Men in Black: International (2019)
The Universe is Expanding
I’ll be honest - I haven’t watched one of these in quite some time. Funny part about that is that I even own the 3D third one, and just haven’t watched it yet. I did check out the first two more along when they got released, and it was a good time. Sure, it might have been a downhill slant on the fun times, but that’s the reality of most movies that go on and on. Here, we get to try it out with some new faces and new locations, so let us find out how well it works with Men in Black: International.
Plot runs about what you'd think it was. Pretty bog-standard for one of these entries, for sure. Now, my expectations were tempered towards that anyways - all the MIB movies are somewhat clone-like of each other when it comes to the plot in a basic form. You get the heroes - if it’s an origin one then the hero needs to have the reason to join up and all of that - then you’ve got the big universally cataclysmic problem that crops up, and the clues that all link it together to progress down until the inevitable conclusion of the threat. In that regards, perhaps the plot isn’t going to really offer a whole ton of new things to play with - but it still does enough with it that it feels like it’s aware of and knows what it’s doing an keeps it all progressing well.
The nice part is really in the title - international. We get to see a lot more of the world this time, even if it’s just bite sized chunks and still largely all that modern day with a slight blend that we’ve seen in the previous movies. It helps break things up a little more, and spreads out to more departments than just the scenery one as well - although nationality really doesn’t play a roll in any character outside of perhaps a english drivers gag, it does give plenty of moments for things like flavors of music popping in - and if you recall my Black Panther review, I love to hear music from different regions in part to the exotic flair of instruments I’m not used too. Again, it might not be anything incredibly crazy - we aren’t hitting thirty different locations in an three hour long epic - but it works well on a small scale and sets up each different scene to feel at least location-wise as thought it’s a set piece for the act.
The music is pretty fun here. For not having seen a MIB movie in quite some time, it’s surprising to me that I can recognize the theme as the movies starting up even with it’s slight variations to make it feel as though it’s a new chapter. The theme crops up plenty - much like it did in the previous ones - and is strong enough that although I couldn’t spill it out in entirety I can at least call to mind parts of it as I would any other movie I have attachment too - like The Terminator or Star Wars themes. The rest of the movie’s tunes range from club music to local beats, and although I’m not finding them to be real earworms, it does work nicely for giving a location a feel of it’s own without being too intrusive. The rest of the audio work, like supporting lasers, explosions, jets, and glorping abilities also all sound pretty dang nice. It’s a fine movie to hear and listen too, and it’s all balanced well.
Nice ride.
Actors do a good job as well. This isn’t to necessarily say that the characters are great - but the actors do a fine job of emoting, talking, and interacting with each other. The lead lady has plenty of snoot to her without actually being overly pompous about it - she’s almost generically super smart and talented, but at least in the brief flashback of her as a kid, it gives a reason for why she would end up being that way and ends up being (I’m sure) every tin-hat’s dream scenario. Our male lead plays it rather James Bond, which feels both a bit fitting given the British branch of the MIB, but also a good counterpart to the yin of the female lead’s logic over emotion. Now, as I said, I wouldn’t necessarily call them great characters - it’s pretty one note in all honesty, but it works for the movie and keeps it from detracting too much from the adventure part of the movie - which is honestly probably what you are there for.
Now, the movie does hold the classic mystery formula of (at least the first one) the MIB movies. It proposes things like a mole at MIB, and a new mega-weapon, and bad guys that have unknown powers and all of that sort of thing. Sometimes it works really well - other times you very much know exactly where it’s going and it’s less of a mystery and more just “how are we going to get there.” The fact that the characters are mostly fun here helps in that regard - you don’t mind knowing where it’s going to be, because you are enjoying the fun on screen. Part of the fun is without a doubt the humor - which of course is going to be hit or miss, as it’s always subjective. For me, I got some laughs - at times from super obvious jokes that the screen would tease and I’d go “where is it?” just to have it pop up and make me chuckle. The introduction of the Pawn character was something I was a little worried would be annoying, but honestly it lead to a few good moments of if not laughter at least levity. There was plenty of time in this movie for just being happy and enjoying yourself.
And what’s better to enjoy than visuals? There’s a lot going on here, from lasers to aliens to explosions and beyond. For the most part, it all looks good. It’s a real tire-swing though, as there is at least one moment where I thought “really?” as I saw the effect, but for that one moment I had plenty of others that were downright beautiful even if they weren’t necessarily great as a whole in the movie. The main bad guys over the course of the movie are like these humanoid shaped galaxies that muck up the state of matter to their whims, and every time they are in their alien form it’s just wonderful to see. Costumes aren’t necessarily elaborate on human characters (although we do get some nice location-based normal wear in a regional sense), but the alien design variety helps make up for it, as does some of the built in puns - like alien beards. It hit’s the fantastic elements right on, so even if you liked nothing else you should enjoy what you see.
Oooooh, pretty.
So yeah, this very much felt like going back to the original MIB for me. Perhaps that’s a bit of the point really, a return to the start for a new group to hop on and enjoy? It’s got good visuals, decent acting, and some jokes. Yeah, some of the jokes are lame (looking at you Thor-based joke) and a few of the effects are pretty not great (hover-hands on the train), but all in all if you enjoyed any of the other MIB movies you’ll probably enjoy this one a good deal too. If you haven’t seen the other MIB movies, this would also be a fine starting point - as long as you are okay with a movie that isn’t super-based around characters and more of an adventure romp of sorts.