Men in Black: International

A family of three encounter a strange alien like creature in the kitchen of their family home in Brooklyn. The Men in Black shortly arrive on the scene to Neuralyse the family, but little do they know that the little girl was not asleep as her parents had said. She remembers every detail and has even met the alien. She would spend the next 20 (circa) years trying to find that mysterious agency. Eventually she does, and they are so impressed by her resourcefulness and determination they hire her and send her off to London where it’s soon discovered that there is a mole in the agency.

The first Men In Black is a highly celebrated classic. It’s smart comedy, effective chemistry between the two contrasting leading performances and interesting themes of migration (where aliens lived on earth mixing, invisibly, among humans) gave the film charm as well as thematic depth. Since then though the MIB franchise has steadily declined, become stagnant, and eventually culminated in the worst film of the franchise.

The reason why the fourth film is the worst of the franchise lies in the quality of the writing. The story is the weakest aspect. It might be considered a plot spoiler, but if it’s so blindingly obvious it can’t that bad of a spoiler. There is a mole in MIB and realistically it is one of two people. Due to the way movies work with red herrings, it’s not the obvious suspect, it’s not the one the movie wants you to suspect so it has to be the other one. Once you’ve clocked who is leaking the valuable information, the plot becomes nothing more than a meandering escapade to various parts of the globe. 

This wouldn’t be so bad if the characters were fun to watch, but they’re not. Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth are good actors and have shared good chemistry in the past (as shown in Thor: Ragnorok). However, there’s no sign of that cracking chemistry here. Chris Hemsworth is basically playing Thor without the jokes whilst Tessa Thompson’s character has nothing noteworthy to make her memorable. Perhaps it’s the result of the awful jokes (that small alien is so annoying) or lacklustre direction from the normally reliable F. Gary Grey but the chemistry between the two stars is so lacking that their star power can’t help us through a dull and lazy film.

It’s nice to see a bit more of the world of the most top-secret organisation as the film trots across the globe from New York to Paris, but the GCI aliens lack the passion that went into Rick Baker’s designs. Lacking in thematic material, MIB: International feels the most stripped down and basic version of the story that the studio could have given us.

1.5/5