REVIEW: Men in Black International

by Fanboy SEO · Published June 13, 2019 · Updated June 13, 2019

Here’s my review for Men in Black International which stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. The film was directed by F. Gary Gray and distributed by Columbia Pictures Philippines.

Chris Hemsworth (H) with Em (Tessa Thompson) in Marrakech in Columbia Pictures’ MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL.

This new “volume” in the MIB franchise brings in the lovely cast of Thor: Ragnarok namely Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie). But this time they arent there to save Asgard but rather Earth from the threat of the scum of the universe.

The Good

The film finds a good balance of fresh things to inject while giving us a nice bit of throwback from the first three movies once in a while.
The comedy is hit or miss from time to time. There will be some moments that would pass by normal viewers and will make you laugh if you stretch your imagination or if you’ve got a dirty mind.
There’s a really good twist in the movie that is exquisitely peeled slowly as we come to the third act.
Tessa Thompson as Agent M was a very endearing and interesting character. She may have been what Agent L would have been if they wrote her better in the first trilogy. She doesn’t rely on sex appeal but rather on spunk.

Chris Hemsworth works his magic here again. He really did channel the arrogance and ineptitude of Agent H in this one. He also has the charisma and onscreen appeal to make him the new person to carry Men in Black on his shoulders.
I thought the mention of gender diversity was a step towards the right direction. At least they tried to explain in the realm of the movie’s narrative anyway, why they still call the bureau “Men in Black” despite having women in it.

Em (Tessa Thompson) and H (Chris Hemsworth) in Columbia Pictures’ MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL.

The Bad

There are just some moments that will require some adult sensibilities to make you get it. The audience I got didn’t really get some of the jokes; so its either the writing isn’t as effective or it just flew past them.

Chris Hemsworth (H) with Em (Tessa Thompson) in Marrakech in Columbia Pictures’ MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL.

It’s 2019 already and there are still a number of scenes that suffer from crappy or dated CGI.
I am not a big fan of the James Bond-y approach to the film. Yeah, we get it Chris Hemsworth is a slick man but we miss Agent K and Agent J’s approach to battling aliens. Hemsworth’s Agent H is one that just causes big explosions and brings the spectacle. That may not sit well with the fans of the original trilogy.
Without spoiling, the whole reveal of who the enemy is was so painfully obvious from the first few minutes of the movie.
As the main villain for the film, the actor/actress in question didn’t really shine. This makes the villain from the first movie, Edgar, a lot better from a narrative standpoint.
Totally not spoiling, but you will miss the theme they used to do of showing us how small we are in the universe. They skipped that in exchange of a Back to the Future ending.
We sorely miss the campy aliens we saw from the past films. We don’t have the ballchinians or something from that category in this one. That pug and the worms makes a cameo but its really not enough. Pawny/ Steve was great but we need more.

Verdict:

8/10

As a moviegoer, I liked the film, it had a lot of great set pieces and cool gadgets, total upgrade from what we’ve seen in the past Men in Black movies. As a Men in Black fan, it falters towards the end to be worthy of the original Men in Black; it won’t be the same tier actually. But still, for all its worth, I still think Men in Black International is entertaining.