Men in Black International Review, Have We Done This Before?

in #movie5 years ago

Men in Black International is the fourth film in the MIB franchise and for the most part, it feels like déjà vu. Sure, the setting is London this time, but I could not shake the feeling that we have been here and done this before.

The story of Men in Black International


We see Agents H and High T travelling to Paris to stop an invasion by an alien race known as the Hive. They attempt their retaliatory effort at the Eiffel Tower using a wormhole from a previous attack. We are not privy to the details of how this event plays out and are abruptly dropped in Brooklyn 20 years prior in the year 1996. This is where we meet a young Molly Wright who has witnessed her parents being neuralysed by two men in black suits, one sounding strikingly like Agent High T.
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While this is going on, Molly encounters a small alien creature whom she helps escape the men outside. Having avoided having her memory wiped, Molly works for the next twenty-three years to find these “men in black”.

Here is where Men in Black International takes a few liberties with just what a person could possibly get away with.

Molly has been logged into NASA computers and tracking various airborne objects entering the Earth’s atmosphere. She gets a hit that is promising and quickly leaves her mundane job at a call center.

Having tracked the landing, Molly quickly heads to where it should be only to be thwarted by a normal looking alleyway. By chance Molly witnesses some birds flying into the high voltage fencing and the air above it and disappearing. Taking her life into her own hands Molly decides to reach into the fencing. Realizing she was not dead she decides to put her face through the screen and is amazed at what she sees. The alien spaceship and its occupant and many men wearing black suits walking around.

Knowing she has what she was looking for, Molly immediately returns to the cab and tells the driver to follow the black cars as they leave the alleyway. Arriving at the now familiar front entrance, Molly gets out and walks in trying her best to appear to be a member of the Men in Black.

She gets into the main hub area and sees enough to know she is right before the elevator drops her out of sight. She is quickly taken to a room to have her memory wiped and returned to her daily life not remembering anything.

Laws of improbability continue to rear their ugly heads


As much as what you just read is improbable, it continues as Molly attempts to talk her way out of having her memory wiped. She tells the agents that she knows what the neuralyser is and this immediately stops the proceedings because only agents should know about that.

Detailing her encounter as a youngster, leaving out the alien she helped escape, Molly talks her way into a probationary arrangement with the Men in Black.

Did I mention this is just more improbabilities stacked on top of improbabilities?

Molly, now known as Agent M, is sent to the London branch of the Men in Black to learn the ropes and show she has the capabilities to be a full agent. This is where she meets Agent High T and Agent H, Chris Hemsworth (Thor for everyone following the other Marvel properties movies).

The main villains make their entrance

The main enemies of the movie, other than the Hive, are twin aliens that harness pure energy. These two are pretty much nothing but trouble for the Men in Black throughout International.

I cannot give too much away about their activities without giving away some major plot points later. As my rule for reviewing movies is to stop at about the halfway mark, I must pull back a bit with Men in Black International because halfway through is full of spoilers.

What Men in Black International truly is


Look, the only thing I can really criticize the critics over their views on this entry in the Men in Black franchise is their mention of “social justice warrior” stuff. I really did not notice this or am just numb to it at this point and it flew over my head. Either way, there is only one major point that I can point to where SJW stuff pops up clearly.

This scene was shown in some commercials for Men in Black International, so it is not really breaking my rule of cutting off at the halfway point.
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Agent H makes the statement that they are the “Men in Black,” looks at Agent M behind him and then back towards the camera and continues, “Men and women in Black.” Then he turns back to Agent M and gives her a toothy grin and a thumbs up.

If that one scene can ruin the movie for you then you have bigger problems than Men in Black International does with keeping a coherent story going.

Where Men in Black International fails


Men in Black International spends more time on special effects than it does giving us reason to care about this branch of the Men in Black. While I was entertained, I could see how people new to the franchise would be lost, lose interest, and generally be upset that they spent money to see this movie.

Like the whole Hive thing and the “mole” inside the MiB. Those two plot points are all but forgotten through most of the movie only to be pulled out when something is needed to fill movie time. There just seems to be a lot of padding going on here so that the movie has a longer run time.

Granted in the first MiB movie there was padding but it was used to show Agent J’s confusion and challenge to accept his situation. Agent M, while she spent most of her life to get here, is almost super humanly accepting all this new stuff and is almost immediately cool with it. That is not a great way to portray a wide-eyed character that is getting to run around in the ultimate thrill ride of their lives.
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Character development is the worst part of Men in Black International. This could have been forgiven had they brought back established characters to fill some of those roles. As it is, people like Liam Neeson are almost paper thin in their roles in the movie and by the time we get any kind of major development, the movie is almost over. Some missed opportunities here.

Should you watch Men in Black International?


That depends. If this is your first experience with the franchise, then no. Go watch them in order, maybe skip three if you are feeling fatigue with the franchise after part 2’s drawn out angles.

If you are like me and want to see more of the MiB universe then definitely catch MiB International as you get to see a whole new branch. Maybe now is the time for the MiB franchise to go back to animation, like the television series in the 90’s. The special effects are going to kill future installments if they continue with live action.
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Check eBay for copies of the Men in Black comics which the movies are loosely based on or to grab copies of the MiB movies or even that animated series. You know you want your own neuralizer.

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I've never really been much of a fan of this franchise and that MiB song that Will Smith made years ago.... ouch.

It's good to hear that the social justice stuff isn't as cringe as the trailer made it look like it would be - I wasn't going to see this one anyway (not in theaters at least) but I have to admit that the few clips that indicated it would be an SJW fest kind of made me roll my eyes during the preview - it's good to hear that it wasn't really noticeable during the film.

Despite the overall negative reviews from critics and places like Rotten Tomatoes, the film made 100 million dollars + over its budget. Therefore I think it is safe to say they will likely continue to make these :)

They truly messed up making a point of having this film appear to be a SJW fest in the trailers as that turned off a lot of people. Myself included. I wanted to support it in theaters but around here with the time I work a full time job, it was just not possible to catch any cheap viewings. That meant dropping $12 to see it and that was just too much for me at the time it was in theaters.

I watched it on Vudu and used a $6 rental credit I had available from catching one of their specials (watch one of these free movies from this six and get a $6 rental credit). They have them regularly, sometimes it is a $3 general purchase credit as well.

Hyperfocusing on the SJW stuff I can see it now but don't remember it being nearly that bad in the movie. Sure, you got Hemsworth playing a ditz but come on, how many times have blondes worn that membership jacket in cinema? His bungling was not nearly as pronounced as I thought it would be and it is given a somewhat vague explanation in the movie that you have to pay attention to catch. It wasn't just him being a ditz, there was a reason for it.

Molly gets a lot of those "eye moving" opportunities and is generally played as the better agent but it makes sense - she spent 23 years to get here, training, preparing for anything and everything. I was just not impressed with her lack of awe at the situation - at least Smith nailed that in the first movie. Once he saw how deep he was, you could see his face change and his attitude adjusted a bit. We didn't get that with Molly, we got more of a "I was right attitude" and "I deserve to be here". It is not over the top but it is clear that is how she thinks for most of the movie.

Not a deal breaker at all mainly because they did gloss over her working hard to get there. I guess I would have a similar reaction if I spent that long looking for something and found out it was real and I was involved now.

I watched reviews, read reviews, etc for MiB International and they generally turned me off of the movie. I was excited for this one but after a few reviews, I didn't care anymore. I rented it on a whim - this or the new Godzilla movie and I had just spent most of the weekend watching a marathon on a local channel.

It is a shame for fans of the MiB universe though. The ones that will skip this because of the reviews. I am one of those that almost skipped it for good. The movie is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than the second and third ones if that tells anyone anything.

I just hope this is not a Terminator: Genesys event. One where we only get this entry because a major actor/actress in it decides this is not for her so the franchise has to reboot again somehow. I think they have a good foundation going here, especially with the ending they went with that could lead to connections to other films, not just the MiB universe (and considering MiB is a Malibu/Marvel comic property...).

Oh, almost forgot, that rap song with Smith. I agree, it was bad. What made it worse was every radio station played the hell out of it.

dude that is one of the most fantastic responses i have ever read on Steemit. you rock! I never upvote comments anymore but i felt compelled to do so even if i am throwing my SP out the window. Well done!

Thank you, I am honored that you would bestow such a vote on my comment. Seriously, I know what you mean about the SP and such. I have also stopped upvoting comments in favor of upvoting the original content (though technically, comments are original too, just usually shorter).

Again, thank you.

Really this is the fourth one! I really have missed a few, but I should catch up... Men in Black was great for a laugh!

I get sick of people getting cranky over some sort of perceived bias or narrative... They really need to get a life... Or go and make their own movie..

I agree with you about MiB being good for a laugh. Sadly, that is something missing, at least for me, with International. There were some laugh out loud moments but they were not nearly as well paced as they were in the first MiB movie. I do want to mention, again for me, MiB 2 and 3 did not have the comedic parts that I loved about the first either.

People want their 15 seconds of fame so they go for the easiest way to that result. Bitching and complaining. It is much easier to complain about something else than it is to create something truly cool and awesome themselves.

The thing is, only a few people have made a career out of complaining and pointing out flaws in the works of others. Sure, there are hundreds of thousands that seem to rise up periodically and have a little bit of success but before long, they are a forgotten afterthought of idiotic comparisons and complaints. The point of their contention though continues on for the next idiot that thinks they know it all to come along and attempt to plan their flag at the top of that summit.

Unfortunately, in our social media "your opinion matters the most" world of today, everyone thinks they have the chops to criticize anything and if you disagree with them you are attacking them or are obviously whatever political party is not in favor in their social groups.

That is the saddest thing about today's focus on social media - there is no debate. Just "you are wrong, I am right" no matter the point of view of anyone involved.

What really annoys me the most is when people review bomb a movie (or game) that they have never seen... Fine, if you see the movie and think it is bad, then give it a bad review... But at least SEE the movie first! All of this stuff gets caught up in the free speech and censorship debate, with some not realising what those concepts really represent.

Pity about the Men in Black series. I had only seen the first one.. And it was really something fresh and novel... I could see that the jokes and the over the top setting would start to get old though...

There is a lot of review bombing going on today. Sadly it is quite clear that they are reviewing the trailer, if that, only.

International feels more like a reboot of the first movie than it should. I mean, at least MiB 2 and 3 got away from the whole "recruit" segment and continued a story line fans were familiar with. I understand to do a continuation without Smith or Jones would require another "recruit" segment, and at least they did it from the angle of a normal person finding them this time. That is the most interesting part of MiB International to me, how she found them and, sadly, it is one of the shortest segments of the overall movie. I would have loved to see more about how she got access to NASA computers and satellites without being caught, how she learned to recognize the traits of a space ship landing/crashing versus false calls of just another meteorite.

Her background just seemed to be glossed over and not really fleshed out, though admittedly, Smith's background in the first movie was not exactly fleshed out all that well either. The setup for his background was much better handled though and it felt believable. It gave a lot of hope to those watching to be more vigilant in paying attention and doing all you can.

MiB International's background for Molly came off more like "break a few laws, do well in school, and generally weird out people at the CIA and FBI in hopes of getting into the "secret" organization.

As with most things like this, the first is usually the most well thought of because it is unique and novel. Everything after it is usually not handled nearly as well, partly because fans aren't able to be fooled twice and also because producers now have a high watermark to hit, or intentionally avoid.

My only two experiences with MIB franchises were the Playstation 1 game and the animated series which have aired in the Arab world at some point. I like the idea of the aliens between us though, maybe I should watch the movie.

Based on your experience, it may be slightly off putting as it will be a departure from the game and the cartoon by quite a bit. That is true for any of the movies though as the game and cartoon were so different in comparison.

It is a good movie and features more of that "aliens among us" universe that I too find so interesting. It is much more subtle in International than it was in the first Men in Black movie.

Please update us with your thoughts on it when you see it.

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This is a nice and straight to the point movie review! I love it! 😁 I mean, I know the feeling of getting disappointed with movie sequels. I know it is a big challenge to surpass the accomplishment of the 1st movie, but why make another movie when it is a mediocre one?!? 😢 I feel that it's a waste.

So, thank you for this review. I will not take the time to watch this, afraid of being disappointed, since I really enjoyed the first! 😁

Definitely skip MiB International if you loved the first one, you will only be disappointed with this one. I would venture to say the franchise should end for fans at the first one. The next tree just don't hold a candle to it. This is not an Indiana Jones movie franchise, up to the third, situation.

I would suggest picking up a trade paperback of the comics, if one is available, instead of watching the sequels. Maybe watch the cartoon series and act as if the three sequels don't exist because as they came out, they have steadily hurt the franchise.

I liked International more than 2 and 3 because you get to see more of the overall universe. You don't learn anything new about the previous movies though so there is not even that for fans of the first to be tied to this one.

Thank you for being so frank about it. 😊 I will do as you suggest.

Although the first movie was a success, the second one did not really like me (there was no grace) and the third was a little better than the second, in my opinion the saga had to die in the third, if you bring two actors with enough experience of physical beauty and good acting would mean raising the film because there was not much positivism, I feel it was the same, something that was known to come. Nothing new, although the special effects deserve much recognition because the idea is something new right?

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