Men in Black International

The Men in Black have expanded to cover the globe but so have the villains of the universe. To keep everyone safe, decorated Agent H and determined rookie M join forces -- an unlikely pairing that just might work. When aliens that can take the form of any human arrive on Earth, H and M embark on a globe-trotting adventure to save the agency -- and ultimately the world -- from their mischievous plans.

Ah, the latest MiB film in the series of aliens, secrets and the neutraliser! It’s back, but with a twist in the terms of the character roster and the actors behind them - from the first look at trailers and initial reviews, I wasn’t impressed but it’s safe to say that after watching this film, I was pleasantly surprised. Men in Black International follows the journey of two characters, agent M and agent H and their various missions and other side quests. The film doesn’t stick on a single trail with one distinct storyline though, and that’s what keeps us guessing and keeps the whole film intense and interesting. The main question though, is this film worth being neutralised over or is it a real out of this world adventure? Here are my thoughts.

I thought that the key to the emotion and excitement of this film was brought right from the very beginning, the choice to throw us into the battle on the Eiffel Tower not only really helped to start the film off in an exciting way but it also gave us some context as to who the characters were, what their intentions were and the relationships they shared with each other. The choice to drop us straight into the action from the very beginning was a perfect choice because it helped to start off the film strongly and get our attention straight away. I thought that undoubtedly one of my favourite elements of the film led off this starting scene, I thought that the way in which the characters were represented and portrayed was really good and made the film enjoyable, yet entertaining and true to the series. Obviously the two biggest characters in the film stood out for me the most, I thought that Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth really stood out for me here as the best part of the film, not only did they really help to make the characters seem interesting but they also made the storyline seem exciting and engaging because of the way in which they really seemed to fit the roles perfectly, don’t get me wrong, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones won’t be beaten but I thought that Chris and Tessa still made the characters seem exciting and interesting regardless. I liked how we saw progression and change in the characters too, it was enjoyable to see

How Molly changed as a character going from the initial interest in the ‘extraterrestrial‘ to actively joining the MiB and seeing how the character changed was really interesting due to the mysterious and strange vibes presented at the start of the film, seeing her progression then allowed us to feel at ease because it felt like she was a representation of the audience - a newcomer learning the ropes and that was really cool to experience. There was character development with Agent H learning he doesn't have to work alone, and Agent M learning to trust her gut. There was a lot of avoided cliché moments that could've come with two people of the opposite sex working together, like needless jealousy and undeserved flirting. Agent H and Agent M actually had motivations for how they interacted with each other. Not to mention their characters weren't that cliché or stereotypical either. Like Agent H wasn't just reckless and arrogant, he was actually caring and passionate. Plus the two main characters didn't fall in love! Which is refreshing because it wasn't necessary!

I also really liked how the elements which make a MiB film so great were evident here too, the ways in which CGI were used to show the mixture of aliens, humans and their technologies was really cool - seeing the hover bikes and the variety of cool weapons was really interesting and enthralling to witness because it provided us with a real-world look of how the mixture of characters and species would look - again providing a really immersive experience for us which I loved! The cast of actual actors is great too - it is perfectly chosen, from the heavy-weight talents (Liam Nelson, Emma Thompson) to the buddy pairing/trio (Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth/Kumail Nanjiani) I thought that all round - the acting and character roster was great. I liked Thompson's attitude and her backstory. Though Hemsworth's character comes on a bit strong in the beginning and his motivations for the way he currently is could've been spelt out a little better, he remains charming and does a convincing portrayal of his emotional journey. Kumail Nanjiani really brings on the laughs as the voice of a tiny alien. The enemy duo agents fight are really impressive looking and dangerous. One of the key elements to a film like this is ensuring that the characters and actors have chemistry together, they definitely did here and it really showed - I loved how Chris and Tessa really seemed to make the characters seem realistic and exciting, whilst also keeping them interesting and engaging for us and maintaining the element of mystery around them. I definitely felt like the characters were some of the best parts of the film. I think that it’s really helped by the fact that F. Gary Gray (director of the previous films) was involved again here, because it really showed that the original spirit and themes presented in the original films were shown here, making the characters engaging for both hardcore fans and standard filmgoers.

Another key element to any film is the storyline and ensuring that it is well laid out, makes sense and is enjoyable - if I’m honest I can’t tick off all three of them but I will say that the plot (in places) was not only really exciting but also really felt engaging and enthralling for us, some of these scenes included the hoverbike chase scene, the club scene and battle at the start and the job interview scene. I thought that there were a variety of good and straightforward scenes that provided us with enough context and story awareness to cover some of the cracked parts of the story, this helped to make sure that the general theme and purpose of the film was communicated well. A really well welcomed part of the film was the twists, I thought it was strange how they all happened at the end of the film, but in fact they actually played off really well and allowed a lot of the audience to leave our comfort zones and really feel excited towards the ending of the film - not only were the twists really well played out but they were also unpredictable, seeing High T as the mole in the organisation and that agent H was neutralised to forget the lost battle were some really powerful twists which made the ending of the film exciting, powerful and unpredictable- helping to keep the impact of the film very high. I also liked how the actual plot of the film seemed to stay true to the franchise, by involving extraterrestrials throughout, seeing cool and exciting new weapons and the combination of him/alien life really helped to establish not only the characters and their decisions but also the plot and the storyline, because it allowed us to become immersed in the film, and therefore much more engaged and excited by the events in the film.

Smaller elements of the film such as Pawny and Riza were nice additions which provided a fresh view into the film, by giving us a breath of fresh air, and scenes with them felt interesting and enjoyable due to the nature of how their characters were built up over time.

The film was by no means perfect though, I was pretty disappointed by a variety of parts in the film, not because the parts weren’t good but the problem was that the plot was dull and empty, I didn't have many bad things to write about because there were not many things to write about in general! I think that far too much screentime was used to show chases and character dialogue, instead of really explaining and demonstrating the purpose of why the characters are doing what they are doing - at the moment I just felt like it wasn’t that well weighted. Seeing the variety of splits in the world was also a confusing concept to grasp, agent M could teleport through strange walls which was cool concept but left a lot to be questioned, like how no one had ever noticed it, or when she was actually in the ‘other world’ or when she was in the normal world - that’s the problem with the film, there's a lot of cool and exciting stuff but most of it isn’t well enough explained which lets it down. Or even as to who the bad guys were and why they were so scary, they were presented very well yes through their scary teleporting ways, but there was no explanation as to who they are or their purpose. Far too many elements to the film like this were overlooked. I was bugged a little by the inconsistent appearances of the extraterrestrials. At times the MIB headquarters is stuffed with them, while at other times it's solely humans. The placement of aliens should've been better paced. Again, showing why at first glance the film feels great but scratch under the surface and there are plenty of establishment and structural flaws. The choice for agent M to meet Luca Brasi at the end of the film in Riza’s house was a little predictable but allowed the film to finish on a strong and well-rounded note and was greeted in terms of consistency and closure but it wasn’t executed very well - some elements such as flashbacks or something else would’ve been a good way of intensifying the scenes.

Overall, I give this film a 7. I thought that it was good, exciting and enthralling and that the best parts of the film were the actors, sure maybe they weren’t given the best structure of film but they really helped to liven up the film and keep it exciting throughout which has to be noted. The actual plot was exciting too - I loved seeing the monster battles and the human/alien interactions, it definitely felt like a good MiB film. Although my main problem lies with explanations, it felt like there was far too little explanation to provide a summary of detail as to why events happened or what the relevance to them was - which made the plot feel slightly choppy and underwhelming. Despite this I thought it was good and definitely doesn’t warrant the 5 that it has been given by IMDB - I would recommend it because it’s fresh and unique, but for hardcore fans I wouldn’t expect to go in thinking that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will smash it because unfortunately, they won’t. :(

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review. Have a lovely day! :)