Eternals (2021) review

For thousands of years, beings called "Eternals" - including Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) and Druig (Barry Keoghan) - fight against creatures called "Deviants" and were under the impression they're immortal until they find one of their own (Salma Hayek) dead ... and realize the Deviants have gotten considerably more powerful.  It once again follows the "Marvel Formula" (they leave the wise cracks to Kumail), but despite the huge budget it never seems like anything more than a generic Avengers clone: it isn't as engaging from the beginning because the audience isn't as familiar with these characters (like they were with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc.), when it tries to get "philosophical" about mankind's "violent nature" it earns a few eyerolls, and the constant flipping around in time (to try to explain what's happening) becomes tedious and makes the running time even more bloated.  On the positive side, the effects are great, so all those programmers and their keyboards and CGI programs deserve a pat on the back.  Everyone else: try harder.