Genre:
Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Produced by:
Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes
Directed by:
F. Gary Gray
Written by:
Art
Marcum, Matt Holloway
Production Company: Columbia Pictures
Starring: Chris
Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rafe Spall, Liam
Neeson, Emma Thompson
Runtime: 115 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
Molly Wright (Tessa Thompson) was the sole witness of an alien encounter and her
parents’ neuralyzation by Men in Black agents when she was a child. Having
avoided neuralyzation, the moment inspires her to track down the MiB and work
for them. That finally comes true when she is an adult. As the rookie Agent M,
she teams up with the experienced Agent H (Chris
Hemsworth) to monitor and police alien activities on Earth, while also dealing
with their biggest threat yet: a mole in the MiB.
REVIEW:
It is hard to talk about the Men in Black franchise without
mentioning Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. The franchise doesn’t
necessarily belong to these two
actors, since there would not be any Men
in Black stories without Lowell
Cunningham, who wrote the comics back in the 1990. But their chemistry in
the movies is responsible for launching the brand into pop culture
conversation, evident from the franchise’s lightning-in-a-bottle debut Men in Black (1997).
Some might argue that Smith and Jones’ chemistry clicked because they had a solid script to work
with. But throughout this franchise, they’ve proven to be a chemistry that can make
even lesser scripts work, like Men in
Black II (2002) and Men in Black 3
(2012).
If there were any time the franchise broke
away from that formula, then Men in Black
3 was the closest. In that movie, Tommy
Lee Jones was restricted to a cameo role, with Will Smith having to recreate the same dynamic with Josh Brolin. But that’s small compared
to what Men in Black: International does.
For the first time in history, they’re going to do a Men in Black movie without any Will
Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ involvement
whatsoever. In a franchise that is so inherent to these two names, it’s a major
cause for concern.
But there is also some cause for
optimism. For one, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ replacements aren’t
that bad. Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth are the new Men in Black agents in town, and they
come with a chemistry that’s been tried-and-tested through their work in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers Endgame (2019). Another change
also happens in the director’s chair, with seasoned summer blockbuster
filmmaker F. Gary Gray replacing Barry Sonnenfeld. This is just three of
the many new faces coming into the Men in
Black universe, hoping to inject some freshness into a stale franchise.
Considering the talents at its disposal,
Men in Black: International is a
gigantic missed opportunity. The new Men
in Black reboot promises a new direction, only to end up delivering the
same old story yet again. Art Marcum
and Matt Holloway serve as the
screenwriters for this fourth installment, but they don’t really bring that
much innovative to the table on a story standpoint. Their script is essentially
Ed Solomon’s script from the 1997’s Men in Black, with only the slightest of
alterations.
Look no further than the premise. Here
is the 1997’s Men in Black’s premise:
a rookie character discovers the existence of the MiB organization, who then
hired him as an agent to help them deal with alien activities. Lets’ jump
forward twenty two years later, and guess what Men in Black: International’s premise is? Yes, it involves another
rookie character who discovers the MiB, the very organization that then hires
her as an agent to help them deal with alien activities.
Besides the “him” and “her”, the only
other difference lies in the nature of how the rookie character discovers the existence
of the MiB organization. In the first Men
in Black movie, Will Smith’s
rookie character discovers MiB’s existence through Tommy Lee Jones’ experienced agent character. In Men in Black: International, Tessa Thompson’s rookie character discovers
MiB’s existence on her own, without any experienced agent on sight. For the
most part though, this movie is just frustratingly derivative. Without spoiling
anything, it culminates into a finale that’s a shot-for-shot recreation of the
original’s finale and even, to a certain extent, a few moments from Men in Black II.
These are the kinds of narrative choices
Men in Black: International made that
sums up why the franchise as a whole never manages to escape its one-trick-pony
trappings. Some might even say that it should not have been a franchise in the
first place. 1997’s Men in Black might
have been meant to be a self-contained story, but it opened up such a fascinating
world that screamed franchise, one that could have been more fascinating if the
creators had taken bigger risk with the genre and storytelling. Instead, its
sequels, Men in Black: International
included, prefer recycling the tired buddy cop cliché of the original over
innovation.
And the franchise’s slavish adherence to
past Men in Black formula does little
favor for F. Gary Gray. In fact, it
kind of holds Gray back from fully realizing his creative
vision. It doesn’t help that he is taking over from Barry Sonnenfeld, the maker of all the Men in Black movies so far. In a way, Sonnenfeld helps define how a Men
in Black movie should look and feel. Sonnenfeld’s
style contrasts greatly from Gray’s,
with the former’s penchant for fantastical, Tim Burton-esque visuals feeling like it is worlds apart from the latter’s penchant for sleek, modern realism.
As the successor, Gray has to find some way to honor Sonnenfeld’s vision without sacrificing his, only to achieve
neither with the two. Lacking the sleekness of a typical F. Gary Gray movie and the imagination of Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black movies,
Men in Black: International is a
soullessly-made movie with a sense of humor, story and acting that is sure to
move and amuse robots, but not its most important target market: humans.
As a buddy cop comedy, Men in Black: International achieves the
impossible by making Tessa Thompson
and Chris Hemsworth, the funniest
chemistry in Hollywood today, unfunny. Marcum
and Holloway definitely rely on
their stars’ improvisational comic talents for their script’s humor to work,
but then again, that can only go so far. At a certain point, these stars need the
screenwriting duo to write them some funny lines, but it just never happens.
The fact that the best they’ve got is a Thor joke kind of says it all.
It spends two hours of its runtime
scrambling desperately for an inkling of humor that just isn’t there. Men in Black: International misses the
point of what makes the Men in Black
movies so funny. Like all the edgiest comedies, the franchise use humor as
means of social commentary. Deep within its
government-agents-who-deals-with-aliens concept, 1997’s Men in Black was a metaphor on immigration law and the society’s
newfound obsession for alien life, and they poked fun at these timely themes in
such a relatable way.
Men
in Black: International sacrifices the franchise’s signature thematic depth
for sexual innuendos, lazy pop-culture references and the Marvel-style quips.
That last one is probably the writers’ most noteworthy contribution to this
installment, since quips are the reason that movies these days make billion
dollars worldwide. Having also written an MCU movie Iron Man (2008), Marcum
and Holloway decide to turn the MiB
agents into Tony Stark-esque quip machines. A recurrent theme throughout this
movie is people cracking jokes by talking really, really fast, to the point
that it’s sometimes difficult to follow what they’re saying. In theory, the idea of the rapid-fire delivery
is to give energy to the humor. Yet, energy doesn’t matter if the material is
lacking. Onscreen, it just comes across as actors talking really fast in an
attempt to cover up bad humor.
Men
in Black: International’s flimsy humor is equally matched by its flimsy
storytelling. Marcum and Holloway’s espionage mystery concept sounds
like the refreshing departure the MiB
franchise needs after its predecessors’ heavy sci-fi influence, but the duo’s
unfocused script lacks the commitment and intrigue required to fully function
as that genre. Instead, its espionage mystery influence gets lost in the
shuffle of a reboot that cannot make up its mind in regards to what kind of
movie it is. Is it an espionage mystery with a MiB twist to it or the other way around?
Men
in Black: International experiments with these two distinct plot threads,
but they never quite coalesce into a cohesive whole. Eventually, the writers’
indecision translates into a movie that’s highly inconsequential. What should
have been a high-stake adventure to save the MiB’s reputation turns out to be just
as disposable as Agent H and M’s globetrotting, yet formulaic alien MiB adventure.
On that end, Marcum and Holloway waste
what could have been an interesting whodunit spin on the Men in Black formula. Men in
Black: International’s premise alone is shrouded in mystery: a pair of MiB
agents tries to track down a mole within their organization. Yet, there is
never a sense that the characters are unraveling any mystery throughout the
movie. In fact, it’s hardly even a mystery when the characters aren’t really
that dedicated into finding the mole and the movie isn’t interested in giving
the characters clues that will lead them closer to the mole. The mystery almost
feels like an afterthought that it has to reference once in awhile to make sure
that people don’t forget about it.
Even as a mystery, the movie takes so
many predictable twists and turns. Without spoiling anything, it’s hard to be
surprised by a twist when the character that’s revealed to be the mole all
along is played by a talent who is renowned for playing moles in other movies. And
so, rather than spend the whole movie guessing who the mole is, it is more
about waiting for this would-be mole to get exposed.
Other than as a halfhearted espionage
mystery, Men in Black: International
is still a Men in Black movie. It
once again pits the Men in Black agents against the scum of the universe.
Men
in Black’s
latest scum of the universe is a pair of indestructible aliens named the Twins
(Les Twins) who has the power to
control all forms of matter. In other words, they’re the toughest alien that
the MiB agents have ever faced. Still, that does not automatically make them
entertaining. In fact, they are kind of boring.
In a dark, gritty superhero movie, the
Twins would be the perfect villain, but not in the lighthearted Men in Black movies. In this franchise,
the villain’s greatest power is their wacky personality, something the Twins don’t
have. It doesn’t help that they hardly speak throughout the movie, which makes
it difficult to connect with them as characters. It almost seems as if they don’t
have any character motivation. They’re just two guys who exist here just to
trip over the MiB’s feet once in awhile. And it later leads to another twist
that would render their presence pointless.
Besides the Twins, another alien Riza (Rebecca Ferguson), who has a past with
the MiB, shows up briefly and adds nothing new to the proceedings. All these
alien subplots involving the Twins and Riza are just fillers in a flimsy story stretched
way too thin to fit the two-hour long runtime.
But a Men in Black movie would not be complete without the Men in Black
agents. With Agent J and Agent K out of the picture, Men in Black: International introduces a new pairing in town: Agent
M and Agent H. M and H’s mission here isn’t easy. They have to live up to its
predecessors’ expectations, not only as agents but also as characters. On that
end, Marcum and Holloway just fall short.
Tessa
Thompson’s
Molly Wright/ Agent M is the easily the best character in the movie. Marcum and Holloway fully realize her arc in a way that makes her natural,
relatable yet also different from Will
Smith’s similarly rookie character. Unlike Smith’s cynical rookie, Thompson’s
rookie is more of an optimist when it
comes to the alien phenomenon. Inspired by her childhood encounter, Molly is
obsessed with proving that aliens and Men in Black exist. That might make her seems
delusional to many, but at the same time, they are the things that make her
feel like she’s herself. A loner who finds jobs hard to come by because of her
obsession, being an MiB agent and meeting aliens give her purpose. On a human
perspective, it’s easy to relate to Molly’s desire to find a place where others
can accept her for who she is.
While Agent M is a fully-developed
character, Chris Hemsworth’s Agent H
is the opposite. In fact, H has no character. His character is as surface level
as an MiB agent with a reputation. If there’s anything more than that, then he’s
a quip machine with a reckless disregard for authority. Still, that’s just a
quirk meant to make H feel like he is a “character”. For the most part, it’s
hard to identify what makes H any different to a random MiB agent. Even a
heart-to-heart moment with M in the desert is not enough to flesh him out as a
character. It’s hard when he doesn’t go through any character arc. He is a
reckless, quippy agent in the beginning and remains the same way throughout the
movie. It makes it even harder to warm into a character whose reckless and
quippy charm is annoying.
Other than being a comedy, Men in Black: International is also a sci-fi
action movie. On paper, the movie could not have landed a more perfect director
than F. Gary Gray. Experienced in directing kinetic and propulsive action sequences, he could bring that much-needed new voice
to the franchise’s sci-fi action. Gray does
try to put his kinetic and propulsive stamp to the action by placing a large
emphasis on choreography and stunt work over Sonnenfeld’s flair for spectacle. It’s got more scenes of MiB agents
engaged in close quarter combat with the aliens. So far so good, right? Yet, the
direction is anything but kinetic and propulsive. Gray seems to struggle in incorporating his vision in a world that
is so inherent to Sonnenfeld’s vision.
It’s almost as if Gray is forced by
the higher ups to mimic the way Sonnenfeld
directs action.
But perhaps the greatest disappointment
with Men in Black: International is
its overreliance on CGI. If it’s state-of-the-art CGI, then it would not have
been a major problem, but in this movie’s case, it’s an overreliance on bad CGI.
It is by no means saying that the visual effect artists aren’t’ talented, but
somehow, with this production, they cannot find a way to seamlessly integrate
the computer elements into the live-action surroundings. And it’s a movie that
features a lot of CGI-human interaction, especially since the alien creatures here
are mostly digitally rendered, a departure from the more practical
effect-inspired design of the previous three movies.
It doesn’t help that this movie doesn’t
have the luxury of having Rick Baker anymore,
a make-up artist who worked on the alien creature design for the previous three
MiB movies. Having also won the Oscar
for his make-up work in the first movie, Baker
made beautiful use of make up to create alien creatures that still look
otherworldly yet oddly realistic. If Baker
hadn’t retired, the Men in Black crew
would take him back in a heartbeat. But they couldn’t, so they’re forced with CGI-made
creatures that look bad in the sense that their designs are distractingly
cartoonish. There is a scene where Tessa
Thompson is standing in between two CGI aliens, which looks like something
from a Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
movie, which is pretty embarrassing for a tentpole studio movie.
Men
in Black: International proves once again that Tessa Thompson and Chris
Hemsworth have impeccable chemistry. As a pair, they are blessed with a
natural sense of effervescent charisma and bulls-eye comic timing that can
light up even the most lackluster material. Individually, Thompson brings a consistent childlike sense of fun and wonder as
Agent M that the movie can’t seem to always match. Hemsworth plays Agent H like he’s Thor in a black suit and his
interpretation is hit and miss. Kumail
Nanjiani instills some attitude and a few worthy laughs in a voice role as
Pawny, playing well off of Tessa
Thompson and Chris Hemsworth. Emma Thompson is a bundle of joy to
watch in her all-too-brief appearance as Agent O.
CONCLUSION:
Men
in Black: International traps Tessa Thompson
and Chris Hemsworth’s reliably easy,
breezy chemistry in a flat, lifeless and humorless attempt at recreating
familiar beats from the 1997 film, all of which amounts to a cinematic
neuralyzer.
Score: 4.5/10
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