BarryKeoghan – Credits Rolling

What do you do when your friend doesn’t want to be your friend anymore?

That is a question that Padraic (Colin Farrell) asks when Colm (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly ends their friendship. He doesn’t believe it to be true and he vows to do whatever he can to make amends, much to the dismay of his sister Sioban (Kerry Condon), the troubled Dominic (Barry Keoghan) and the other islanders. But no matter how hard Padraic tries, Colm’s mind has been made up.

I know that we’re barely two months into the year, but I have to tip my hat off to The Banshees of Inisherin. This is a movie that will make my favorites list by the end of the year, it was that good. And it’s surprising that I say this because I didn’t even think that I wanted to see it at first.

What seems like a simple and straightforward story takes on something a lot more complex. We all know what it is like to break up with a friend; at times it can hurt more than breaking up with a romantic partner and this depiction was certainly unique. Throughout the film, I understood where each character was coming from, their actions and the consequences that stemmed from them. Colm wanting to move on for more enriching friendships made total sense to me, whereas I also felt bad for Padraic and his complete despair over the situation. The way in which the supporting characters dealt with the fallout was also on point.

Everything about this movie seemed so real to me. I don’t know how else to describe it. Not only were the characters brought to life in phenomenal performances by everyone involved, the beautiful Irish landscapes helped me escape for a couple of hours. I could have sat there even longer, learning even more about these people’s lives, eager to see what would happen next.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a special film that is not to be missed. I’ve been on a roll with all these Oscar noms lately, but I have to say I think this one may be the best yet.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Sersei (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Ajak (Salma Hayek), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan) and Gilgamesh (Don Lee) are Eternals, aliens that have been sent to Earth by Celestials to defend humans against the Deviants. Learning to balance a normal life, they must reunite after years apart to defeat the Deviants once more.

I honestly had zero desire to watch Eternals at first. The storyline just did not interest me in the slightest. Eventually I caved and figured I’d probably be missing out on something if I didn’t give it a go, not to mention the fact that it is all part of Phase 4. The early critics weren’t great and so I went into it hesitantly.

The movie was better than I expected it to be. It wasn’t groundbreaking by any means and it’s not up there with my favorite Marvels, but because I went in thinking it would be awful, I was pleasantly surprised. One positive was the introduction and exploration of the characters. We really had a proper backstory and that was much appreciated. However, there were some that I still would have liked to know more about, such as Makkari and Druig, and felt that some definitely had more screen time than others. I also couldn’t help but notice many similarities in these individuals to those from the DC universe and I’m not really sure how that made me feel.

As usual, the cinematography was stunning. I don’t think I will ever watch a Marvel movie and not be in awe at the way it was filmed. I was curious about Chloé Zhao and the direction in which she would take things. She had a great approach and I hope that for future Eternal films, she will be onboard for them.

In addition to some characters being overshadowed by others, I also felt like the runtime was too long. A lot of the scenes dragged and I found myself checking my watch for the time. Not only that, but it seemed like there wasn’t enough build up to the climax of the movie which resulted in it happening too fast.

Overall, Eternals is not a bad Marvel movie, it’s just different. I believe that it will take some time before we really learn to appreciate how these superheroes will fit into the bigger picture. Does it deserve the negative reviews it’s been getting? No, I don’t think so. It was fine for an introduction film, however, it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Rating: ♥♥♥