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| Men in Black: International Review |
The Men in Black return with Men in Black: International, an expansion of the well-known universe of fiction that we began to explore in 1997 with the help of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This continuation, rather than feeling like Men in Black 4, feels like a reboot in which we will meet a new global office of MIB, in London, with a new couple protagonist, Chris Hemsworth, and Tessa Thompson.
We always knew that the office of the Men in Black in New York, a secret agency dedicated to studying and dealing with aliens was not the only one and that there were more scattered around the world. This time we will focus on the peculiarities and different methodologies of the British office, in something like the cinematic expansion of Kingsman, but in the opposite direction, from America to the UK.
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| Men in Black: International Review |
In addition to the introduction of the first female main character, agent M of Tessa Thompson, this film has the main peculiarity of being one in which the fact of being a clandestine agency and the fact that it works with such secrecy is explored more. In fact, the character of Molly (hence the shortening of "M"), is the first to arrive at the agency of his own will, having witnessed an extraterrestrial encounter and not having been neutralized to erase his memories. This changes the existing dynamic: the character of Tessa Thompson is not recruited by the agency, but it is she who finds them, which will be a plus to prove their worth.
And it is a success that is really the actress who carries the singing voice. It moves on the edge of serious acting and comedy, and leaves in the background the character of Chris Hemsworth, showing that there is already chemistry acquired after working together in Thor: Ragnarok, but without feeling that it is repeated at I devote the situations between Thor and Valkyrie. Hemsworth's work as "H" does feel too close to the God of the Thunder of Marvel, with good times, at a level that is just right and that does not make us forget his great character in the MCU.
As it has been an identity stamp since the first film, we will also have some aliens acting as comic support to try not to always identify aliens with negative connotations of invasion of Earth and so on. Stresses especially, to the point of being the best of the film, a small pawn called Peoncín (Pawny in VO) and folded in the original version by Kumail Nanjiani and is a great replacement for Frank the talking dog.
One of the big problems that Men In Black: International has is that it presents a cast of highs with big names like Liam Neeson and Rebecca Ferguson and it does not manage to make them shine at any time. Luckily, the role of Emma Thompson as Agent O does have something more substantial, but not to discuss the role of the new pair of agents in which, as we said, it is especially Tessa who eats Chris in the figurative sense.
The concept of "International" allows us this time to make a world tour of Paris, Marrakech, London or Naples in which there are some pretty nice scenes from the visual point of view. Undoubtedly, the possibilities that open with this expansion from New York to the rest of the world mean that in the future we will see much more world and how its agents work. In fact, the tape leaves you a bit with the taste of mouth appetizer, which is a simple introduction for what they surely have in mind that ends up coming and by itself, its history does not hold.
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| Men in Black: International Review |
The film, directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, Fast & Furious 8), does not present hardly any trace of the peculiar claim of the filmmaker. It seems a simple film made to order (even more than Fast 8) in which they have not wanted to take risks and has gone directly to what is known to work (and learning from past mistakes with the closure of the previous trilogy). At least, yes, he knows how to work with great correction on large-scale action scenes, as he already showed in the movie of cars chasing submarines.
Men In Black: International can work for fans of this universe, it is clear that it has been strengthened what worked in the past and what has not been liked has been discarded. If it is taken as an introduction to a new trilogy or expanded universe, it takes more value than as a tape alone, because despite having a closure, we never feel that the plot is focused on this film, but something else that is yet to come.