Men In Black: International (2019) - Movie Review

There are a lot of different forms of bad movie out there. Some are obvious, some take time before the true problems come forward, and some start out as good ideas that, for one reason or another, sour into what becomes the final product. I’ve no doubt covered all three of these varieties in past reviews, and as much as outright, unmistakable shite can be quite painful to sit through, it’s the latter that always ends up feeling the worst: The movies where I can see something much better buried underneath.

Knowing the patchy history of the Men In Black films, this latest entry failing to perform shouldn’t be much surprise, given we have one solid film (1), one mediocre film (2) and one that people mostly didn’t like if they even cared to remember it existed (3). But all the same, this kind of compromised art still hurts to witness for one’s self.

Not that it’s entirely without merit, though. As far as branching out the series’ universe beyond the confines of New York City, this does a decent job at giving us some fresh locales and even a cool (if underutilised) villain. It’s also aided by the chemistry of the leads, with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson continuing their Ragnarok-created rapport. They fill in the mismatched buddy cop(?) formula just as Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones did way back when, but with enough switching around to make it presentable and not just tired. Also, the introduction to Thompson’s Agent M is F. Gary Gray’s aesthetic down to a T.

As for the story, it fits in with the other entries to date, highlighting the idea of aliens among us in human form, only taking it in a more sinister direction. We’ve had aliens pretending to be human before (hell, they made up most of the villains in this series so far) but with the crosshairs centred on MIB itself this time around. Makes total sense that, at a time when we seem to be at our most culturally paranoid, we’d get this iteration of beloved heroes being compromised from the inside out. Such a shame that that isn’t just an aspect of the story but the production itself.

The official credits have Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the writers behind the first Iron Man, as the ones behind the screenplay. That may have been true at the start, but it’s not quite with what made it to cinemas. Most of the details I could scrounge up are summarised here, but basically, producer Walter Parkes tried to rewrite it while it was still in production, and Hemsworth and Thompson brought in others to punch-up their dialogue in response. There’s a lot of cooks in the writer’s kitchen here, and the end result makes that painfully obvious.

There are moments in the film where it focuses on the idea of aliens migrating to Earth, something that has been a staple for sight gags in the franchise since its inception, and when combined with the ‘enemy amongst us’ notion, it feels like it’s going to make some kind of statement regarding where the two intersect. Hell, given the modern discussion regarding immigration, it could’ve made for something rather timely and poignant, something I know these films are capable of.

But no, it only has the dying remnants of better and more interesting ideas scattered about the place, sticking only to the plot turns and story ideas that are the most obvious (It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film play it this safe in regards to enemies who can make themselves look like allies). It’s like staring at a re-painted canvas where you can see just enough of the original work to know it would’ve looked better on its own without the extra coat of paint.

For as pleasant as the acting, the banter and the action are here, showing F. Gary Gray still riding high on his Fate Of The Furious win, it’s almost impossible to look at this film and not get smacked in the face with how much better this could’ve been. Or, indeed, how much better it probably was before production interference snuffed it out.