j* Movie Reviews 2019

Men In Black International (2019)

This is bang on for the kind of fun I expect from this kind of film.

MIB has never really been an adult franchise. It leans into a kid to teenagey type audience, a family fun film. And this one succeeds in being a decently entertaining action-comedy for the family. Tessa Thompson has proven herself a real amazing visual force in the Creed films, and here she gets to play a much funnier role. She's not Will Smith, but there are moments where she's definitely channelling him.

Hemsworth is and Hemsworth does... slightly posh accent, lacksadaisical attitude. There are multiple moments where you wonder if he does roles of if roles do him, because it's so hard to separate them. He's a bit Thor, a bit cult leader, a bit this a bit that. Same old, same hot Hemsworth... which is also a played up joke throughout.

There are definitely parts of the story that are not as strong as they could be. There are bits that kind of fall by the wayside. And the talking pug and the cute wiggy aliens play a superficial role. There are however, replacement alien friends to bond with. And they're surprisingly endearing and disarming.

But for the most part, it hammers on through with a cool action flick that's full of all the PG type laughs you'd expect. It does have a kind of Ghostbusters: the girl one (2016) vibe going on... simple things played for fun laughs with a serve of kickarse. Great pacing that kicks over.

I think it's really interesting to note that whilst the first MIB was pretty amazing in terms of technology and visualisation, this one feels underwhelming in that way. It's hard to know if this is just because as an audience we've become so complacent with the CGI, or if it just didn't try to do this on an 2019 CGI-Inflation level.

I laughed a lot and dug Tessa Thompson and Emma Thompson throughout.

J* gives it 4 stars.