Men in Black: International
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.png) After watching this spin-off, we can all agree we shouldn't let anyone remember it........
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Men in Black: International (stylized as MIB: International in promotional material) is a 2019 American science fiction action comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It is a fourth installment and spin-off of the Men in Black film series, loosely based on the Malibu/Marvel comic book series of the same name by Lowell Cunningham. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Ferguson, Rafe Spall, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois, and Liam Neeson. Emma Thompson reprises her role from the third film, while Tim Blaney returns to voice Frank the Pug from the first two installments. The film premiered in New York City on June 11, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 14, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing, under its Columbia Pictures label.
Plot
The Men in Black have expanded to cover the globe but so have the universe's villains. To keep everyone safe, decorated Agent H and determined rookie M join forces -- an unlikely pairing that just might work. When aliens that can take the form of any human arrive on Earth, H and M embark on a globe-trotting adventure to save the agency -- and ultimately the world -- from their mischievous plans.
Why This Is Not the Men in Black
- Nearly all of the charm that the first three films had is gone here to the point that this movie in some aspects doesn't feel like a Men in Black film.
- Most of the characters are bland, forgettable, and barely get any development at all.
- Agent M, one of the two main protagonists, is Mary Sue, which causes her to be particularly lacking in personality.
- Agents J and K, the protagonists of the previous films, don't appear at all in this film.
- They do, however, appear in a cameo via a painting.
- The humor is mostly boring, unfunny, and cringe-worthy, especially when compared to the previous three films. Not even Chris Hemsworth, who is known for his comedic performances in the MCU could make the scenes that were supposed to be humorous funny.
- The plot is very flawed most likely because the script was being rewritten constantly during filming.
- It's too similar to the previous films, despite having a very different set of characters and taking place mostly outside of New York City.
- It's also much more generic and lower stake when compared to the first three films.
- The pacing makes the film feel like a checklist of events rather than a naturally flowing story.
- The plot twist that reveals who the true main antagonist is fairly obvious.
- Most of the special effects and action scenes, while passable, are nothing special and don't stand out from the previous films.
- Plenty of illogical scenes, some of which happen out of pure coincidence.
- One such example is at the beginning where the MIB agents neutralize Molly's parents while she is watching through her window. Since the agents were facing toward her window, how did they not spot her watching them?
- Product placement up the wazoo everywhere, including Phillips, Listerine, NASA, Hamilton Watches, and McDonald's.
- A few scenes are also nearly identical to scenes from the first film, such as the beginning scene involving an incident with an alien during the nighttime, or the scene where The Twins disguise themselves as humans, killing the human they're imposing as in the process.
- Not only that, but the ending scene is nearly identical to the ending scene in the first Back to the Future.
- The main antagonists, High-T (Liam Neeson's character), are severely lacking in personality; they aren't comical like Edgar the Bug or intimidating and dark like Boris the Animal. They also have generic goals.
- Most of the alien designs aren't that interesting or creative.
- Various bits of political propaganda are scattered throughout the storyline. Director F. Gary Gray's original cut was way worse in this regard, but producer Walter Parkes rightly pointed out that audiences don't go to movies to be lectured and recut the movie to remove as much of the propaganda as possible.
- One bit of propaganda that sadly wasn't removed was Agent M complaining about why they're called "Men" in Black. All three movies in the original series (plus the animated spin-off) showed that the agency had female agents working for them, meaning that this movie stops the storyline from preaching about something that was never really that big of a deal in the first place.
- The film states that the first alien migration to Earth occurred in 1889. However, in the first Men in Black, it is established that the first contact was made on March 2, 1961, making it an error.
Redeeming Qualities
- Although not as good as Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson have some good chemistry between them and give good performances.
- The main protagonists of the last three films, Agents J and K, make a cameo via a painting.
- Its score by Danny Elfman, while identical to the previous films and Chris Bacon is still decent.
- There's a scene where Agent H takes a hammer and throws it at one of the antagonists in a way that parodies Chris Hemsworth's character Thor from the MCU and is a little bit humorous.
Reception
Men in Black: International was met with mostly negative reception from critics and audiences, who criticized the "lackluster action and forgettable plot" and is considered to be the worst film in the Men in Black franchise, although Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon's score and the chemistry between Hemsworth and Thompson was praised. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 318 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Amiable yet forgettable, MiB International grinds its stars' substantial chemistry through the gears of a franchise running low on reasons to continue.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."
However, audience reception was more mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an audience approval rating of 66%, with an average rating of 3.67/5. The user score on Metacritic is 4.2/10. On IMDb, it has a score of 5.6/10. On Letterboxd, it has a score of 2.4/5. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest score of the franchise, while those at PostTrak gave it a 72% overall positive score and a 46% "definite recommend." It is the lowest-rated film of the franchise on all four sites (except for the audience approval rating and score on Rotten Tomatoes whilst Men in Black 2 has a lower rating).
Box Office
Men in Black: International was a box office disappointment, it grossed $253.9 million against the $110 million budget. It is considered the lowest-grossing film in the Men in Black franchise, and the fact that it was released too close to the highly anticipated films like Toy Story 4 and Spider-Man: Far from Home.
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- 2010s films
- Action films
- American films
- Bad movies from good franchises
- Box office disappointments
- Buddy films
- Columbia Pictures
- Amblin Entertainment
- Live-action films
- Comedy films
- Science fiction films
- Sony films
- Propaganda films
- Spin-offs
- Aware of how bad they are
- Movies with obvious product placement
- Political films
- Movies that killed the franchise