Men in Black: International

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Ferguson, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rafe Spall

Director: F. Gary Gray

Based on the comic “Men in Black” created by Lowell Cunningham

After witnessing her parents being neuralized by the MIB as a young child, Molly (Tessa Thompson) has become obsessed with tracking the MIB down and joining their ranks. This impresses Agent O (Emma Thompson) who recruits her and for her first mission sends her to London. She is paired with their top agent, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) who along with High T (Liam Neeson) stopped The Hive from invading years prior, with nothing but their wits and Series 7 De-atomizers. Despite warnings that H hasn't been the same since that day, the two pair up to protect an alien diplomat. Things go awry and something becomes very clear, there is a mole inside the MIB. M and H, along with a tiny alien named Pawny (Kumail Nanjiani), must hop the globe to find the truth.

The idea of this film is a risky one. You don't have established franchise stars Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones and are instead introducing new characters to the existing world while expanding it. While it's cool to see more aspects of the MIB world and it entertains on a base level, this is contentedly mediocre movie but not the complete disaster people are expecting it to be. There are aspects that do work and that is greatly helped by Thompson and Hemsworth.

Tessa Thompson, as if it wasn't already clear before, is a huge, likable star and has a blast with her role. Giving her such an intriguing backstory for her entry into the world got the movie off to a good start. However, even after the introduction of Hemsworth's H, the movie falls flat. Despite their incredible chemistry, it isn't enough to sustain such a thin plot. A lot of the humor also falls flat, except for Pawny. Kumail gets the majority of the good jokes, which did have me chuckling out loud.

This movie falls apart plot-wise due to one crucial aspect that the previous three films had and this one doesn't: there isn't really a main villain. The first Men in Black had Edgar, who was played to scary perfection by Vincent D'Onofrio. Men in Black II had Serleena, who was played by Lara Flynn Boyle and Men in Black 3 had Boris The Animal, played by Jemaine Clement. There was a clear villain the entire movie in the past films. Yes, in this there are two aliens played by Larry and Laurent Bourgeois, but they never truly feel like a threat. Instead, they just kinda lurk in an unmenacing way. There is the mystery of the mole, which is intriguing in concept but obvious in execution.

All of this wouldn't have been as noticeable if the action scenes were good. Instead, they are dull and bring nothing new to the table. It's weird that this mostly shied away from the spectacle of most big budget franchises. It's disappointing when you see a franchise admirably try to take things in a new direction but remove a lot of the aspects that made the franchise fun in the first place. The film just seems happy to exist, be what it is, and coast through its nearly 2 hour run time. You'd think director F. Gary Gray would have learned to embrace the spectacle from his previous film, The Fate of the Furious.

Despite the best efforts of the two leads, the movie hurts itself with an obvious mystery and uninspired action scenes. It's a shame because it should have been so much better.

C-