Men in Black: International

MFC Review

After seven years in the shadows, the Men in Black hits the theaters to save the world once again in Men in Black: International (2019).

The film is directed by F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, 2017) and is the first of the MIB franchise that is not in the hands of Barry Sonnenfeld, director of Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002) and Men in Black III (2012). It tells the story of Molly (Tessa Thompson), who has spent her entire life searching the organization after an encounter with the agents and an alien creature during her childhood. Once recruited under the code name Agent M, Molly will meet Agent H (Chris Hemsworth), with whom she will embark on a mission to save the world.

In Men in Black: International, we met the London agency’s bureau, which is responsible for monitoring and keeping in secret the alien activity on Earth. The film is in the Men in Black universe and delves into the process to become an agent, however, the script had issues in creating an immersive story.

The central plot of the film is not fully established, giving the impression of a disconnect storytelling. It seems to settle for being a succession of action and comedy scenes, without any narrative tension, resulting in a lazy and repetitive experience. Although the character development is practically non-existent, one of the things that can be rescued from the film is the dynamic between Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, who worked together in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

 Enjoy our Avengers: Endgame review here

Although it has been done twice, making a sequel at the same level as the first Men in Black seems like a difficult job. Men in Black: International doesn’t offer greater innovation to the franchise, receiving generally negative reviews and being compared to other failed incursions in older franchises, as happened with Ghostbusters (2016), a movie that turned out to be a box office failure and that, interestingly, also features the performance of Chris Hemsworth.