Men in Black [4]: International (2019) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline: The Universe is Expanding

In this spin-off, Earth's alien population continues to misbehave as the covert Men in Black forces try to police them. Meanwhile, a new group of London-based agents attempts to ferret out a mole within the organization.

Storyline: The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, August 27, 2019 Men in Black: International, the fourth film in the franchise and the first to move away from Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the leading roles, offers more of the same and less reason to watch. New faces do not equal new plot dynamics; this is a familiar if not passably watchable and ultimately stale formula regurgitation jazzed up by some snazzy visual effects (that in truth aren't much better than what the first film threw onto the screen more than two decades ago) and...not much more. Franchise fans yearning to return to the universe will appreciate the fresh coat of paint but that's really all this movie has to offer: a few bells and whistles and but little purpose beyond big box office business.

An upstart MIB agent known as "Agent M," or "Molly" (Tessa Thompson) in the civilian world, is thrust into a world of danger and adventure when she's teamed up with veteran agent "H," or Henry (Chris Hemsworth) to his friends outside the agency, in a globetrotting race against time to unravel a nefarious alien plot and save the world. Sound familiar? International's plot and character dynamics share much in common with the original film (though one of the more obvious changes is that the newcomer, Molly, approaches the work with more seriousness like Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K while the veteran Henry is more like Will Smith's brash agent J). Director F. Gary Gray's (Law Abiding Citizen) MIB entry benefits from the foundational structure established by the other three films, even if there's not much of a deviation from it. There's opportunity to push more directly into the story (as derivative as it may be) rather than build the world from the ground-up. Gray rightly only employs minimal backstory seen through Molly's eyes, eyes that were not subject to the neuralyser and led to a lifelong fascination with the MIB and a do-anything approach to becoming a part of the team. Molly, like the audience, has been living with the knowledge of the secretive world of MIB and yearns to inject herself into that world (whether the audience really wants to join her is another question), serving as a point of entry for anyone who might only be tangentially familiar with the franchise in what is, here, a soft reboot.

The plot plays second -- and distant -- fiddle to the peripheral elements, dominated by two well rounded performances from the leads who mercifully carry the film through the otherwise rote and recycled narrative beats, the surrounding special effects, and verbal tongue ties that drag rather than draw the viewer into a world that's all too familiar and, by now, fairly stale. The story is interchangeable with any other MIB iterations: a couple of hotshot agents tackle the same problem by way of their own, sometimes clashing, approaches, surrounded by various creatures and carrying powerful silver weapons of various sizes. A few twists that aren't difficult to see coming pop up here and there, adding only light intrigue and minimal draw into the story. There's just nothing of even remote interest here; the plot exists merely to make transitions from scene to scene possible, not to test the audience's mental mettle. And in some ways that's OK; MIB is not a franchise meant to stretch the brain, but a story of slightly more originality and purpose is still welcome and, indeed, necessary if there's to be another film beyond this one.

Men in Black: International is in no way super but it is in every way superfluous. This is, admittedly, a perfectly serviceable but entirely forgettable light reboot that is exactly the kind of film Hollywood loves: a familiar brand retooled with fresh faces and an opportunity to plaster the screen with the latest and greatest in digital technology. In other words, a guaranteed moneymaker. Hemsworth and Thompson slide comfortably into the suits but the film is otherwise fully forgettable. Sony's Blu-ray is, on the other hand, exceptional. Video is pristine and audio, even lacking the UHD's Atmos presentation, is wonderfully dynamic. A handful of extras are included. For fans, this is a must-own.

[CSW] -1.8- Men in Black International lacked the spark that Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith gave the films. It also lacked the quirky little alien bits Neurolizing that was done in the 1st two films. It was pretty boring, to be frank and although I thought that Tessa Thompson (Agent M) did a good job in maintained the spark of original MIB tradition, Chris Hemsworth (Agent H) did absolutely nothing for the film.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box


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