'Men in Black: International' Is Enjoyable Enough; Still the Worst of the Series

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.