What is the Men in Black franchise at its root? A bunch of dudes dressed in the last suit they’ll wear, carrying little guns or heavy weapons, blasting aliens, and erasing people’s memories. That’s the crux of each of the 4 movies yet. It was first in the first film, tolerable in the second, a little different in 3rd, but insufferable in the latest one. Facing the Neuralyzers towards the audience wouldn’t make them forget that they’ve seen the same stuff many times.
Yes, this time the selling point about the movie was Thor-Valkyrie duo and the Franchise’s name, but this movie told me that the franchise’s life lies in Will Smith, not without him. Don’t get me wrong, Chris & Tessa are the reason I watched it, but the director barely explored their on-screen charm we saw in Ragnarok, and, there was no Will Smith here.
With minor spoilers, the plot is same, just a little harder to follow this time. There are bad aliens who want to steal something, and MiB doesn’t want to let them to. Except, this time there’s a mole in the organisation. Overall, nothing new. Oh, except, this time they’re not in America, because the title says International.
The most disappointing thing I find about this franchise is how they introduce different interesting concepts in a movie, but never bother about them again – be it the De-Neuralyzer, Time Travel or the skills of Griffin in MiB3.
Okay, enough of the disappointing stuff about the movie. Let’s talk about what was good.
For one, the movie leaves no opportunity to point out that the name Men in Black is wrong, because there are women too! It’s quite politically correct throughout, and supports well done special effects with decent performances.
Just in case you decide to watch the film, don’t watch it on any theatre but IMAX. Simple reason, the movie is shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and is not cut to support regular screens with 2.35:1 ratio, resulting in vertical blank bars on the screen, on left & right.
And, you might also want to look out for a cameo by one of India’s YouTubers, who apparently is an alien! (Shhh… It’ll make sense.) Oh, and there was a nod to Percy Jackson. A very big nod, hard to ignore. Look out for it too!
Overall, it’s not a bad movie, but the story is too overdone that even the new characters fall flat. Most of the humor doesn’t land (though some of it does), and the film feels too long and stretched. You’re not missing something huge if you don’t catch this one, though it might feel like because of the cast and the franchise. A total skippable movie, but if you are going to the movies anyway this week, this isn’t that bad either.
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