Men in Black: International

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Kumail Nanjiani (voice), Rebecca Ferguson, Rafe Spall, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Comedy
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: A new agent (Tessa Thompson) who has dreamed of joining the Men in Black her whole life is paired with a renegade agent (Chris Hemsworth) who willingly breaks rules to accomplish his mission. The two must battle against a clandestine conspiracy.

Review:

Tim: It's kind of fascinating to examine why Men in Black: International was such a failure. It made $100 million less than the third movie did seven years ago. By my account, it ranks third in the franchise in terms of quality, only above Men in Black II. It didn't get great reviews from critics. And yet, when you look at it, it feels like it did a lot of things right.

It got F. Gary Gray to direct it. He's an experienced director and has a number of hits to his name. You replaced Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (which admittedly is tough to lose that pairing) with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, two solid actors who have a track record together- they had a ton of chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok. You had incredible supporting cast members in Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, and Rebecca Ferguson. And yet, despite all these things, the movie never quite comes together.

I want to be clear- I didn't dislike Men in Black: International. It was fun to revisit this franchise after quite a few years and I loved the idea to move away from the U.S. branch and focus on the international one. This helps explain why we're switching up the main characters. The plot itself is decent- it's been done before and probably not one I would have chosen (I'd have focused more on the aliens and less on the human threats), but it allows for some exciting sequences. This is a decent movie. However, from the perspective of reinvigorating the franchise and starting a new trilogy, it's an absolute failure. That is fascinating. I think it ultimately comes down to a few things- the movie itself isn't all that good, and audiences didn't really want another Men in Black movie.

Let's take the audience first. It's hard to predict what audiences want (I still don't understand the box office of Jurassic World). I wouldn't say this was a beloved franchise. The first movie was really good, the second wasn't, and the third was an improvement, but not as good as the original. A lot of the appeal was the partnering of Smith and Jones. The movies did feel a bit redundant- could you explain the plot differences between them? I couldn't- it's all about fighting aliens. I do remember the third film dealt with time travel. The movies might be good, but audiences weren't over-the-moon about them and a long layover of 7 years hurt the franchise.

The bigger issue is that there's not really a compelling reason to see this movie. Sure, the characters are different, but it feels derivative of the other movies. There's aliens, oversized guns, some levity sprinkled throughout the film. It didn't feel like there was a big reason to see this movie. As a lukewarm fan of the original trilogy, I was definitely intrigued by the new setting and new characters, but not enough to go to the theater to see it. Still, it's strange that so few people checked this out. Sony will have to do some soul searching, because this should have been a viable franchise for them.

As far as this movie by itself, as I said, it's decent. Hemsworth has enough experience in these action/comedy roles that he's effective as Agent H. He knows how to turn on the charisma when needed and his comedic timing is strong. Tessa Thompson is such a great actress- she can do so much and brings a lot to roles like this. She has this ability to take even "lighter" roles like this so seriously that she elevates the movie around her. She did that here- you can't fault Thompson for giving this role her all. It's fun to see these two together- their previous work together in the MCU is a big benefit as they have strong chemistry together. It was certainly entertaining to see them together, even if the dialogue they're given is quite forced. I'm not sure how many legitimately funny lines they had. A few, but far too many felt inauthentic. This is the fault of the script more than their performances.

The supporting cast is good. It's always fun to see Liam Neeson and he brought a nice level of gravitas to his role. It was good to see Emma Thompson reprise her role as Agent O, although I wish she had more to do in the film. Still, you can't complain about having talent like Neeson and Thompson in your supporting cast. Kumail Nanjiani adds great voice work with his distinctive style. I really like Rebecca Ferguson, so I was glad she showed up her. I didn't love her role, though. It felt too isolated and didn't leverage her strengths nearly enough. Rafe Spall added a strong performance as well. Truly, you can't fault the cast here.

I wish this movie was just a bit better, although I have to say it was somewhat unfairly treated. It's a perfectly decent movie. It shouldn't have set the world on fire, but I wish it hadn't been viewed as such a failure. I wouldn't have minded seeing more films with these characters. My expectations would have remained fairly low. It'll be interesting to see what happens now- I'd imagine another long stretch sitting on the shelf before Sony tries to reboot the franchise yet again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Men in Black, Men in Black II, Men in Black 3, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame