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 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.