This review of “Eternals” was first published on Oct. 4.
In a Marvel story, time is fluid and history collapses, except when you’re sitting through one of their more artless and chaotic peril-fests, in which case the world being saved can’t come soon enough. Hiring Chloe Zhao to direct “Eternals,” however, sparked a curiosity unusual for a zealously protected billion-dollar commodity: Would the small-bore, contemplative humanity Zhao brought to “The Rider” and her Academy Award–winning “Nomadland” survive the scaled-up Marvel Cinematic Universe playbook?
The answer is a qualified yes, in that there’s no mistaking that “Eternals” — adapted from creator Jack Kirby’s story of space immortals called to protect Earth’s humans throughout its history — is both a Marvel superhero epic, as massively conceived as they come, and unquestionably Zhao’s version of one, as attentive to beauty and intimacy as it is to the expected fate-of-all-life concerns.