'MIB: International' review: A poor addition to a brilliant franchise

The movie fails to impress MIB fans and leaves a forgettable impression on others

mib-international via IMDb

Perhaps, it was the absence of the enigmatic duo of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones or the clever direction of Barry Sonnenfeld, but Men in Black: International fails to live up to the hype it created when it cast Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in the leading roles.

Undoubtedly, the leading duo carries on the chemistry they had from Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, but their characters are bare-boned and do not stand out in any way. Thompson plays Molly, a girl who was not neuralyzed (a process of erasing recent memories) when she was supposed to and grows up with the awareness of the extra terrestrial existence and is dying to join the 'Men in Black'. Once she gets recruited (and renamed Agent M) on a probational basis, she is teamed up with Hemsworth's Agent H, a typical cocky-but-smart high level agent of the MIB. For their first mission together, they are given a seemingly easy task, which (surprise, surprise) goes haywire.

The plot only gets more predictable from here on and climaxes in an even more obvious ending. New characters are introduced incessantly without really exploring them in their entirety. Rebecca Ferguson's character Riza, who is the head of the largest crime syndicate is also Agent H's ex-beau. This situation could have provided for some excellent gags had it been developed further. The writers, Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, fail to replicate their comedic genius from Iron Man (2008) as the jokes fall flat and are largely ignored by the audience. Their only saving grace is perhaps the CGI alien sidekick that Agent M picks up along the way. Voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, the alien delivers almost all of the laughter inducing one-liners and that is in most part due to Nanjiani's talent as a stand-up comedian, making written lines sound like in-the-moment quips.

An annoying thing about the movie is that it repeatedly beats its own drum. We get it, there are women in 'Men' in Black. What a hilarious concept. Thompson and Thompson (Tessa and Emma) do a good job of portraying the importance of women in the organisation, the multiple reminders are quite unnecessary. Also unnecessary was the amount of CGI used, the numerous (although enjoyable) Chris Hemsworth thirst traps and the horrible, horrible pun in Liam Neeson's British character's name –High T.

The only thing the movie lives up to is its title. It shuffles between New York, London, Marrakesh and Paris. This constant change of scenery does not let the audience settle. The earlier MIB movies used to mainly take place in one location, only very briefly transporting us to other locations. That lets the audience understand how the alien community could exist within the human one and how both could interact with one another. MIB International denies the people of such an experience.

In conclusion, subpar movies should not be added to brilliant franchises. The movie definitely fails to impress MIB fans and leaves a forgettable and non-lasting impression on the viewers. There's definitely no need for a neuralyzer here.

Film: Men in Black: International

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Neeson

Rating: 2/5

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