I wish I liked MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL more than I did; but I was left with more feelings of “meh” about the whole thing. The characters were fine. The plot was pretty boring. The villains (minus Rebecca Ferguson) were dull. And how disappointing because the film really does have a fantastic, charismatic cast and is the next chapter of a franchise I have always considered to be fun and entertaining. But throughout the two-hour movie, which actually felt like four hours, I kept praying for someone to give the movie a jolt of energy. Instead, I was brainstorming title ideas for this review…
The movie started out decent enough. Following an alien/Men In Black encounter as a child, Molly (Tessa Thompson) has been obsessed with trying to track down the guys in suits and their extraterrestrial targets for years. She finally finds a couple MIB agents and follows them back to their New York City Headquarters, attempting to sneak-in herself. Of course she is found out right away and comes face to face with super spy Agent O (Emma Thompson), who after seeing Molly’s passion, offers her a probationary job at the London field office.
Molly, now “Agent M,” is determined to make a name for herself and convinces H (Chris Hemsworth), the proclaimed “best agent” in the organization to let her tag along on his upcoming mission. The initial target is to wine and dine alien royalty, but when that quickly goes out of hand, M discovers the real danger may not be coming from outer space, but within the Men in Black itself.
I loved the way the film started out, especially focusing on Queen Tessa Thompson. We got to see the life of a Men in Black agent through the eyes of a fangirl, and if I can relate to anything, I can relate to that. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson’s chemistry is good enough, and I do appreciate that they didn’t make their relationship into a romance, but the real standouts of the film for me were Emma Thompson and Rebecca Ferguson and both are in the film for only about 10 minutes each. Pawn (Kumail Nanjiani), a cute and sassy alien creature, also is a welcomed breath of fresh air, but at times floats into the direction of overstaying his welcome.
A twist in the final act is as eye-roll inducing as it is predictable… to the point where I think I audibly groaned. This was the cherry on top to a pretty unremarkable movie-going experience. Lucky for you, I did your dirty work and sat through the credits and verified that THERE ARE NO END CREDIT SCENES. So if you do decide to ignore my advice and see the movie, you can head for the door the second its over. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
My Review: C-
