It’s interesting that the Men in Black (MIB) franchise is still a thing. The first film was fairly watchable, mostly due to the strong chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones as the stoic alien-hunting veteran Agent K/Kevin Brown, and Will Smith as the fresh, new, fun-loving new recruit Agent J/James Darrell Edwards III. It also worked because of the goofy premise, where aliens lived in disguise everywhere among us on Earth, the ground-breaking special effects in 1997, and the typically surreal score by composer Danny Elfman.

Unfortunately, each subsequent installment has suffered from sequelitis. The first sequel copied its predecessor’s blueprint in a film returning director Barry Sonnenfeld barely pretended to make — the film was only 88 minutes long. The third film was better, but suffered from more creativity issues.

And now they’ve made a fourth one. The question is: who’s asking for these films? The third came 10 years after the second, while this one comes seven years after the third. Sure, the films have made some money, but clearly, no one is threatening self-immolation if they don’t get another MIB film.

Finally, with Men in Black: International, it felt like Sony Pictures was trying something different. Talented filmmaker F. Gary Gary (Straight Outta Compton) replaced Sonnenfeld, while the likes of Chris Hemsworth (Henry/Agent H), Tessa Thompson (Molly Wright/Agent M), and Liam Neeson (High T) have replaced the likes of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

The script in MIB: International is so poor that even Chris Hemsworth is unable to make the humour work

Even the focus has changed. As the title suggests, this is about the Men in Black outside of The United States. Here, after having an encounter with an alien and the MIB in her childhood, Molly is recruited as Agent M in the London branch of the organisation.

At MIB UK, she is partnered with Agent H, where they go on an alien neutralising adventure as hilarity ensues. Well, except it doesn’t.

It was a good idea to partner Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth. After all, they had excellent chemistry in the Marvel films and were amusing together. Hemsworth, especially after Thor Ragnarök (2017), has become something of a comedic revelation.

MIB: International is a rude awakening for him because most of his jokes fall flat. As it turns out, you need good material to do comedy. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who have written films such as Punisher War Zone (2008) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), are more skilled at making audiences cry in anguish than laugh.

Unfortunately, the script is so poor that even Hemsworth is unable to make the humour work. Likewise, the plot is underwhelming. What’s more, F. Gary Gary doesn’t tap into the zest and weirdness that made the first and only film in the franchise so watchable.

Men in Black: International isn’t a bad film. It’s just not worth heading to the cinema for. The film only survives because of the performances. The two leads, while not funny here, certainly do have chemistry and the charisma to headline a film. Perhaps they’ll get a chance to do more with a better script, when the next MIB sequel floats round, another 10 years from now.

PG-13 for sci-fi action, some language and suggestive material

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 23rd, 2019