Men in Black: International

'MIB: International' sounds like a good idea on paper, from the cast and the director - even for the franchise, the idea to go International sounds really exciting and a great way to expand the world without being too tied to the original films. Unfortunately, its just another boring blockbuster using a nostalgic property to make a quick buck without understanding what made the lighting in a bottle that was the first film work. We didnt even get a rap tie-in song from Will Smith or even Pitbull, and thats what truly hurts the most.

• Chris dos Santos

Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-men-in-black-international-wish-we-could-memory-wipe-this-one

Chris Hemsworth just makes everything better. The only good parts of Ghostbusters was Hemsworth. His Thor movies were the best of the MC individual movies and his presence made the Avengers movies that much more enjoyable. Similarly, his levity here made a decline from MiB3 more tolerable. He's just fun to watch.

They've changed the setting, the leads, the journey cycle, the effects, (most of) the supporting cast, the tone, and the timeframe, yet somewhere we still have the exact same plot. Four for four on Men in Black with the EXACT. SAME. PLOT.

I was entertained though, so, there's only so much I can complain really.

Final rating:½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didnt quite work as a whole.

Yikes... The most challenging thing about watching Men In Black: International, was enduring Chris Hemsworth attempting 'acting'. I find his attempts at portraying the rogue-ish film character archetype he's trying for to to be utterly charmless, devoid of any ability to portray the humour or any sense of timing, or charisma, that the character is straining and screaming for.

Despite the radical break with the previous films and characters, the film has its value and brings a certain new blood to the franchise.

The MIB franchise got off to a good start, had a bad time with the second movie, and picked up a bit in the third movie. These three films, however, were the result of the direction of Barry Sonnenfeld, who now leaves the project and gives the direction to Felix Gray. The leads, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, also do not return to their roles, which makes the film, basically, a spin-off.

The script is a breath of fresh air: we abandon American soil and leave behind what we know. The story is set almost entirely in Europe, between London and Paris. It is there that the new Agent M will train. Sh...

Well... this was another sequel that no one asked for, at all and we can probably honestly say that this is a huge reason why it flopped.

I had absolutely no interest in seeing another sequel of MIB, especially one without Will Smith, and especially one that is gender-swapped and rests closer to the reboot mark than the remake mark.

Which are all reasons why I didn't see it until it came around for free.

And as predicted while all but rebooting the franchise, it also attempts to make a political statement with the jokes coming from "laugh because you agree with this" type of humor, which rarely actually lands. And as a result it feels like SNL doing MIB in a sequel no one asked for.

Good idea - let's refreshen the cast, relocate to jolly-old England and hopefully we can re-ignite this tiring format by putting a devious fifth columnist amongst the "MIB" organisation to cause mayhem and mischief. Well, I'm afraid they were just plain wrong! All of that might have worked if the special effects and alien creepy-crawlies were supported by a decent STORY. Alas, not to be. This bumbles along entirely supported by Chris Hemsworth - and there are limits to even his charismatic skills. Please let this be an end, or we will all be heading to the transporter pad with our Marlboro Lights!