Movie Review: Eternity (2025)

So one of the things it is important to do when assessing the quality of the movie is to discuss it on the terms it sets. It isn't fair to take a film, contort it into something entirely different from what it is, and then say "well the version I made up in my head is better therefore this movie is bad." This hits a wall when the movie is positing a situation that is reliant on humans acting like humans in a situation that is far from anything any human would conceivably have to deal with.

The conceit of Eternity is that when someone dies, they go to the Javits Center and have to walk through the sales floor of a trade show to select how they want to spend eternity. There is no heaven, there is no hell, you just exist in the physical appearance of when you were happiest in life and select which of the worlds you want to live out your life in. One could make the case that literally every aspect is just what Hell is but whatever. In the movie, Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen have been married for 65 years and die a week apart from each other. Upon arrival, Elizabeth Olsen discovers her first husband who died in Korea 67 years ago. Now she has to choose who to spend eternity with.

The problem with the movie is that inherently neither possible spouse is designed as a good fit for Olsen to spend eternity with. Almost out of the gate, she seems almost entirely incompatible with her first husband because she has spent 67 years changing as a person, meanwhile, she never seems to show anything resembling affection towards Teller, let alone the level of affection required for someone to spend an eternity with.

Based on how this movie begins, the narrative would have been better served with the entire removal of the first husband and it being the story of these two trying to decide if they should spend eternity together or in worlds that more closely align with their personal identities. This would have given a greater chance for the two characters to explore who they are both in the relationship and outside it, making the decision feel more normal. The situation posited puts Olsen in a position where she ends up very passive, up until the very end.

And let's talk about the ending of the movie because as the movie went on, I actually thought less and less of it. Toward the beginning, I thought this would end up in my top five of the year, by the middle it had fallen to top ten, and now after I am unsure if it even makes that mark. Most of this comes down to how they opt to resolve the central question regarding who she chooses.

Spoilers Beyond This Point

So the fact that ultimately she chooses neither of the husbands and decides to go out on her own (well, with her friend) to a different world, only to have her current husband choose for her, feels like a disservice to the character as a whole. The idea of her going through everything, seeing what else is out there, choosing that she wants to go with neither, only for her current husband to tell her to change her mind and go with the other one feels like we are removing a lot of her agency in the movie.

It continues to spiral from there because, predictably, she ends up finding out that the concept of spending eternity with this person is probably not the best idea. Hence, she has to escape and try to find her second husband. All of this goes on too long and, even if there are some interesting ideas like the tunnel of bad memories, it doesn't redeem what should have just been the movie ending on her going off on her own.

That said, the movie is pretty good. It has a lot of heart, some great performances (especially from Elizabeth Olsen and Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and a lot of great comedic bits that play with the underlying darkness of the subject matter in a smart way. The issues with the plot are what hold this back from being something truly great but it is still absolutely worth watching.

★★★★