably will be. As I said before I haven't lost faith in Marvel, just not thrilled with this first teaser. I also agree that pre judging the movie by it is not a good idea.
 
I think it's more of saying the trailer looks bad and thus the film looks bad, from the available information, subject to change in the future. I don't think things need to have those footnotes though because they're implied by the fact that it's just a teaser trailer. Indeed the movie might be great and this might be just a poor trailer with minimal information. Opinions are usually subject to change whereas something like values are more permanent and harder to change. I'm sure you know these things and am just explaining my motivation.

People have every right to decide whether or not to see a movie or think whatever they want about a movie(or anything else) based on any criteria they want, knowing the characters or not knowing them, with or without anyone else's approval and can express it. Even just a 2 minute trailer. Making a blanket statement that implies all opinions that don't meet the criteria that you set forth are invalid (which further implies that those opinions can't or shouldn't be expressed) is why I replied, also because I value your ideas (even though sometimes I may not agree with all off them), also your ability to have a thought provoking discussion as opposed to another cliche internet argument.

LOL truth, I may have voiced disapproval of what Disney has done with SW and some of their evil empire tendencies. It's definitely not everything they've put forth. If Lucasfilm does something amazing I'll be all over it and super excited as I was during season one of the Mandalorian (R1 as well minus Jyn). I grew up with SW, love it and really want to enjoy future SW content (why I keep giving it a chance). Recent Marvel under Disney is another story, more faith in them than Lucasfilm. Never thought I'd say that lol. I've enjoyed both of their new shows a great deal, a little of their past content and am hopeful that some of the new content will be well done especially GOTG. Some prospects do look better than others though. I try to judge things solely on their own merits regardless of what franchise or brand they belong to and regardless of past success. Even the best directors, writers and franchises can have total flops or put forth junk. Thats my choice though and others are obviously free to do things however they see fit.

Marvel and Lucasfilm under Disney do very very well financially, there's no denying that. I'm sure there's some movies/shows that have been really successful that you didn't particularly care for or think are garbage. Probably some that I enjoy lol. Money/success are not always the best metric for whether or not content is enjoyable or decent. The general public isn't always the wisest, trends often come and go. Immediate success means nothing against the test of time. Sometimes initially under appreciated things, later enjoy great success. As I’m sure you know, throughout history there have been many many things in many different arenas of life that massive groups of people have loved and enjoyed that were horrible. Like Anne Murray for example lol. Not entirely the best litmus in my opinion. Just some thoughts.
A few things-

What I have said wasn't directly meant toward you, Jinx, although there could be some overlap. It's just that there always seems to be some (not necessarily you), that just seem to have a contrrarian air about them. They'll pop into a discussion seemingly just to take a jab at either the franchise, director, studio, etc, while adding nothing to the conversation other than baiting statements that they make, wait for someone to disagree, then try to 'take the high road' by hiding behind the 'opinion is subjective & therefore all opinion is valid' blanket. It usually ends with a victim stance.

It just gets tedious.

Again, I'm not saying these are your motivations, I'm just saying that it happens, & thread after thread of it gets old.

...& Yes, it happens with those that are arguing the other side as well.

I thank you for recognizing that, although we sometimes disagree, I try to remain respectful & have a discussion instead of an argument.

I guess what kinda stuck with me in this particular thread, is that most who were claiming the teaser was 'bad' admitted that they knew nothing of the property. That makes me ask, "then why is it bad to you?".

Was the cinematography bad? Were shots out of focus? Were the effects shoddy? The costumes? Because if you can't say the characterisations are wrong, they chose the wrong actor for the role, or the story points they showed directly contradict all you know about the property, then what makes it bad?

Finally, you got ONE MORE TIME, to say something negative about the Canadian treasure that is Miss Anne Murray.

Lol (-_-)
 
All I know is I'm never posting a fresh trailer thread again :lol:

I'll be the first to admit that while the trailer screams "WE SPENT THE MONEY AGAIN" as most Marvel trailers do, there's just no conflict in the trailer to hook me. Like, why do I care about any of these people? Hello, we're a very aloof group of supers that have vowed never to interfere in your history, please care what we're doing now.

Why? Where's the hook?

I'm sure it's there, Marvel has yet to disappoint me. I just don't see it in this trailer.

I'll definitely see the thing when it comes out, I just don't think this trailer does anything to grab folks that don't know the Eternals from a bag of wet sand.
 
All I know is I'm never posting a fresh trailer thread again :lol:

I'll be the first to admit that while the trailer screams "WE SPENT THE MONEY AGAIN" as most Marvel trailers do, there's just no conflict in the trailer to hook me. Like, why do I care about any of these people? Hello, we're a very aloof group of supers that have vowed never to interfere in your history, please care what we're doing now.

Why? Where's the hook?

I'm sure it's there, Marvel has yet to disappoint me. I just don't see it in this trailer.

I'll definitely see the thing when it comes out, I just don't think this trailer does anything to grab folks that don't know the Eternals from a bag of wet sand.
I think the trailer would fail if it tried to set up a story/conflict, especially since The ETERNALS are not characters most are familiar with. They say "These are the ETERNALS & their enemies are the Deviants & they're fighting for the human race who the ETERNALS want to guide & the Deviants want to destroy & they were all created by the Celestials who we know a bit about from the Guardians movies & here's a roll call of the dozen or so 'main' characters".

I personally don't think that would work.

I also think this film will be a more maybe, cerebral, film than a lot of your more Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em entries, with a lot of the 'conflict' coming from inside the group itself.

IMO, I think they tried to do a 'well shot' teaser, that would make people think, "Well... IDK who they are, but it looks good"

Unfortunately, although I liked it, it didn't achieve what they were wanting with a lot of the potential audience here. Lol
 
ScourgiousJinx, Laspector -- replies from both of you and not a word addressing my pointing out that what looks "bad" to you comprises literally 1/117th of the teaser (being generous, again, by ignoring the ten seconds the title takes up). You keep saying the trailer looks bad, as if that's an externally objective fact. It obviously isn't, or I and my friends (and others on here) wouldn't have thought it looks good and are all interested in seeing it. And, before you say it, I am the only one of my immediate friends who ever read any of the comics, and that was a long time ago. Mostly, I remember the SDCC cast roll-out -- and even then it took a second viewing before I registered who was whom.

It's apparent you have a clear sense of what a "good" teaser should convey, and that seems to be "the source of the conflict", and not "who the characters are". It is enough for me that these immortal aliens who have been here since the tail end of the last Ice Age and were sworn not to interfere (despite interfering all over the place) are coming out of hiding now. That does enough, for me, to convey that the stakes are even higher than Loki's attack on New York, Ultron's attempt to trigger an extinction-level climate catastrophe, or Thanos snapping half the population of the universe out of existence. More hints of multiversal problems...? And even if I hadn't been along on the MCU ride since the beginning, I'd be intrigued enough by that hook alone. I feel sad that it isn't for you.
 
A few things-

What I have said wasn't directly meant toward you, Jinx, although there could be some overlap. It's just that there always seems to be some (not necessarily you), that just seem to have a contrrarian air about them. They'll pop into a discussion seemingly just to take a jab at either the franchise, director, studio, etc, while adding nothing to the conversation other than baiting statements that they make, wait for someone to disagree, then try to 'take the high road' by hiding behind the 'opinion is subjective & therefore all opinion is valid' blanket. It usually ends with a victim stance.

It just gets tedious.

Again, I'm not saying these are your motivations, I'm just saying that it happens, & thread after thread of it gets old.

...& Yes, it happens with those that are arguing the other side as well.

I thank you for recognizing that, although we sometimes disagree, I try to remain respectful & have a discussion instead of an argument.

I guess what kinda stuck with me in this particular thread, is that most who were claiming the teaser was 'bad' admitted that they knew nothing of the property. That makes me ask, "then why is it bad to you?".

Was the cinematography bad? Were shots out of focus? Were the effects shoddy? The costumes? Because if you can't say the characterisations are wrong, they chose the wrong actor for the role, or the story points they showed directly contradict all you know about the property, then what makes it bad?

Finally, you got ONE MORE TIME, to say something negative about the Canadian treasure that is Miss Anne Murray.

Lol (-_-)
I know it wasn't mean't that way, you weren't accusing me directly, honestly don't take much personally and try to have fun with things. I agree about the contrarian air, it's unnecessary as are the repeatedly popping in to p*ss on something/victim stances. I don't feel that I hide behind freedom of expression to repeatedly complain though and usually lay out the reasons for opinions. It's a better way to do things but clearly not everyone agrees with that and I won't push them to.

The negativity discussion has been very very long standing. I remember reading these types of disagreements here years before I began actively posting. So my question is how has telling people that they shouldn't be negative or that they have to look at things from a particular point of view worked? It hasn't and it likely won't. The only thing we can control is how we to respond to what others do, attempting to get them to do what we want or to change likely won't work. And there will always be new people who will do the same thing so it will be a never ending battle that is unnecessary. Simply not engaging and or ignoring people or posts you view as repeated super negative complaints, obnoxious, obtuse etc works far better than giving them a platform/audience. It doesn't make them stop but it definitely shows them what you think of their opinions, nothing. Which is far worse than something. It also completely circumvents the freedom of speech/expression issue and doesn't unnecessarily escalate things. As much as complaining gets old to listen to, it's peoples right to and is within the guidelines here. Life is full of difficult people, they'e everywhere and if your worst issue of the day/week is what some random says on the internet, count your blessings. My take on it.

The faults for me were ONLY in the trailer, I won't comment on the movie itself as I haven't seen it. Obviously. The costumes(yikes), not a huge fan of massive amounts of CGI, the complete lack of story or really anything presented of substance other than the spaceship and the ancient aliens not interfering with earth (which has potential but not enough for intrigue) were issues. I typically don't like teaser trailers like this as they serve little purpose and seem almost to be a trailer for another trailer, hype without giving much reason for it. I don't want spoilers but definitely more than what was presented. I don't know a thing about the eternals and don't want to other than what's in this movie and what's in the trailers for it. A future trailer or what could be doesn't effect how I view this one in front of me in the moment. I just don't have enough to be interested which is what this is supposed to do and why this trailer fails for me. Again just my opinions (sincerely not meant to be confrontational or take shots at marvel) which have the same right to be expressed as any other.

Yes indeed lol. Murray was one of the banes of my existence lol. Her..."sounds" were like a fork on a chalkboard for me.
ScourgiousJinx, Laspector -- replies from both of you and not a word addressing my pointing out that what looks "bad" to you comprises literally 1/117th of the teaser (being generous, again, by ignoring the ten seconds the title takes up). You keep saying the trailer looks bad, as if that's an externally objective fact. It obviously isn't, or I and my friends (and others on here) wouldn't have thought it looks good and are all interested in seeing it. And, before you say it, I am the only one of my immediate friends who ever read any of the comics, and that was a long time ago. Mostly, I remember the SDCC cast roll-out -- and even then it took a second viewing before I registered who was whom.

It's apparent you have a clear sense of what a "good" teaser should convey, and that seems to be "the source of the conflict", and not "who the characters are". It is enough for me that these immortal aliens who have been here since the tail end of the last Ice Age and were sworn not to interfere (despite interfering all over the place) are coming out of hiding now. That does enough, for me, to convey that the stakes are even higher than Loki's attack on New York, Ultron's attempt to trigger an extinction-level climate catastrophe, or Thanos snapping half the population of the universe out of existence. More hints of multiversal problems...? And even if I hadn't been along on the MCU ride since the beginning, I'd be intrigued enough by that hook alone. I feel sad that it isn't for you.
Things are bit hectic this week and certainly didn't mean to make you feel like I was ignoring. I don't always respond to responses but was planning on getting to yours. It's awesome that what was in the trailer was enough for you. I didn't get the same sense of excitement or feeling of enough information. I wrote some of the issues I had with it above. I would add sometimes trailers/movies just rub people the wrong way, that was a part of it as well for me. I thought I worded things well enough to show that I was simply conveying my opinion earlier, not necessarily fact. I try to be careful about that but will step it up just so there's no confusion as I'm not here to argue or bash, just to discuss, learn, build and have fun. Well there's really no need for sadness, it's just one movie. I'm looking forward to other projects Marvel is undertaking. :D
 
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