Men in Black: International is a quasi-reboot of the beloved Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones space cops franchise from the ’90s. This new, globe-trotting adventure stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson. Despite the lackluster trailers, I was kinda looking forward to this film. For starters, Hemsworth and (Tessa) Thompson had wonderful chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok and Endgame! Second, a movie like this, dealing with immigration issues today, could have made this film more relevant and elevated it from becoming just another MiB flick.

Positives

Even though they were a lot better in Ragnarok, Tessa Thompson, and Chris Hemsworth have great chemistry nonetheless. If it weren’t for these 2 leads at the helm, this movie would surely not work. They have delightful back-and-forths and the movie absolutely shines when it lets the duo interact with each other. Even though most of the lines aren’t funny per-say, it’s their delivery that makes it work. In addition, the little, Alita-eyed, samurai alien creature, Pawny (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) gets the best jokes and is a nice addition.

In terms of humor, this film is a sort of half-and-half. When the movie lets Hemsworth, Thompson, and Nanjiani (Pawny) interact with each other, I genuinely had a good time. But I will say, the references to Hemsworth’s Marvel role, Thor, wielding a hammer made me crack up!

The performances are solid throughout. Even though most of the character arcs are non-existent, the actors do the best with what they have to work with.

Negatives

Rather than bringing something unique to the table, this film is more or less in the vein of the last 3 but, worse. Hemsworth’s character, agent H, is constantly proclaimed to be one of the best in the organization but that is the opposite of what is actually presented. Throughout the movie, he is messing around, cracking jokes, and frankly incompetent. Albeit a nitpick, Thompson’s character discovering the secret base by putting a hand through the fence is nonsensical.

It’s hard to imagine that no one’s ever discovered that before. But, I digress. The villains, teased in the trailers, don’t have much to do and their phasing abilities are all they have. And of course, as you’d expect in a MiB movie, there are twists and turns but seriously, they are extremely predictable.

Despite having the likes of Hemsworth and Thompson at the helm, and aliens, this movie had me bored for a good amount of time. About 10-15 minutes could have been cut out, which would have improved the pacing. The plot also gets quite convoluted, once the big reveal happens. Also, what was the point of Rebecca Ferguson’s character? Her character serves absolutely no purpose but simply ends up taking a huge chunk of screen-time.

Rating

It seems like Men in Black: International joins the recent trend of critically-panned yet semi-enjoyable films (Godzilla 2 and Dark Phoenix). Despite 2 charismatic leads and solid performances, this new incarnation of the iconic Men in Black franchise has a messy story, poor characters, questionable directing choices and an unnecessarily lengthy runtime. 2.5/5