Hello, I'm Adrian, and welcome to the latest episode of the original Fight Scene Breakdown.
On this series we take an in depth look at fight sequences.
I've already made over 60 episodes and the full playlist is available in the description
below.
Today, we're going to be breaking down the final fight sequence in Eternals!
You probably gathered this from the title, but just in case you've made it this far into
the video, I will warn you that there will be major spoilers from this point forward.
If you haven't seen the film, its available on Disney Plus.
What's pretty impressive about this final fight sequence is that it essentially acts
as the entire third act.
The only thing going on from this point forward in the film is the Eternals trying to fight
various battles at the same time.
Not only are most of the Eternals trying to stop a celestial from being born and destroying
the entire planet, they are also fighting one of the most powerful members of their
team, Ikaris.
Written with a K and an I as opposed to a C and a U. And at one point Thena, without
an A in the beginning, fights a fully evolved deviant known as Kro.
Unfortunately, Kingo peaces out before the final battle begins as he considers Ikaris
to be an S tier fighting game character not even worth trying to battle, so we are not
able to see Kingo in action for the final sequence.
In terms of Stakes, the fight absolutely delivers.
They are fighting for the entire human race, as well as trying to prevent the planet from
literally exploding.
In terms of Story, while it is awesome to see most of the Eternals fight amongst each
other in prolonged sequences, it kind of distracted from what was being set up as the primary
antagonist of the film, Kro.
Throughout the movie, great attention was paid to how Kro had been absorbing power after
power and evolving, eventually gaining the ability to speak and reason instead of just
attacking.
But despite this very drastic change, he gets completely sidelined by Ikarus.
It's actually a bit comical how he randomly washes ashore at the final battle and instead
of the Eternals banding together to fight him, which is very much what they were hinting
at considering at how easily he was able to defeat them time and time again before, he
becomes a mere sidequest for Thena.
Granted, Thena defeating Kro made dramatic sense as Kro defeated Gilgamesh and in this
way she gets to avenge him.
But at the same time, it underscores the threat that Kro had been throughout the film, as
he is defeated by only one eternal while he is at peak power, gilgamesh being kind of
a part of him notwithstanding.
In sum, the prolonged fight sequence is fun to watch with clear stakes, but is only hindered
by how the story made such a drastic pivot in the third act from shifting the villain
from Kro to Ikaris.
The cinematography throughout the sequence and throughout the film really, continually
emphasizes how small our protagonists are in relation to the environment around them.
Take a look at this shot where Ikarus and Sprite stare off into the distance.
They are a tiny part of the frame.
This same framing is echoed just a bit later when some of the Eternals are using their
powers to deflect debris.
It's a good framing tool to set up power dynamics.
In this case, the gigantically framed threat is still no match for out intrepid heroes.
It fits well with the epic scope of the story where you always want to emphasize the human
scale of things.
But now, lets get to the meat and potatoes of the fight we're looking at today of Ikarus
vs The Eternals, which is actually broken down into a couple sub fights.
We've got Ikarus vs Thena, which is followed by a barely there Ikarus vs Druig, that then
proceeds to Ikarus vs Makkari, briefly turns into Ikarus vs Thena, Phastos, and Makkari,
reaches a fairly lengthy stalemate with Ikarus vs Phastos, and ends with Ikarus confronting
Sersi.
Of course there are are small fights in between this large fight as well, but they don't involve
Ikarus.
Aside from the massive airport battle in Civil War, this is one of the most exciting superhero
vs superhero power spectacles there has been in the MCU so far.
Everyone has a very established set of powers, and it's a blast to see them interacting with
one another.
And not only that, it's shot and edited in such a way that the powers are left plenty
of room to breathe and the audience can follow along with what's going on in the frame.
For example when Ikarus is fighting Makkari the camera zooms along with with her, only
cutting when she exits frame or the action would be better viewed from another angle.
Probably the most epic shot of the fight happens right here.
Makkari is framed as if she were the protagonist in a video game with the camera set right
behind her.
Meanwhile Ikkarus is the boss in said video game launching projectile attacks, which she
skillfully dodges time and time again until she counter attacks.
The shot then cuts and she wails on Ikarus with a multilayered speed attack.
It was such an effective sequence because not only was it framed in an angle which made
it feel like the audience was running alongside her, it was also not hampered by multiple
cuts.
There are only 2 shots in this sequence, one to see her running, and one to see her counterattack.
This sort of framing and editing continues in the subsequent battles as the camera zips
and whirls around with the intent of better showing the action, never trying to hide it.
This is probably the biggest advantage when you're dealing with a fight that involves
nothing but computer generated characters.
You don't have to hide stunt doubles, and you don't even have to worry about the limitations
of a physical camera either.
You are given complete creative control and as played out as it may sound, your only limit
is your imagination.
And rendering time, that's important too.
Another reason as to why this battle works so well is that each of the characters wears
a very easily distinguishable color and costume.
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Having taken a look at the cinematography and editing, as well as the story and stakes
of The Eternals, it's time we move on to the fight choreography.
When dealing with super powered opponents, one could be tempted to rely entirely on punches
and throws.
For the most part, this fight does well with just that.
But there are a couple martial arts techniques scattered throughout the fights as well, so
let's take a look at them.
First up we got a technique that the goddess of war inspired character had to have in her
arsenal if she was to be considered a true warrior.
And that is the
Yep, The push kick.
It's a technique that's featured in several martial arts including Taekwondo, and it's
main objective is to, as its name implies, push the opponent back.
In this case, Thena propels Ikarus several feet backwards.
Thena also throws a quick knee strike in her earlier one on one battle with Ikarus and
for a split second engages in the always awesome kame hame ha frame as she blocks his laser
beam with her shield.
Ikarus at one point counters Thena with the ever popular judo technique, ippon seoi nage,
or one arm shoulder throw.
In this technique the goal is to use the opponents arm as leverage to flip them over you.
In this case, since we're dealing with super powered foes, Ikarus is able to launch Thena
several feet into the air When Makkari quickly dodges one of Ikarus blasts, she's actually
doing a superpowered varation of the butterfly kick as it's known in Wushu Kung Fu.
As far as the rest of the fight choreography goes in the scene, it's top notch in terms
of well done presentation fighting.
The powers are all consistent, and interact in ways which seem plausible and entertaining.
The Eternals featured an incredibly long battle sequence for its final act of the film that
was broken down into smaller sub sequences, and it never lost sight of its human scale
or what was hap pening in each given fight.
Although Kro was not given much time to shine as a villain in the final act, this was an
excellent superhero vs superhero action sequence within the MCU.