Men in Black: International (2019)

[Trini]

Men in Black: International

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

DIRECTED BY: F. Gary Gray

WRITTEN BY: Art Marcum & Matt Holloway

BASED ON THE MALIBU COMIC BY: Lowell Cunningham

PRODUCED BY: Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
Steven Spielberg
E. Bennett Walsh
Barry Sonnenfeld

CAST:
Chris Hemsworth
Tessa Thompson
Rebecca Ferguson
Kumail Nanjiani
Rafe Spall
Laurent Bourgeois
Larry Bourgeois
with Emma Thompson
and Liam Neeson

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All the official sites say 'Summer 2019', but a few other places say the release date is June 14.

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https://www.meninblack.com

https://www.facebook.com/meninblack

http://www.instagram.com/meninblack

http://www.twitter.com/meninblack

Trailer:

Poster:

[BetterButter]

[xaxat]

Hemsworth looks hotter without that Thor weight.

Spoiler

Posted before Endgame opened. So really applies to Fat Thor.

Edited April 26, 2019 by xaxat

[anna0852]

I didn't think a hotter Hemsworth was possible. 

I'm wrong 😁

[BetterButter]

[JessePinkman]

No clue who this movie was made for. Total waste of...every actor in the cast. The story was weak, the characters were underwritten, the whole enterprise felt very abrupt. We drifted from plot point to plot point with no cohesive narrative, nothing to make us care about anyone or anything.

Kumail Najiani was great as Pawny at least, by far the best character in the movie.

[Morrigan2575]

4 minutes ago, JessePinkman said:

No clue who this movie was made for. Total waste of...every actor in the cast. The story was weak, the characters were underwritten, the whole enterprise felt very abrupt. We drifted from plot point to plot point with no cohesive narrative, nothing to make us care about anyone or anything.

Kumail Najiani was great as Pawny at least, by far the best character in the movie.

Interesting i saw a review that said it was good.  i don't plan on seeing it until Netflix but, I'm curious as to how it's received

[JessePinkman]

1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Interesting i saw a review that said it was good.  i don't plan on seeing it until Netflix but, I'm curious as to how it's received

It's not even bad. It's...fine. I'm not sure much thought was put into it. We were supposed to have an emotional connection to a character betrayal/death toward the end but the movie didn't development the relationships enough for me to care.

[AimingforYoko]

It's a good thing Hemsworth and Thompson are extremely likable or there literally would be no reason for this movie.

Actually a few other good things:

Emma Thompson is such a pro. Her little scene at the end hinted at sooo much backstory that couldn't be bothered with in this trifle.

Kumil Nanjiani did an excellent voice acting job as Pawny.

Rafe Spall was good in the asshole role who turns out to be not an asshole.

TL:DR Acting good, writing bad.

[Dee]

I'd watch Chris & Tessa together in pretty much anything. Except a useless Men In Black reboot.

[thuganomics85]

Okay, for me personally, the first Men in Black is one of my favorite films of all time.  Sure, like any film, it has its flaws that can no doubt be pointed out and I won't argue about, but it just worked for me on so many levels.  I loved the concept and the world it created, and the visual effects were great at time time (and still mainly hold well.)  The humor was close to perfect and the film was filled with plenty of great lines.  Vincent D'Onofrio was a perfect creepy (and humorous) villain.  Tony Shalhoub shows up as an alien pawn dealer who gets his head blown off, only to regrow it again.  Frank the Pug!  And last but certainly not least was the perfect casting and chemistry with/between Tommy Lee Jones as his crusty, cranky best and Will Smith at his most charismatic.  In short, I loved it all (including Smith's rap in the end credits!)

But then came the second film that disappointed me on every level and I barely remember anything about it except that Rosario Dawson was wasted in it, they decided that the villainous alien would be Lara Flynn Boyle in lingerie, and someone apparently thought it would be a great idea to have Johnny Knoxville in it.  The third one fared better thanks to Josh Brolin's pitch-perfect imitation of a younger Tommy Lee Jones, Bill Hader's cameo as Andy Warhol, and Michael Stuhlbarg's compelling performance, but still a step down.  So, in short (or long), it feels like a franchise that peaked with its first film.

And Men in Black: International certainly doesn't change that viewpoint.  It wasn't bad, thankfully, but it truly was generic, forgettable film that seemed to not want to try anything new, and just was banking on Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson's chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok to transfer over here.  And to be fair, they were highlights as they really do seem to enjoy working with one another and, again, I think Hemsworth really is showing that comedy is where he thrives, but it didn't make up for the underwhelming story, boring action and set pieces, and basically not taking advantage of its new setting to expand upon the world and make it interesting.

I seriously can't believe that they went the obvious route and made Liam Neeson's character the villain.  Most everyone called that when he was first cast, for goodness sakes!  Granted, Rafe Spall would have been too obvious as well, but I would have enjoyed it if it was actually Emma Thompson's character that was bad the entire time.  That might have been interesting.

Also can't believe they squandered the awesome Rebecca Ferguson in a throwaway role. At least the Mission: Impossible franchise seems to know how to use her.

Kumail Nanjiani was fun at least.

So, yeah, I kind of wish they just quit after the first film.  At least no forgettable or mediocre sequel/spinoff will ever ruin that one for me!

[wanderingstar]

Awful and completely unnecessary film. Tried too hard to make every scene quippy. Chris Hemsworth - who I generally enjoy in the Avengers films - is a disaster in this one. And completely agree that making High T the villain was cliched. Also agree that this film was a waste of Rebecca Ferguson.

I did appreciate seeing Tessa Thompson as the lead in a big franchise movie. I just wish it was a better movie. 

Quote

Kumail Nanjiani was fun at least.

He was. Kind of wish he'd been in more of the movie.

[Morrigan2575]

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4521&p=.htm

Quote

Sony's release of Men in Black International debuted with a disappointing $28.5 million from 4,224 locations. By comparison, this is the lowest opening in the franchise by over $20 million as all three of the previous installments opened with over $51 million. The $110 million production joins a slew of recently released sequels to not only under-perform based on pre-weekend expectations, but severely under-performing based on previous films in the franchise. Entering the weekend the film received mostly negative reviews and opening day audiences gave the film a "B" CinemaScore, which is hardly a ringing endorsement. The film played to an opening weekend crowd that was 56% male with 53% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older.

Internationally, Men in Black brought in $73.7 million from 36 markets, giving the film a global debut over $102 million. The studio notes the film is tracking on par with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 19% behind MIB 3at current exchange rates for the same group of markets. China led all markets with $26.3 million and a #1 opening followed by Russia ($5.1m), South Korea ($4.9m), Mexico ($3.9m), Japan ($3.5m), UK ($3.4m), Australia ($2.6m) and France ($2.5m). The film opened in approximately 92% of the marketplace with debuts in Belgium (Jun 19), Netherlands (Jun 20) and Italy (Jul 25) remaining.

The sad thing is, I liked the concept of how they were planning to  reboot/restart the franchise.  don't try and recast or redo the original movie (origin) just introduce new characters in a shared universe.   

[Bruinsfan]

The whole thing was just forgettable to me. Except Kumail Nanjiani's character, the instant loathing I felt for that blatant toy merchandise come-to-life will stick with me for quite some time.

Hemsworth and Thompson have great buddy chemistry, but I really wish they'd gotten writing deserving of it.

[Iguana]

PLOT:  predicable in most parts, completely nonsensical in others

DIALOGUE:  passable (particularly the Hemsworth/Thompson/Pawney stuff, which I understand was ghost written by dialogue fixers hired by Hemsworth and Thompson)

CAST:  best part of the movie.  Nanjani as Pawney's voice was MVP

SPECIAL F/X:  not that special

OVERALL:  it was fine.  Not good, not horrible.  With this kind of talent and budget, it should have been great.

[slf]

Loved the first one but this was boring as hell. Hemsworth and T. Thompson are attractive, charming actors but it felt too much like they were going for Ragnarok 2.0.

I did enjoy seeing Emma Thompson, tho, as always.

Edited July 7, 2019 by slf

[Amethyst]

Not bad, but entirely unnecessary.  Like Independence Day (another failed reboot with a Hemsworth) the lack of Will Smith was obvious.  Thompson and Hemsworth clearly have a great rapport, but there's no edge to their banter.  

The international theme isn't a bad idea, but failed execution.  The original MiB was also a tribute to the oddities and weirdness of New York.  By taking the scenery out of there, the movie loses some of the charm.  And there's no attempt to personalize any of the places they go, either.  Marrakesh, Italy, it really didn't matter.  They were pretty, but none of them stood out.

The ending is really rushed, because it didn't entirely make sense to me.  I get that High T neuralized H, but was High T a member of the Hive the entire time after the Paris incident?  That means MiB had a high functioning mole in their midst for 2 years, and no one noticed anything?

Also, if H was neuralized, does that mean his entire doofus reckless behavior was a result?  Is that how High T told him to act?

The alien twins though...they could have stuck around.  Fine as hell!  And when they were dancing, I liked them even more.  😉

Edit: Just looked up the twin actors and saw that they're professional hip-hop dancers, which makes sense.  

Edited September 22, 2019 by Amethyst

[Bruinsfan]

I think the doofus reckless behavior was how H really was, and High T neuralized everyone in the bureau into remembering him as some legendary agent of James Bond-ian competence to cover his tracks. Presumably there was enough of the human left in there to make killing his partner unpalatable when there was a less lethal solution that appeared to be working.

[BetterButter]

 

[Trini]

This was fine. The villains should have been fleshed out more. Half of my enjoyment of this franchise is the aliens, alien tech, and VFX, so it didn't disappoint on the front. Helmsworth anf Thompson did okay with what they got, but what what they got wasn't great.

My biggest issue is that the plot for this one makes the Men in Black, as an organization, look sloppy. It kind of makes sense with High T using H for cover, but otherwise, I didn't think think it was a good look when they're supposed to be the best of the best.

 

On 2/4/2020 at 1:55 PM, BetterButter said:

 

 

Oh, yeah - I had totally forgotten that there were BTS issues.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Trini