Eternals: The Apostasy Edit

First things first, this is definitely an improvement over the original Eternals and it is certainly worth checking out -- though it was not what I was expecting at all! Now onto my few quibbles... I love the idea of the different stages, but I found the title cards to be a little distracting, as I thought there were too many of them and they were not spread out evenly throughout the film. I think three stages would have sufficed and could have been used to mark each main act in the movie. Still on the subject of narrative, I believe there is a continuity mistake when someone appears to know about a character's powers, but is later told about this and acts surprised, There were also some issues with the music. While for the most part, it added to the film and made it seem like it belonged in the MCU, there was one action sequence in particular that felt more like a music video than an actual movie, as the song just seemed to go on and on and on. At the other end of the spectrum, there's a very mellow scene near the start of the film where the sound of a harp was included and this sounded more like something out of Final Fantasy than what should probably be in a Marvel movie. Other than these issues though, I thoroughly enjoyed this edit and my partner and I both agreed that it was a lot easier to follow than the original film. In fact, this is the edit's greatest strength, as the chronological sequencing of events makes for a much more enjoyable and far less brain-straining experience. I do recommend it!

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.