Eternals Gemma Chan IS Sersi

[Iceman]

I always thought she might have a shot at Psylocke but if not then this still looks like a great role for her (and she was cool as Minn-erva.

 

[Silvermoth]

Gemma is to Sersi what Samuel l Jackson is to Nick fury, you’ll never get a better Sersi than her. She was amazing

 

[TheVileOne]

Gemma is to Sersi what Samuel l Jackson is to Nick fury, you’ll never get a better Sersi than her. She was amazing

I'm not so sure about that.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Gemma is to Sersi what Samuel l Jackson is to Nick fury, you’ll never get a better Sersi than her. She was amazing

Ok...

Taken on the film's own terms, outside of her nondescript "caring for humanity" what about her as a character stood out or was special to you?

I need to know what was compelling in her. I really do. I don't see... Anything of note.

Gemma Chan is gorgeous in the role... And?

Now let's take it on terms of being a good adaptation of the comics...

Sersi is the sensualist, good time flamboyant party girl who is always up for a good time or a good fight who you'll as easily find engaging in a post battle orgy with whomever and I mean WHOMEVER on the Avengers team is up for a tussle, from Starfox to Moo dragon, Hercules, Black Knight and every mortal and demigod in between. Sweet, but also haughty and proud she is a force on the battlefield as transmutation Al elemental powers would be.

On those terms... Was this really a successful adaptation of THAT character? Yes... The Sersi they constructed was to serve this film. Adaptation is just that. I accept when changes to character and lore have to happen to bring these things into the arena of film. But this character is called Sersi, is an "Eternal" and has an approximation of Marvel Comics Sersi's powers and she wears green... And that is where they begin and end to share any similarities.

Judged on its own merits it fails. I don't see much of an engaging character in Sersi. There is some life to the performance whenever she is with Dane but those moments are so fleeting and even then it's one note: "Gosh, aren't we just the cutest?" It doesn't play into much and the focus is so much on her and Ikaris you aren't really considering the relationship with Dane as playing into her character overall. Oddly it never seems her loyalty to Dane is ever really tested to me so the on paper "tension" isn't adding much either.

There's all kinds of missed opportunities here. I'm sorry but the characters are I'll defined and boring or tend to be incredibly one note unless the viewer is projecting a whole mess of charisma and emotional beats to this performance that I just don't see any evidence of.

I'm sorry but despite never "starring" in any MCU film Sam Jackson not only works as how his character should be in the MCU he works as an adaptation that brings the best of that comic character to life. The grizzled super spy ally of the super human community who walks a gray line as one of the people in government dealing with a world of super human threats and beyond normal villainous individuals.

Sam Jackson is also just... Sam Jackson. He immediately lights the screen up whether silently reacting or delivering dialog. Gemma Chan as Sersi... Looks great. She's Gemma Chan. She's outrageously gorgeous. Is she delivering ANYTHING else in this part?

 

[TheVileOne]

I found Sersi just very nondescript and uncharismatic. I get that she has a very compassionate side, but Gemma Chan never really sold me on it.

 

[Mike Murdock]

I thought she did a very good job. I just didn't really get a comics Sersi vibe in the slightest.

 

[Detective Conan]

She made no impression on me in this film. If they recast the role tomorrow I wouldn’t care.

 

[TheVileOne]

Honestly, I thought Chan had more charisma and attitude in her brief role in Captain Marvel as Minn-erva.

"Once. It's a real shirthole."

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

She made no impression on me in this film. If they recast the role tomorrow I wouldn’t care.

I get taking a character that is not as well defined as they could be and sprucing them up for their big budget live action debut by changing aspects in their background or beefing up their inherent personality to be perhaps broader but more entertaining...

I have zero idea what they were going for here or why since comic Sersi has so much personality and one tailored for an MCU film.

The good time party girl on the look for the next good time no matter whom or what it may be who is also an adventure seeking bad ash with insane levels of power?

This is SO made for the Marvel script team to come up with a fun and charismatic lead heroine in adapting this one from the books.

But instead...

 

[Shuri]

I don't know how she was in the comics, I can only speak of Sersi in the movie. This character is boring. I think she was miscast, and the writing didn't help much.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I don't know how she was in the comics, I can only speak of Sersi in the movie. This character is boring. I think she was miscast, and the writing didn't help much.

That's just it... If they were'nt even going to try to come up with SOMETHING for this character, then try and at least give the source material a go.

I'm sorry but... Why would they think that a character being so very bland and nondescript is what the story needed, especially since so much is so wild and out there as concepts go?

Also, I think this was along with Shang Chi two of the few times I was going "This could actually use some Marvel Brand humor and all four quadrants all the time approach".

I get that characters like T'challa and Steve Rogers, which is undoubtedly what they were going for with Sersi, can lean towards "bland" or at least be accused of such but both Steve and BP do get to emote and their arcs and stories are about lager issues, both them personally and the films they appear in's stories to a large degree. Yeah, they are goody two shoes lacking the Bro Dudeness of Starlord or the dukeebag with a heart of gold like Strange or Stark but they have something and they have other textures besides.

And I don't think Gemma was a bad actress. None of the performers here are substandard.

But Gemma was not given much to work with and I'm sorry, Zhao needed to uderstand that these characters and their story was deathly dull.

 

[TheVileOne]

Based on my limited knowledge of Sersi, I would've much preferred she had a more outgoing personality who actually tried to use her powers for combat.

This Sersi was more of a pacifist. I think they simply wanted to emphasize her compassion for humanity. But as a result, she was very bland.

 

[misjuevos]

I guess now after seeing the take on the Eternals you can see why Gemma was considered. She used to be in Humans, a show about robots with A.I. This is very "on the nose".

 

[metaphysician]

I think Sersi was fine. . . in the opening and closing scenes where she was primarily interacting with Dane. She had some energy to her personality, humor, and chemistry with Kit Harrington. It was just in the whole movie in between where she was kind of empty. I think she mainly suffered for being the primary POV in a movie with a giant cast- she wasn't allowed to act, mostly just watch and observe.

Which is actually a way I would sum up the whole movie: a lot of characters with potential, drowned to varying extents by too many *other* characters, so that nobody really had enough room to flesh themselves out and become people. Its why, IMO, the characters with the strongest presence in the movie were Kingo, Phaestos, and arguably Druig- they didn't have much more time than anyone else, but they all had relationships with people *outside* the main Eternals cast. Even if it was just a little, it did wonders to improve them as people.

 

[CB Fan]

Sersi is so bland in this film and as the lead that’s a problem. She needed one note of direction “add a dash of chipper”. Being compassionate should not equal boring. I think overall it could be an actress issue because she’s much the same in “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Captain Marvel”. Sure in CM she has that “it’s a real S-hole” line but honestly even that was delivered kinda blandly.