Men In Black: International

MIB International is the fourth installment of the Men in Black film series, this time directed by F. Gary Gray, and starring Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth. As a kid, Molly Wright witnesses the MIB wipe her parents' memories, and makes it her mission to join them. As the new Agent M-in training, she’s sent to London to help Agent H take out a threat he dealt with years ago, but never destroyed.

When the first Men in Black came out, it was not only a major hit, but it was one of the most unique films to come out at the time. While it does stray away a little from the comic books it came from, it still manages to be a captivating film with its intriguing concept, stylistic action scenes, and very quotable dialogue (not bad, considering the screenwriter’s last film was The Super Mario Bros. Movie). Not to mention, it was Will Smith’s third successful blockbuster in a row, that propelled him into superstardom, and it spawned an animated series that borrows more from the comics; it was pretty much that generation’s Ghostbusters.

Despite the unlimited possibilities, it felt like the movies didn’t know where else to go themselves, other than recycling elements from the first film. Men in Black II was meh, and while I’m one of those few that really loved Men in Black 3, especially since it got Will Smith out of an acting hiatus, even I can admit it does repeat elements. Barry Sonnenfield was the director for all three of these films, and while I applaud them for being consistent with directors, after seeing the versatility that the MCU has had, it does make me wish someone else was given a shot at this. My wish was partially granted, in the form of two in-universe spin-offs: One of them being a now-cancelled crossover with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s 21 Jump Street films...that was going to be a thing; the other was a soft reboot/sequel with a female lead (because that worked SO WELL with audiences when Amy Pascal’s Ghostbusters did that, and that too had Chris Hemsworth as a dopey hunk).

While MIB International has more polish and finished feeling to it, this movie ended up having a lot of the same problems I had with Dark Phoenix, in that it’s another sequel that’s just going through the motions without any heart behind it. It isn’t as bad as Dark Phoenix, but it’s hard not to bring up comparisons, being that it’s another comic book movie with a female lead and rips off Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the third one this year, no less). What’s interesting was that Dark Phoenix had reshoots because the aliens were too similar to Captain Marvel, yet someone forgot to tell Sony about that with their film. And there is a twist villain, but you can already find out in the first five minutes of the movie (were you even trying, editor?).

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth do their best as M and H, but they hardly have any chemistry. Thompson is this MIB fangirl that claims to be a smart, strong, and capable protagonist, but they don’t give her anything to showcase that, or have anything new to bring; just because you have an actress that can kick ass and say politically correct things, doesn’t mean you can’t make her at least somewhat interesting. Chris Hemsworth, like I said, was just playing another dopey hunk; he’s not as dumb as he was in Ghostbusters, but when he throws quips, he feels like he’s trying to be the Will Smith funny man and just comes off as obnoxious. With how he’s been playing this persona throughout most of his career this decade, part of me wants to believe that had something to do with him taking an acting break, at least until Guardians Vol. 3.

Emma Thompson reprises her role as Agent O, the new commander that took over for Rip Torn’s Agent Zed from the first two movies, and is the only connection to the original trilogy present; however, she only appears in the beginning and the end of the movie, being there just to get Tessa Thompson into the story. She could have been completely written out of the movie, and it wouldn’t make a difference. This also applies to Kumail Nanjiani as Pawny, who is only there to get kids in the audience; he has no real purpose to serve in this film at all, and they don’t even give him anything funny to say or do. He hardly does anything, and when he does, he fucks up and leaves everything to Thompson and Hemsworth, it begs the question why bother having him there? Or better yet, why was Frank the Pug in this movie; didn’t they retire his character after the actual dog died?

The action scenes are fine, but I never got invested because of the biggest problem I have with this movie, which has also been a recurring problem that I’m starting to notice more: the pacing is way too fast. Every year, it feels like most movies believe the audiences' attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, so they’re trying to get all this information out to you, in the hopes that it’ll get you on board and ask questions later. Heck, the movie doesn’t even know how to start itself; it opens with a flashback to H and High-T (Liam Neeson) where, like I said, they pretty much gave away who the villain is, only to end and cut to 1996 where we see Molly as a kid, and then to her looking for work at MIB without saying it out loud. Also, for a film that’s supposed to be about an underground organization that’s supposed to remain in secret, they have a lot more out of the open incidents that they CLEARLY did not think about; they had a chase scene through an entire middle eastern village, and it’s so obvious that not all of them were neuralysed.

Ever since Disney bought Fox, now having reigns over 60% of the competition put out in theaters, Sony has felt intimidated and afraid they’re going to get swept up and bought out, so their solution is to try and make their own cinematic universe franchise. However, the only one that had a chance of putting some challenge against Disney was Warner Bros with the DCEU, but look how THAT turned out; since then, they’ve decided to do one-shot projects, at least until they can get someone who knows what the hell they want to do with these characters properly.

MIB International is yet another one of 2019’s biggest lacklusters; another studio mandated assignment, to keep the rights to a franchise nobody cares about anymore, and make a buck off a film nobody asked for. While it feels a little more polished and complete than Dark Phoenix, that’s like comparing lemon custard doughnuts to plain glazed doughnuts; just because one has more to it than the other, doesn’t make it good for you. As much as I love Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, you’re better off just rewatching Thor Ragnarok again. At least this film kept Danny Eflman's theme score...

Rating: D