The first Men In Black released back in 1997 was and still is an excellent movie. It was full of fascinating and creative visuals, witty and intelligent writing, relatable characters, and some of the best jokes & action scenes anyone could ask for. What made it so fantastic, at least to me, was the implications of a vast and diverse universe just perfect for all kinds of new stories to be told and strange worlds to explore. Sadly, the guys at Columbia Pictures (owned by SONY) chose not to even consider that possibility in favor of spending two more movies (and one cartoon show) rehashing the exact same story and plot almost verbatim. After the third movie flopped back in 2012, SONY put the franchise on the back burner and spent the past few years trying to figure out a way to revive it once again. It seems that their solution was to cast two of the Avengers, set parts of the story in a few exotic locations (on Earth) like a James Bond movie, and put in a bunch of old jokes that only L.A. comedy writers think are still funny. Despite that, however, there are some decent occasional good moments and some remarkable chemistry between the two leads, but that's not enough to detract from what this movie really is: a meaningless reminder of a better movie you could be watching.
The story follows a young woman named Molly (Tessa Thompson) who sees and remembers the MIB having witnessed them Neutralizing (a memory erasing device) her parents not knowing she was watching. When she grows up, she seeks out and eventually finds her way inside the MIB headquarters expressing a lifelong desire to join. Having proven herself capable as a potential agent, the head of the New York Branch Agent O (Emma Thompson) decides to hire Molly, now known as Agent M, under a probational trial. Her first assignment is to head to the MIB London Branch and investigate a possible breach within the agency. Upon arriving, she meets up with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and his former partner and leader of the London Branch Agent High T (Liam Neeson), and together they investigate who may be the mole within their ranks. From there, the story becomes a series of shenanigans and pratfalls that are under the impression they are funny and within the spirit of the original movie. Spoilers: They are not!
The biggest problem with this movie is the script. In addition to the unfunny jokes and easy-to-decern plot, it doesn't really have any relatable characters. Sure, as I mentioned before, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are great performers with solid chemistry together, but aside from one or two defining traits, there's really not much to them. Even worse, the script has an incredibly bad habit of telling rather than showing. For example, there is a scene when Agent M receives a welcoming gift from Agent High T, which we discover later on has a tracking device inside it. Except, the only time we ever see this gift is when she first receives it...and that's it. She never uses it in at any point in the film, and we only learn the fact that it was bugged because Agent M says so in a throw-away line of dialogue. There's a reason the golden rule in cinema is "show, don't tell." Because not only are movies a predominantly visual medium but unless you show it, it might as well not have happened.
The editing in the film is terrible. The whole movie never feels like a coherent story. Instead, it feels like the filmmakers started out with one idea for a story, changed their minds halfway and started another idea, then changed their minds again and went with another entirely different direction than what they started with. Then, in a desperate attempt to make a single movie, SONY hired three editors to salvage what they could from the jumbled mess they were given. It's almost on par with Bohemian Rhapsody in terms of terrible editing.
The film was directed by F. Gary Gray, who previously handled some of my favorite movies, such as The Negotiator and Straight Outta Compton. Not to mention the latest Fast & Furious film, which was a whole lot of fun and had some impressive action scenes. I cannot say if this sudden dip in quality is due to a lack of interest or Studio interference, but something has gone wrong, and I hope that F. Gary Gray can come back from this. Because I refuse to believe that the same guy who successfully handled a decent remake of The Italian Job had anything to do with how lackluster this poor excuse of a movie turned out.
The only other saving grace from this film, aside from the watchable performances from the two main leads, is one small character (literally) named Pawny (Kumail Nanjiani). He's probably the best thing about this movie and will very likely become the one thing about this film anyone will remember. Because this little character is so funny, so likable, so textured, and so versatile that if they keep trying to make more MIB movies, I will be insulted if they don't include this character in some capacity.
Men In Black: International feels like a movie that cannot decide what it wants to be. It tries to do too many things at once without even looking at the target. I do want to see more MIB movies, but only if they make some real effort to do something different with the incredible universe they have established for themselves. The performances are okay and, like I said, Pawny is entirely entertaining, but they can't save the tragic dullness that is the rest of the film. If there's nothing else playing that you're interested in this week, then it's okay. Otherwise, I recommend waiting for the video.
Is this movie worth seeing?
Nor really.
Is it worth seeing in theaters?
No.
Why?
It has no real life to it and whatever life is there is too short lived to enjoy on the big screen. Skip it or wait for Netflix.
Ladies & gentelmen, I am TheNorm, thank you very much for reading.
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