★
The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.
Classification: 12A
Whatever charm you may remember from the original Men in Black films is woefully absent from this lifeless reboot, even with a star-studded cast Men in Black: International leaves its audience suffering from beginning to end. With no room to breathe, the structure of the film allows for no real character development or story to take hold, just moving from one set piece to another to justify the subtitle of the film. The stakes are tenuous at best with the film relying on Hemsworth and Thompson’s charisma and chemistry to sell the science fiction gibberish to little effect. The story couldn’t even be called predictable as very quickly you lose all interest in the story and whatever surprises they try to throw your way in the third act have no significance to the audience.
Men in Black: International is, unfortunately, one of those films that brings together a cast of combined comedic and dramatic strength and then completely wastes them with its spiritless script. The film doesn’t even feel it had a director at times as F. Gary Gray really struggles to build a cohesive and exciting narrative with perhaps the most interesting elements of the film are the references to the previous instalments. Now International can have credit for not ripping off the story of the original completely and creating different origins for the new agents but the pacing rushes through it so quickly that it ruins any chance the audience has to make a connection with these characters.
Performance-wise, nothing stands out or is impressive, Tessa Thompson as the earnest Agent M had potential again solely because of Thompson’s talent but the script is so dull even Thompson’s talent can’t salvage the faults. Hemsworth as Agent H is using his Thor persona as a handsome fool with charming wit and the two together may not be the iconic Agent K and Agent J but they have a nice partnership. The rest of the cast fill in the rest of the stereotypes; comic relief, authority figures and antagonists with no originality or creativity with any of them, its a shame to see this kind of talent wasted. Men in Black: International has some entertaining action and set pieces but the lack of narrative cohesion in this action does very little to make the film’s story more interesting.
The whole film feels like it was approved by a corporate board instead of a genuine creative endeavour. It isn’t the absence of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones that hurts Men in Black: International but the lack of compelling direction on all fronts for the film. Hemsworth and Thompson may look dapper in the suits, the tech may look pretty and the international locale is exciting but it's all so hollow, the curious world of Men in Black feels like a husk by the end. This film does the bare minimum hoping brand recognition and star power will somehow make up for its faults but they only add on to the depressing final result.
Now put on some sunglasses and insert your neuralizer joke here because we probably won’t see the Men in Black again until their next reboot in about ten years.
Director: #FGaryGray
Cast: #ChrisHemsworth, #TessaThompson, #RebeccaFerguson, #KumailNanjiani, #RafeSpall, #LaurentBourgeois, #LarryBourgeois, #EmmaThompson, #LiamNeeson
Release Date: June 14th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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