A few words about…™ – Eternals — in 4k UHD

TravisR · Feb 18, 2022

Robert Harris said:
"And the Lord has spoken, and it has been said..."

There shall be no Marvel films with a running time of less than 2.5 hours.

Lord Dalek · Feb 18, 2022

Eternals is a great advertisement for why Imax enhanced presentations may be a bad idea for home viewing.

dpippel · Feb 18, 2022

Hey, there IS Gemma Chan…

Malcolm R · Feb 18, 2022

Robert Harris said:
There just seems to be nothing here to warrant making a film.

Seems like many would tend to agree. Worst performing Marvel film at the worldwide box office since The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Those are the only two films in the entire MCU with a worldwide gross under $400 million (Eternals is $402 million).

And they can't blame the pandemic, as just a month later Spider-Man: No Way Home lit it up for over $1.8 billion.

Lord Dalek · Feb 18, 2022

Chloe Zhao set out to make the Ben-Hur of comic book movies and ended up producing Heaven's Gate instead.

Todd Erwin · Feb 18, 2022

I found the image to be overly dark, and that was on an LG C1 OLED. So rather surprised that RAH gave the video such high marks.

Kent K H · Feb 18, 2022

The only MCU movie that I haven't liked. Even my least favorites up to this point (Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World, Captain Marvel) had been decent 3-star popcorn movies with enough entertainment value to keep me happy. The only reason I will likely eventually get it is that I have the other 27 or so films already. That said, I could certainly see myself losing that completionist streak with another film like it.

Kent K H · Feb 18, 2022

Todd Erwin said:
I found the image to be overly dark, and that was on an LG C1 OLED. So rather surprised that RAH gave the video such high marks.

I think that's just Zhao. I remember feeling that way in the theater as well, so it sounds like it's an accurate representation of what she was going for, even if I didn't think it worked very well.

sbjork · Feb 18, 2022

Kent K H said:
I think that's just Zhao. I remember feeling that way in the theater as well, so it sounds like it's an accurate representation of what she was going for, even if I didn't think it worked very well.

The HDR grade on the UHD is significantly darker than the film looked theatrically. It was never particularly bright and vibrant, by design, but the UHD turns it down again. I usually chalk up complaints about dark UHDs to tone mapping issues, but in this case, even after setting the Theatre Optimizer on my JVC to High, it's still really dark. The contrast is a bit washed out as well, with elevated black levels. It's going to look differently on different displays, as that's an unavoidable side effect of HDR, but I'll be really surprised if anyone says that it doesn't look too dark.

As for the movie itself, everyone's mileage will vary. I loved it.

TravisR · Feb 18, 2022

sbjork said:
As for the movie itself, everyone's mileage will vary. I loved it.

Yeah, I thought it was largely on par with the other Marvel movies. Then again, I'm not watching it with the same mindset as the bigger fans of the franchise.

JohnRice · Feb 18, 2022

Somehow, my interpretation of “Pass” on this one is slightly different.

Edwin-S · Feb 18, 2022

I'll be one of the odd people out. I didn't love it but I was entertained when I watched it on D+. I didn't think it was nearly as bad as people were making it to be. The way some people were talking you would have thought it was the Plan 9 of Marvel movies.

I doubt I would buy a copy on 4K, but that pretty well goes for any Disney product now. No point buying a physical copy when a person can watchost of their more well known and new fare on Disney+.

Bryan^H · Feb 19, 2022

Im second guessing my 3D pre-order at this point. Too dark an image + 3D is a recipe for a lackluster experience.

Josh Steinberg · Feb 19, 2022

Bryan^H said:
Im second guessing my 3D pre-order at this point. Too dark an image + 3D is a recipe for a lackluster experience.

I’m going to keep my order but I’d be happy to share my thoughts when it arrives if you want to postpone yours until after it’s gotten a real world test drive.

sbjork · Feb 19, 2022

Josh Steinberg said:
I’m going to keep my order but I’d be happy to share my thoughts when it arrives if you want to postpone yours until after it’s gotten a real world test drive.

I didn't try comparing the 2D Blu-ray to the UHD on the same display, but when I put the Blu-ray into my laptop to take a few screenshots, it doesn't seem as dark as the UHD. So the HDR grade on the UHD doesn't necessarily mean that the 3D Blu-ray will be unwatchable. That said, it's still relatively dark compared to many other films, so it's going to be a tough 3D presentation no matter what.

sbjork · Feb 19, 2022

TravisR said:
Yeah, I thought it was largely on par with the other Marvel movies. Then again, I'm not watching it with the same mindset as the bigger fans of the franchise.

I wouldn't exactly call myself a fanboy, but I've enjoyed all of them to varying degrees, and loved quite a few of them. On my last run through the series, I even had to admit that Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World, and The Incredible Hulk were hardly as bad as I had previously thought. They're still the weakest in the franchise to me, with plenty of issues, but they all have some redeeming qualities. But I tend to try to look at everything with an open mind and look for the positives, so I'm probably in a different position than either "true" fanboys or detractors would be.

Zhao ultimately subverted the Marvel framework in her own way while still working comfortably within it, which put her in a position to please neither side. For some people, that means it will be neither fish nor fowl, and that’s an understandable reaction. There’s a distinct damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t aspect to straying from the familiar template; people will complain if a film is too similar to what has come before, but they’ll also complain if it’s too different. Zhao did both.

As a lover of all things cosmic, from Jack Kirby to 2001, Eternals had a strong appeal to me. It was also a passion project for Zhao, not just a director-for-hire. She did what she needed to do to satisfy Kevin Feige and the suits at Marvel, but she still put her own stamp on the material, telling the story that she wanted to tell, in the way that she wanted to tell it. It's very much a personal film in a franchise framework. And I can absolutely see why it doesn't appeal to some people. That's cool. But it worked for me.

TravisR · Feb 19, 2022

sbjork said:
I wouldn't exactly call myself a fanboy, but I've enjoyed all of them to varying degrees, and loved quite a few of them. On my last run through the series, I even had to admit that Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World, and The Incredible Hulk were hardly as bad as I had previously thought. They're still the weakest in the franchise to me, with plenty of issues, but they all have some redeeming qualities. But I tend to try to look at everything with an open mind and look for the positives, so I'm probably in a different position than either "true" fanboys or detractors would be.

Zhao ultimately subverted the Marvel framework in her own way while still working comfortably within it, which put her in a position to please neither side. For some people, that means it will be neither fish nor fowl, and that’s an understandable reaction. There’s a distinct damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t aspect to straying from the familiar template; people will complain if a film is too similar to what has come before, but they’ll also complain if it’s too different. Zhao did both.

As a lover of all things cosmic, from Jack Kirby to 2001, Eternals had a strong appeal to me. It was also a passion project for Zhao, not just a director-for-hire. She did what she needed to do to satisfy Kevin Feige and the suits at Marvel, but she still put her own stamp on the material, telling the story that she wanted to tell, in the way that she wanted to tell it. It's very much a personal film in a franchise framework. And I can absolutely see why it doesn't appeal to some people. That's cool. But it worked for me.

I give credit to everyone for making a movie that didn't feature cameos and crossovers from a bunch of other Marvel characters. Considering they were making a movie that featured characters that only big (and old) comic book fans know and that the mainstream audience has never even heard of, leaning on existing characters seems to be an obvious, safe, and even smart choice for the movie so not going that route deserves some credit.

JoshZ · Feb 19, 2022

Josh Steinberg said:
I’m going to keep my order but I’d be happy to share my thoughts when it arrives if you want to postpone yours until after it’s gotten a real world test drive.

If you could also report here whether the 3D disc has a variable aspect ratio or is constant 2.35:1, that would be a big help too. Thanks.

DaViD Boulet · Feb 19, 2022

Bryan^H said:
Im second guessing my 3D pre-order at this point. Too dark an image + 3D is a recipe for a lackluster experience.

I think the criticism of "too dark" is particular to the HDR color grading on the 4K release (both D+ and physical). There's a good chance that SDR blu-ray editions (3D or 2D) will look better.

A few words about…™ – Eternals — in 4k UHD

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