Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Eternals review says that nothing lasts forever — including Marvel’s winning streak.

No one bats 1,000, so if the Marvel Universe strikes out every now and then, it can be forgiven. What can’t be forgiven is sending some of the best players money can buy to the plate and realizing too late they play hockey.

Eternals may well have been in trouble from the start, when immensely talented director Chloe Zhou was put at the helm. As much as we loved her work in Nomadland, whatever made the Powers That Be think writing and directing a superhero movie might be in her wheelhouse?

The storyline had potential. Ten ageless and diverse extraterrestrial beings with different, intriguing powers, are sent to earth to protect humans from beasties called Divergents. It was thought that the Divergents had been ultimately defeated, but apparently that finger snap in the Avengers’ timeline woke up the Divergents, so the Eternals, who have been resting in place on Earth for thousands of years, are again called to action.

An awkward series of murky flashbacks provides a disjointed Eternals origin story while attempting to build to the obligatory Armageddon-like battle at the end. The narrative never seems to coalesce.

It’s a shame that the same director who worked so brilliantly with Frances McDormand in Nomadland was unable to find much to do with favorite actors like Kit Harrington, Ma Dong-seok, Emma Chan, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie. Their characters and stories are vapid, irrelevant and confusing.

Jolie’s part was particularly frustrating — she does little more than prance around in frothy white dresses, using weapons that look like renderings of realistic CGIs that will be added later. That’s just one of many surprising faux pas made by the special effects department.

I will say that Zhou showed a flair for comedy with Kumail Nanjiani. He played an Eternal who bides his time on earth as a Bollywood phenom, and his character and performance are among the film’s few highlights.

Another highlight is the Eternals’ diversity, ethnic and otherwise, including gay and hearing impaired superheroes. If they only had some chemistry, and didn’t line up ten across so often — everyone knows that’s horrible offensive or defensive positioning, but I suppose it gives them all equal glaring/flexing opportunities.

Eternals was lowest rated of all Marvel movies when I wrote this review (51% on Rotten Tomatoes) and it may sink even lower still. The good news is that by comparison, even Thor: Dark World, the second lowest rated at a 66% rating, is starting to look better.

Rated PG-13

2 Hours 37 Minutes

If, after reading this Eternals review, you still feel like flying off to a cineplex near you to see it, find times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Eternals review says that nothing lasts forever — including Marvel’s winning streak.