by James H. Carter II

“Men In Black International” reboots the iconic franchise with “Thor” stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson taking the lead. I was on board with this because I believe the film series needed a fresh take after the lackluster 3rd installment. I am a huge fan of Tessa Thompson after her amazing performance in “Thor: Ragnarock” and it’s great to see her as the lead in a major film. Hemsworth is always charming and fun to watch on screen but admittedly he seems to be doing a variation of Thor’s arrogance and his witty little side quips. They are joined by the top notch talents of Emma Thompson (no relation) and Liam Neeson. It’s always a pleasure watching both actors effortlessly deliver incredible performances. They definitely make up for the lack of a “Tommy Lee Jones” being in the film.

There are a lot of familiar elements and nods to the original films including the wonderful Danny Elfman theme, opening title sequence, and of course Frank the pug! There is plenty of humor throughout between Hemsworth’s one liners and the commentary from various aliens along the way. Most of the aliens are small and super cute and seemed to be designed to launch a plush toy line. To contrast, the “villain” aliens are super creepy and looked incredible. The design of these characters and their evil powers cross over into horror realm and were definitely my favorite aspect of the film.

The action scenes are very well done and fun to watch. My favorite was a fight scene between Tessa Thompson’s Agent M and a three armed woman played by Rebecca Ferguson from the Mission Impossible films. Speaking of which, there were plenty of Spy / Thriller elements throughout the film, with a major plotline involving uncovering a mole in the London MIB branch.

Even with all of the crazy action and the super creepy villains, I never really felt like any of the characters were in any real danger. The film has all the ingredients for a great summer action comedy blockbuster, but something is missing. The only explanation I have is because I wasn’t invested in the stakes of the film, I really didn’t care what the outcome was. I wish the studio would have gone forward with the original idea of crossing over “Men in Black” with the “21 Jump Street” films. Despite this I still think it’s fun. It’s a good popcorn flick and will hold you over while you wait for the next “Thor” movie!

“Men In Black International” Review

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