Men In Black: International Review

Men In Black: International was directed by F Gary Gray, and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thomson, Rebecca Ferguson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rafe Spall, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois, Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson.

The plot concerns an ordinary woman whose lifelong belief in the Men In Black leads her to their headquarters where she is recruited and sent to a UK-based branch of the organisation. There, she is assigned a partner and the two are sent across the globe to investigate the threat of shape-shifting aliens.

The performances are unfortunately very forgettable. Thomson and Hemsworth try to recreate the same chemistry that the original actors had, but their interactions feel so forced and unnatural that they are anything but believable. When Neeson gets a chance to be in the film longer then a few seconds every so often, it feels like nothing more than a way to compensate for the time and opportunities in the film he has missed.

The film was written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. The best word I can think of that describes the script is convoluted. It features at least one scene that feels recycled  from the first film, it
 seems more interested in exploring other countries than forwarding its plot for most of the runtime, and worst of all the whole film is executed without the strangeness or flair that made the original three films so enjoyable.

The film was shot by Stuart Dryburgh and the most of his work is bland. There is not a single memorable visual in this film, and if you were desperate to find even one shot you could call memorable you would be left with the character's faces being shot from a slightly unconventional angle.

The music was composed by Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon, and their score is probably the only thing that manages to save this film. The original theme is brought back with some techno-music added to it for modern touches, which was an interesting (if unnecessary) idea and like the previous instalments different variations of this theme play through several scenes. This is one of several things that I think will keep the long-time fans of this franchise interested.

While it sounds as if many aspects of the film left me disappointed, one shortcoming in particular was the worst: the incredibly weak main villains. I didn't care about them or why they were doing what they were doing, they lacked good screen presence and weren't remotely frightening. And when it came time to try and care about what they were doing, I was so fed up with them that I just didn't care at all.

The conclusions I draw from this are: Men In Black: International has forgettable performances; a convoluted script more interested in dealing with the less important aspects than with what actually matters; bland cinematography; a score that someone felt needed to be improved with modern techno-music, but really didn't; and villains who felt very weak in comparison to some of the others in this series of films.
Having taken all my pros and cons into account, I'm  going to give Men In Black International...

D
Thank you for reading.