For the most part, Marvel Studios has maintained a consistent level of quality over the years, but some movies are obviously more highly regarded than others. Despite this, no MCU entry had dipped to "Rotten" status on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes... until last year's Eternals.
At 47%, the divisive superhero adventure is the first MCU film to earn that dreaded green splat, officially making it the lowest-ranked movie in the franchise.
Director Chloé Zhao has previously addressed the movie's mixed/negative reception (in a roundabout way, at least), but has now elaborated on her feelings during an in-depth interview with Empire. The Nomadland helmer says she was aware of the mixed reviews upon release, but wasn't particularly phased.
“Eternals was planned to be released soon after Endgame, and not at a time when everyone is having an existential crisis. The film itself is about existential crisis, both for humanity and God. So I think we definitely felt it was coming.”
The filmmaker went on to suggest that Eternals may have taken people out of their comfort zone a little when it comes to what they expect from a typical Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. "That’s the order of the logic of their world that’s being disturbed. So I appreciate their passion, to try to make sense of it.”
“The truth is that nobody is one layer," Zhao continues. "In this case, we truly stepped out of the box that I think the world put us in, and met in the middle because of our shared interests. And by truly doing that, it made a lot of people uncomfortable on both sides. But there are also people who are more comfortable with the order of their world [being] disturbed. And then they look at our love-child and go, “Oh! This touches different sides of me!’ I like that."
"So I completely understand the divisiveness coming from critics and the fans. Because when you take this to extremes that are seen as opposition – the world I come from and the world of Marvel, that has been divided in a way that’s so unfair and unfortunate – and to merge the way we did, I actually see the reaction as a testament to how much we had merged with each other; how uncomfortable that might make people feel.”
What did you guys think of Eternals? What do you make of Zhao's response to the movie's reception? Drop us a comment down below, and click here to find out what we thought of the film.