Byline: Isiah Leach
Men in Black International, a spinoff of the original MIB series, was released in 2019. Following a similar plot from the original film, by protecting the world from alien threats, the MIB faces a greater threat, which is a mole inside their own organization. A decent movie, this is one of the worst out of the other three. Being lackluster and forgettable, this film fails to live up the hype and expectations.
In my opinion, being a big fan of the original trilogy, I was disappointed by this film. Not knowing what the actual plot was before I watched the film, I was excited about what this film was going to add to the MIB universe. One big thing that didn’t bother me was that the two main characters, who are played by Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Both coming off an incredibly successful film in Avengers: Endgame as Thor and Valkyrie, the hype for this film was big. This is the same thing that happened by Robert Downey Jr., he starred in Dolittle and all the fans hyped it up to be similar to his role as Iron Man, only to be disappointed. One example of it being great, was the chemistry that both Chris and Tessa had on and off screen, similar to their chemistry on Thor: Ragnarok. A film filled with countless cheesy one liners, boring dialogue, and a predictable plot throughout the film, really made this movie uninteresting to me.
Roughly a quarter of the way through the film, one of the characters says that there could very well be a mole inside the Men in Black. At this point, I was able to predict all of the main plot points that were going to be. The main villain that was being shown off, who was shown as very dangerous and mysterious, which was great, would ultimately do their evil deeds for good. The main person who was teased as the mole, was actually good, and the mole was the leader (Liam Neeson). The alien that Tessa’s character met in the beginning of the movie, which she saved and it caused her interest in joining the MIB, ended up showing up later in the film, working for a bad guy, and then helped the main characters survive.
In the beginning of the movie when Chris’s and Liam’s characters were introduced by going up to the Eiffel Tower to stop an alien species known as The Hive from destroying the world. This scene did not show the battle, but t was hinted throughout the movie that both characters saved the world from The Hive. In the end, when it is revealed that Liam’s character was the mole, and being controlled by The Hive, it showed that he wiped Chris’s character mind so he wouldn’t remember what the truth was, only what he was told. One last example of bad storytelling, was when the film ended, where it began, and with the same villain. Both the beginning and end, were on top of the Eiffel Tower, fighting off The Hive to save the world from total destruction. One cool moment was that they had a little nod to Thor.
In the end, this film was not good. It lacked something new that we had not seen before and just reused the same plot as the other films. Going through the film, there was nothing notable, nothing that stood out, nothing really memorable. If you are a fan of the original series, I would not recommend seeing this, as it adds nothing to the MIB universe, and overall is not the best film.
MIB: International – 5/10