Eternals: The Apostasy Edit

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!

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.

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