Eternals: The Apostasy Edit

Short review - Great edit of a not so great movie. I still don't completely enjoy the movie, but it's far better than the original. The narrative is really improved here, and just overall a better experience.

I'm not sure if it's because I downloaded the lower quality file or if it's with the 4k version as well but the audio quality wasn't the best. I'll have to download that version and compare. I did enjoy the added songs, and didn't notice them too much except for the Tool song. Though I really enjoyed having it in there.

Having not seen the Theatrical Cut since its home release, The Eternals was a fine, mostly forgettable, movie. I saw promise in the movie and its premise but the pacing really threw me off. The Apostacy Edit makes this movie a leaner, meaner beast. The Very buried subtext of the movie becomes more textual, literally, with the chapter cards which makes the experience of watching these characters come to terms with their actions as missionaries or colonizers much more interesting and engaging. I'm not the brightest penny about symbolism and metaphors so when I can get a little bit of help in a classy and narrative enriching way, I'm more impressed.
The musical cues help lighten the tone for a movie that's more serious than the usual marvel fair. By serious, I mean the way the movie regularly makes reference to humanities violent urges. It even creates an interesting meta-juxtaposition with how we, the viewers, enjoy violence in the film.
This is a great edit for anyone that was lukewarm on the original and wants to give it a look with new eyes. The chronological order also makes it easier to follow and understand characters. A very strong recommendation!

Eternals was in it's original form an okay film. The biggest problems I had with it were the pacing, which made it at moments frustrating and the non-chronological structure of the story (also a teeny bit of the story). It works, but the new concepts and the way the story is presented don't give the movie any interesting alterations from the rest of the MCU catalogue.

So I am glad to say, that this edit turned one of my least favorite MCU films into one of my all-time favorites period. The chronological structure of the story made a lot more understandable and much less boring. The title cards managed to cut the movie into different, escalating parts of apostasy creating a new aspect to the story. And the added music is so awesome (ex. Pink Floyd), especially Alan Parsons Project's "Games People Play" in the credits.

Wakeupkeo, I don't think you made this movie less bad. You made a lot less bad! Thanks for making this idea come to life!

I think it's important to note the perspective I am coming at this from, I really, really enjoyed the theatrical cut of Eternals, my 4 biggest problems [besides the usual marvel stuff like bad color grading and bathos] were just the two deleted scenes (museum and the Iraq scene) that would have helped with character motivations immensely, the fact that the movie wasn't longer which simultaneously hurt the pacing and how dense the information being understood had to be, and that Kro's potential was kinda squandered by the end because he fell victim to the runtime. I wish the original was 3 hours or even longer but I still thought what we got was a 8.5-9/10. I've seen it 5 times already, it's one of the better mcu movies to me, absolutely, like top 15 for me, almost top 10, out of the 38 projects the mcu has released so far. So I was mostly coming at this to have a fresh perspective on the movie more than looking for something improving a bad movie. I already quite enjoyed what we got.

overall, I was absolutely pleasantly surprised! I thought it was quite good! a few little things here and there that kinda irked me but mostly for me I think it's definitely an improvement in some areas and slightly worse in others though that may just be my love for the orignal. but it definitely achieved what it wanted to! its a focused edit that focused on the Eternals' lives and understanding of their world and Arishem's plans. it improves the pacing in some regard by focusing on the eternals so that also helps clear up some of the pacing issues of the theatrical cut.

I took notes as I watched so here's a collection of thoughts on how well certain choices worked, general observations, some nitpicks based on my tastes and the like (watched v3.04):

I think the cuts in the scene between Ikaris and Sersi on the beach in Babylon feel a little weird and obviously the dialogue was cut out which is why they feel like that and Keo did the best with what they had to work with but I feel like the dialogue could have been retained to have more of a natural flow because I thought the original was pretty good but that's just me. plus keeping their flirting in would've given the viewer a stronger sense of connection to them. although I am entirely fine cutting the sex scene, that just looked so uncomfortable in the original anyway.

I also think the title card for stage 2 is a little misplaced. I think the title card should come when they look at the people firing in the woods like about a minute later because that's when their doubt really starts to grow. that's just me though. (also, using that font that looks like Greek letters for the title cards works for the aesthetic and that's why I'm mostly okay with them but some of them are just funny if you can read the letters like the font uses the symbol for 'phi' as a replacement for O's so the word just says 'grphiwth' or 'questiphins')

I do wish the museum deleted scene was added in, it was only slightly redundant for the theatrical cut and it really helped us understand where Sprite was coming from although it would be a little more redundant here since we know the people sprite is talking about, I think it could definitely work as sprite trying to reach out to humans and stuff. I think it's a sweet moment for her arc. but that's just me. I def understand why it wasn't added.

the music is a little loud in the London fight and I don't really think it fits too well when they're talking like I think it should have just either been very faint in the background and faded in or just actually started once the actual fighting started to make it feel like it fits better or just been a different song choice because the tone of the music and the dialogue is clashing.

I wish they'd cut out the "how long were you together" dialogue and the reply and just cut to 'well I guess that's long term' because the math on that line just does not add up like if he was asking how long the team was together that would be ~6,500 years (from 5000 BC to 1521 AD) and if he was asking how long Sersi and Icarus were together, that would be 2,500 years (575 BC to somewhere in the 1900s bc they apparently broke up a century before 2021). neither of those numbers are 5,000 years. bothered me in the theatrical cut too so it's not like it's an edit specific problem.

the cut to Sprite at 38:18 has a purple hue in the color grading that I think wasn't intended to be there (bc it immediately goes back to normal when we cut back to the others) and the color shift really threw me off. just a little thing.

I think for stage 5, either the title of the stage is incorrect or it is misplaced because we already got the answers, I don't understand the purpose of putting a stage card titled answers after we've already gotten the answers. If anything, Stage 5 is them figuring out what to do so Stage 5 isn't really answers. shouldn't it be titled something like 'decisions' or shouldn't the title card come on screen just as Sersi finally manages to talk to arishem with a stage six title card after the talk?

I wish they'd kept in Sprite saying "young man" to Karun during the amazon fight. I thought it was cute.

I know it takes some of the focus away from the eternals and it's easier to not think about the potential if you cut out all the potential potential but I do wish they'd kept in Kro saying "I can see what she saw" at least if not the rest of his speech tho I'm sure it was easier to edit around the whole thing. Also because later on when we hear Kro speak, yes it does work as a bit of a surprise, it catches off guard that he can speak but I think slightly setting it up would have made the moment feel more satisfying like I don't think you need to keep the whole speech in, particularly not the parts about how he wants to kill the Eternals bc you're cutting out somewhat wasted depth to focus on the point of the edit but I think you at least could've keep in that he can speak. it still works without it, it comes as a surprise in the final battle which is nice but I think a little setup could have been good. at least keeping in Sprite's line in London about how she almost heard Kro speak could have made the moment better. show how they can evolve just like humans, right? I think it still works as it is, absolutely, I just think having slightly more foreshadowing could have helped.

Also wish they'd kept in Jack and Ikaris talking about Superman and stuff when they got to Phastos's house although I suppose it was cut bc we never saw anyone recording the London fight so Jack couldn't have seen Ikaris. that or it wasn't funny to Keo. that's fine. it's just an exchange I liked.

While I think placing the 6 days ago flashback where it is right now makes structural sense, I think it kind of hurts the pacing like we were just digesting that he had betrayed us before we jumped into a flashback to find out why. I think putting it before the confrontation like it is in the original would have probably been a little better but this isn't bad, I think it just slightly messes with the pacing. that or putting it *after* the confrontation when he flies away, giving us context to understand the information after we've digested the twist.

making the last shot arishem teleporting away instead of confused Dane is a great choice! I've come to terms with the theatrical ending over time but this is definitely basically an objective improvement.

I think as a whole the fanedit definitely does what it sets out to accomplish, I think it's definitely better than the original in some parts tho like I said I enjoyed the original anyway so there are a few areas where I prefer the original. while moving the flashbacks all to the beginning works for the thematic structure of this edit, I think it definitely is a little too fast tho that's not really something that can be solved since this is all the footage they had to work with. wouldn't be possible to digest it slowly without making a mess of the narrative and thematic structure. although one thing i appreciate with this structure is how it highlights the relationships of the characters that usually took at least a second watch to properly appreciate. I appreciate cutting out the opening text crawl quite a bit, actually, was not really a fan of it in the original cut but I love the approach Keo took here. I think it's definitely worth watching whether you enjoyed the original or not.

You just turned one of my favorite film of Phase 4 into one of favorite MCU film period. Loved the fact that you built the story chronologically by having the flashbacks at the beginning, that way we feel more invested with the characters. The adding of the titles cards describing each phase of the apostasy just adds weight to the overall story, that's the best change you made. And last but not least, the music is freaking awesome, Massive Attack and Tool are two of my favorite bands ever, hearing them in the action sequences with the deviants made me feel so freaking good. Thanks for sharing!