Eternals: The Apostasy Edit

First, a couple of things:
1. This review contains spoilers for the movie (duh) and the specific changes made to the film by Wakeupkeo.
2. For context, I'm not a filmmaker of any kind. Not as a hobby or a profession. I have written comics for fun and very little profit, so I know a something about story, and I enjoy books and videos about the making of movies, but at the end of the day I'm really a layman when it comes to all that.

So...

I checked out this edit because of what Wakeupkeo's stated was their intention on IFDB. The Apostasy Edit delivers on everything that was promised. Wakeupkeo has centered (in their words) "illustrating the sense of loss and disorientation that happens once that religious mission has no meaning".

In the original version of the film puts a lot of obstacles in its way. It struggles to convey theme and follow the characters. The main cause of this is the non-chronological structure. I can't say for sure what Chloé Zhao intended by structuring the movie this way, but my guess is to keep focus on the characters and their relationships throughout the majority of the runtime of the movie, rather than confining it to the beginning? That makes sense on paper, but when you have a cast of ten (at least) new characters, I think there's a certain amount of pragmatism you have to surrender to if you're going to also be working with such deep themes.

Right off the jump, the Apostasy edit fixes this. Wakeupkeo takes roughly the first half of the famously long exposition dump from the middle of the movie and places it at the beginning. No more big blocks of text. I can't believe how much this single change set the movie up for success. Instead of reading a not particularly interesting prologue, we get most of the same info in the form of a really exciting visual sequence that shows instead of tells.

Then, the edit uses the flashback scenes that are sprinkled throughout the original movie to set the table at the beginning of this version. Within 20 minutes or so (just a guess, I didn't time it out or anything) we have a good idea of who each character is, what they want, and their relationships to each other. Give the original some credit, too. All of this is buried in there, but it took some real skill to bring it all out.

Music is a huge part of this version of the film. Wakeupkeo has added tons of needle drop cues. The songs are well chosen to set the mood of the scenes where they appear. There's a certain "on the nose" feeling to the original score in certain places that fails to evoke the sense of grandeur that it aspires to. The visuals are usually enough to convey what needs to be conveyed without gilding the lily with and overwrought score.

Don't get me wrong. The movie hasn't been turned into a rock opera or a series of music videos. Wakeupkeo has left the score when it's needed, particularly in the third act. The addition of the new music vs. the scenes that retain the score makes the tone feel balanced. I also really enjoy the "angelic chanting" that Wakeupkeo added for certain scenes. That actually does add a lot of gravitas.

The new music also pulls previously unfocused sequences together. The action scenes in particular have been given new life, momentum, and continuity.

Like I mentioned before, the big exposition dump in the middle of the movie as been cut in two. The second part, where Arishem reveals to Cersi what the Eternals really are, isn't tedious, and doesn't overwhelm the audience. Instead, it's intriguing and exciting, as I imagine it was intended.

The new title cards are another helpful signpost that guides us through the Eternals' journey. This goes hand in hand with restructuring the movie to play out chronologically. It's the same idea. There are many characters and relationships to keep straight in the movie, so it works best to streamline the other things to make room in the audience's brain. For a movie like this (a Marvel movie with ten new characters that also dips its toes into deep and new-for-Marvel themes) it feels much more appropriate to guide the audience along the Eternals' spiritual journey with a stronger hand. Its like telling the viewer "okay, heads up, lets see how each character handles this stage of loss." The names that Wakeupkeo chose for the section names are perfect guideposts. (Are these titles taken from an existing philosophical idea? If it's an original concept, holy shit.) We really do see these stages play out. It's not a gimmick. Wakeupkeo was able to pick these themes out of the original film and organize them in a way that brings everything together nicely.

All those changes are huge, and obviously alter the viewing experience in ways that anyone will instantly pick up on. What isn't quite as obvious but becomes very clear when you look at the listed changes are all of the tiny well-considered cuts that really make things flow so well. It really is my favorite part of the edit. Huge improvement. The biggest flaw with most of the latest Marvel movies is very oddball editing that can add up to a somewhat slapdash feeling throughout. That's not something I would normally be able to detect on my own, but it's been pointed out to me enough that it actually has started bugging me. Here - in virtually every single scene - the small edits that Wakeupkeo made take the movie from "serviceable" to "excellent" and everything really rolls along so nicely. Great attention to detail and super impressive skill at play.

But, there were a few small things that didn't work for me. Really small things:

During fight scenes, the music ducks in and out very quickly when loud sound or dialogue comes in. For example, a Deviant knocks Ikaris to the ground. The music ducks to highlight the sound of the impact, the comes back up to normal level very quickly, then ducks very quickly again when Ikaris hits the ground and shouts. (I just made that example up - it's not an actual moment in the film. Just an example.) It would be less distracting if the music didn't return between those two beats of the fight. I think some adjustments to the settings on the compressor (or whatever tool was used to do the ducking) would fix that.

Just my preference, but I think adding music to the Hiroshima scene took away from the impact of the situation and Brian Tyree Henry's performance. All the other new additions to the music work.

The font choice for the text that introduces each "stage" doesn't match the aesthetic of the rest of the movie. Something more understated would have been better.

Related to that, showing the title of the movie is usually something Marvel saves for the end. Showing at the beginning and the end, I wasn't a fan of. Not really important except it helps the movie feel like a true part of the MCU. But a 1/10 on the scale of stuff that actually matters.

Overall, this is without a doubt superior to the official cut. I really like the movie anyway, so I might not be the toughest to convert, but the major problems I did have with it (besides the lack of chemistry between Richard Madden and Jemma Chan) are pretty much fixed. Not only that, but Wakeupkeo has made so many improvements that bring out additional layers in the story and characters. I can't recommend this highly enough for both fans of the original and people who had bigger problems with it. I can't recommend it enough.

Simply an enjoyable edit to watch! The Excellent music that was added made the film more enjoyable than the original one. Recommended highly!!

I wonder if there is any edit left from Wakeupkeo that I haven't seen...
Just trying to say to say that I'm a big fan! What Keo has done for the super hero genre in this community is incredible!

When Eternals came out, although I was hyped, I did not like it. It wasn't a movie I wanted to see ever again. It wasn't Thor 4 level bad by any means, but I just didn't like it. When the first fanedits came out, I saw that most of them were focusing on making the story flow chronologically. I thought to myself, was that really the issue? I tried watching the most popular edit and I simply checked out after half an hour or so, it simply did not work for me at all. And then I read what Keo did with his edit and I'm like, huh, this actually makes a lot of sense. And after watching it, I can confirm that it did indeed!

To take the usual staff out of the way, technical wise is almost flawless. The narrative is levels above the original and all the cuts were seamless, you don't miss a thing and nothing feels off or something. There are some small issues with the volume of the songs, as someone else mentioned in his review. Other than that, as always, excellent work!

Story wise, the apostles theme clicked for me instantly. Seeing the movie from that perspective in combination with all the changes that Keo did, elevated the movie to a whole other level. Suddenly everything made more sense, you could see the purpose behind all the characters and the plot was evolving naturally. Be that as it may, unfortunately, this edit did not salvage the movie for me. It is not the editor's fault however, it just seems that nothing can be done for me to really like this film. I did enjoy this edit to a degree, but that's it.

Also, there was another big problem for me and it is something that most reviewers praise. The music..With the exception of some chant like themes (don't know if they are Keo's choice though or from the original), I was annoyed by the music. It was too loud, too on the nose and too often used, it really took me out of the moment.

Other than that, I can't recommend it enough! If you found the original film at least ok or fine and you don't mind the choice of music in this edit, I guarantee you it will be your go-to version of the movie from now on! For me, I'm just done with Eternals..

Thank you Wakeupkeo for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!

I want to start off by saying that the intention for this edit is excellent, and many of the stated goals are reached. The narrative is great though sort of sudden to start due to a lack of scenes set in the past within the theatrical release itself, but there's not much that can be done there. What is done largely works, but I do have some issues that didn't make the edit "unwatchable" but leave it personally unsuitable as a replacement for the original cut.

As many have noted, there are some concerns with the audio. It was noticeable in some of the transitions as well as within the scenes where soundtracks are added. The transition from the rock song in the early battle leading to Ajak's communication with Arishem and the accompanying song there was jarring. Another scene that comes to mind in this regard is the one with Makari and Sprite talking, where there seemed to be some intermittent static. Maybe it's a personal thing, as well as something that goes against your vision for the edit, but I also just found the added music to mostly be distracting. Particularly at the start of the movie, but also throughout, it feels like there aren't any scenes that are allowed to be largely silent, dialogue aside. One very cool moment with the music, though, was when it cut off as Ikarus arrives to save Sersi, Sprite, and Dane.

Another very nice detail that was tied to some concerns I had was when it was the stage of apostesy, because I didn't much like the stages (partly due to the different font from the subs and the establishing text), but I absolutely loved the mapping that allowed Sprite to walk past the text. That looked excellent and deserves props. Even still, though, I feel that the stages might be better used in discussion of intention and outcomes rather than as a visual for the film itself. My final issue for the film, really, is the fade to white that was used in numerous transitions. It reminded me that the movie I was watching was a fan edit, rather than an edit -- if that makes sense.

The addition of some of the deleted scenes and the reorganization of the film's structure were great decisions. What absolutely worked for me was the prologue with Arishem's narration.. excellent. The only one I had any issue with was with the flashback to Ajak's death because of its placement feeling kind of odd, but the transition to Ikarus looking at Sersi was done very well.

Overall, I really appreciate your creativity and the work put into this edit. I have to default to the original, though, because the fact that it is an edit feels noticeable in a few ways that leave me a bit dissatisfied. However, I wholly recommend this edit so that the approach you took to editing Eternals can be seen, because it still resulted in a better overall narrative in comparison to the original release.

The edit was really well done, and some scenes I really really liked, while some I did like less, however, I realize when you take specific things out of the storyline, this would cause a disruption and probably some holes in the logic. I try to say things without spoiling anything. This movie must have been really hard to edit since there are several characters in the movie with their own story arcs as well as their own endings in the same movie, so much respect to the editor!