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Men in Black: International
(Columbia Pictures/Amblin Entertainment)
By Lucas Allen
Before superheroes dominated the summer movie season, there was a time when aliens invaded theaters to the delight of audiences everywhere.
One of them was the 1997 sci-fi action/comedy “Men in Black,” which offered a clever premise of a secret intergalactic police agency, while also utilizing then-groundbreaking CGI and Academy Award-winning SFX makeup by Rick Baker.
After two successful sequels in 2002 and 2012, “Men in Black: International” will have to make the series prove viable again in this season of sequels. The person handling this difficult task will be F. Gary Gray the director of “The Fate of the Furious,” who takes the place of series veteran Barry Sonnenfeld.
Molly (Tessa Thompson) has been obsessed with the secret agency ever since she witnessed her parents being neuralyzed. When she does find the New York City headquarters, Agent O (Emma Thompson) believes that the young woman may be more valuable as an agent. Now as Agent M, she goes to the London headquarters for a possible assignment. Upon meeting the High T (Liam Neeson), she partners up with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) who’s becoming a reckless and undisciplined agent much to the annoyance of Agent C (Rafe Spall).
Their first assignment together is to protect an alien ambassador from twin alien assassins (Laurent and Larry Bourgeois). But after it went poorly, the two agents soon realize there could be a mole within the MiB that could surely bring doom to the Earth. The two of them then team up with a small alien pawn (voice of Kumail Nanjiani) before looking for H’s ex-girlfriend Riza (Rebecca Ferguson) who could hold the key to discovering the mole.
Without the presence of Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones, the series has very little reason to continue unless the filmmakers can find a way to bring something new to the table. Fortunately, they did try to add an element of a global-wide adventure making it feel something different than before. There’s still enough of what fans can recognize that still make the franchise what it is like the alien designs, the cool gadgets, and the action mixed with the comedy. Also, there’s some intense fight scenes that help add to the fun of the movie.
Unfortunately, the script lacks the original’s uniqueness making this film just another sequel. The whole mystery subplot is very predictable that you’ll likely know what the outcome is once the movie begins. Most of the aliens are CGI, which is fine, but having no one like Baker doing the makeup effects completely takes away the charm of the other movies. Even though they were really trying to make a good movie, it’s clear that this series has lost its mojo and may not be able to recover from it.
At least the cast seem to be having a blast being a part of this film. Hemsworth is basically playing secret agent Thor, but he has some hilarious moments that makes his performance worthwhile. Thompson brings a more smart-aleck approach to her performance, and her chemistry with Hemsworth from Thor: Ragnarök continues to be pretty impressive. Neeson is just playing a nothing boss character, but he still gives it his all especially in some scenes.
“Men in Black: International” has that cool factor, but not enough to reach the standards the other films achieved. It’s a perfectly fine entry, but you might rather go back and watch the trilogy that remains as high-quality sci-fi comedies.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for sci-fi action, some language, and suggestive material)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3 Stars (Out of Four)
