I love Men in Black. I love the original
movie trilogy. I love the animated series. And I love the MIB as a fictional organization (or is it? Hmmmm. Lol). And thus, the
spin-off film Men in Black: International,
regardless of how its quality would turn out, was something I had been meaning
to watch.
This film centers on a new MIB
duo – Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and Agent M (Tessa Thompson). H is the best agent in the MIB’s London branch,
and is deemed a legend after he and branch director High T (Liam Neeson) saved
the world – “with nothing but [their] wits and Series 7 deatomizers” – from wormhole-travelling
alien invaders called the Hive.
Meanwhile, ever since she secretly witnessed her parents be neuralyzed
by a pair of MIB agents as a child, Molly Wright has been looking for this
secret organization, dreaming of joining their ranks. After successfully uncovering the MIB’s New
York headquarters, she convinces the MIB head, Agent O (Emma Thompson), to let
her stay. She’s made into a probationary
“Agent M”, and is assigned to the London branch. Eventually, H and M team up for a
globe-trotting mission against the energy-absorbing, shape-shifting,
nigh-invincible alien assassins called Dyads (Laurent and Larry Bourgeois).
As we saw from Independence Day: Resurgence, not having Will Smith in a new
installment of a franchise he’s well-known for is a recipe for disaster. But that isn’t the case here. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson have the charisma
between them to amply fill that void and carry this film. Having developed excellent chemistry with
each other with their time in Thor: Ragnarok, they effortlessly display the same in this film. The only noteworthy disadvantage of Will
Smith not being a part of this film is that there’s no catchy Will Smith theme song
in it (then again, Will Smith starred in Men
in Black 3, but he didn’t do a song
for that either. Instead, it had that awful Pitbull song).
Men in Black: International was not that well-received by the
majority of both critics and moviegoers.
And I understand that. As a
whole, this movie lacks swagger. For me
though, it’s enjoyable enough. Sure, it
doesn’t have anything notably clever; it doesn’t add anything of real value to
the established mythology. But, in the
first place, I didn’t really expect it to transcend the formula that the
original trilogy laid out. I just needed
it to properly use the concepts inherent to the MIB premise and adequately entertain as a popcorn flick with them. And it did.
As a Men in Black fan, I was
just happy to revisit its wacky world again.
That being said, of course, I
would have still preferred it more if Men
in Black: International actually surprised and surpassed expectations. Apt it may be as it is, the fact that it doesn’t
come close to being as fun and interesting as the original trilogy is still a
detrimental factor. Thus, it still ends
up as my least favorite in the series.
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