Men In Black: International

Score:  C

Directed by F. Gary Gray
Starring Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Liam Neeson
Running time: 115 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Men In Black: International, the fourth film in the franchise that started in 1997, has new leads Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth trying on the suits.  Unfortunately, the series' special spark has been lost along the way, and this is really more of a standard sci-fi action comedy that happens to have familiar gizmos and terminology.  Perfectly fine for a family with different expectations looking for fun, avoid this if you are drawn to it by the franchise.


Thanks to a childhood encounter, Molly (Thompson) knows that alien life is among us on Earth.  As a young adult, she struggles in vain to join the CIA and other agencies she thinks can help her find them again - until she stumbles back upon agents of the Men In Black.  Using her iron will, and lack of Earthly attachments such as a family, Molly joins the mysterious group and is renamed Agent M.  Sent to the London HQ, Agent M finds two legends of the MIB, Agents H and High-T (Hemsworth and Neeson).  The appearance of an extremely dangerous alien species known as the Hive - which the London agents once fought - throws M into the thick of the action.  And her presence, a new one in the MIB, soon becomes essential as the threat seeks to take advantage of the status quo.

Men In Black: International, at least in terms of its cast, is a reboot, with all-new performers including its two leads.  Hemsworth and Thompson have already starred together, in fact, in 2017's Thor Ragnarok.  This time it's Tessa Thompson who takes the role of 1A; she's both the newcomer to MIB, and also the one who gets the most background.  Unfortunately, Molly (or Agent M) doesn't amount to much, particularly when compared to Will Smith's original, fellow-outsider Agent J.  It's nice to have a woman lead, and a determinedly independent one at that, but she ends up feeling more like a collection of modern memes than a unique character - the thing MIB is best known for.  Hemsworth himself essentially plays to type, the overconfident hero type whose pratfalls provide much of the film's humor.  These characters match well in temperament, but due to the script and even at times their own acting, there's too much going through the motions.  Rafe Spall plays a Neville-like MIB rules nag, while Kumail Nanjiani adds a bit to the comedy voicing a tiny alien.  Liam Neeson seems born to play an MIB leader, but I would actually have preferred to see more of Thompson.

Men In Black: International is a decent enough entertainment - particularly for those new to the franchise - but also a reminder of how even unique brands like this one can become stale.  On the surface, MIB: International has a rock-solid premise in both its plot and its new characters.  The series gets a change of scenery, from London to Marrakesh to Paris, and as mentioned the leads are among today's most appealing talents.  But for one reason or another, this turns out to be a fairly generic sci-fi action comedy with few if any memorable scenes or other elements.  Other than your typical, lazy blockbuster writing (and even a bit of pedestrian acting), I blame this on three main issues: focusing on plot over style and atmosphere; focusing on action over comedy; and allowing the leads to play themselves rather than stretch into weird new characters.  Yes, the original MIB had its share of action, but most of it was pretty silly.  With the sheer amount of action and CGI in sci-fi movies that have come along since then, we really needed more of the original's bizarre feel and more dirty, gritty visuals that actually felt more real precisely because they didn't rely so much on CGI.  The plot also becomes overly complicated, and yet a key twist is so obvious that the attempts to disguise it worsen the situation.  After all that, it's really not as terrible as I've just made it sound.  The dialogue, while not great, at least isn't cringe-worthy; some of the action is fun, there are clever new aliens, and there's some good humor, too.  But this is certainly not a film for fans of the original; it is much better suited to a family audience, one more familiar with Will Smith as a Genie than a Man In Black.

***

Men In Black: International is a generically disappointing sequel in its content, but also represents some interesting trends in the summer's movie landscape.  The box office has simply imploded - with Avengers being the one, massive exception - as sequels like this, Dark Phoenix and Godzilla have found poor critical reception and an audience that is perhaps even more jaded and uninterested.  It's also part of the debate over whether it's better to create a continuing narrative line through a franchise - represented by Marvel's Avengers, of course - or start with fresh stories and new actors within an otherwise familiar world.  International is a bit of a hybrid, though with its new cast - and perhaps even more importantly, different tone and style - it's more like the latter.  Above all, though, Hollywood studios will hopefully get the message that a handful of franchises are creatively worthy of continuing - e.g. Avengers, Toy Story - while most of the rest should just lie dormant for a while in favor of *gasp!* new ideas.




* By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59441109