Canary Duty - Men in Black International

The original Men in Black is still a pretty good movie; hard to remember past the dumb retread of MIBII and the "OK but with issues" of III, but it was a bit of a game changer back in the day.  It was perhaps one of the first blockbusters since the original Ghostbusters to go for such a high-concept approach and making it work so well in action/comedy terms, at least not one based on an already well-known brand.  (Before anyone @s me, yes I know it was based on a comic, I typed "well known brand", it was one lessor Malibu title!)  I think the trouble the sequels had was a studio mistaking form for function; that every single ingredient had to be there for the audience to like it again, hence an immediate retreat to the J and K dynamic, when the first film gave a definitive end to that.  Now this one, operating Will-less shall we say, is doing what the sequels should have done; open things up a bit, explore more of the world of the MIB, give us some new faces with a slightly different dynamic.  So does it work?

Well, a bit.  Now this review is going to sound a bit harsh (BTW, I'm not trying to be overly hard on any of these, I'd honestly love for the next one I watch to be something I adore... unfortunately up next is Brightburn!), but let me start by saying that it's a fun ride while it lasts.  It's a functional, enjoyable film in the moment you are watching it, it's a decent time at the movies, especially if you like the leads.  Unfortunately, it really isn't much more than that, which considering the pedigree of the original is disappointing.  You know, I was really uncertain if I should have included that trailer, as that's one of the problems; a lot of the best gags are in there, and what surprises there are you can guess coming a mile away.  Seriously, a lot of the plot revolves around a mole in the MIB London Branch; given that apart from our lead there are only two other named (erm, lettered) agents there, one is an obvious jerk (Agent C, played well by Rafe Spall; always nice to see him turn up!), one being solidly supportive (Liam Neeson as High-T.  Sadly that's the best wordplay in the film.), you can easily guess who the surprise villain will turn out to be.  Hell, the opening even has a blatant set up for that twist, a major "hmmm, I wonder if that very noticeable gap in time will be important later" moment.  Tell a lie; there's two such blatant foreshadowings in the first six minutes, one for H's character arc, one for M's.  Although one thing that amused me was that one of the clues for what was going on was very similar to a reveal in one of Charles Stross' Laundry novels, another series about a clandestine agency protecting Earth from alien threats operating out of London.

"H, where are we going on this thing again?"

"I dunno, the editing is so poor I lost track!"

Now the other main selling point is of course the leads, with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson together to see if their Marvel chemistry and charisma can be bought over to this franchise.  Well, as well as they work in the suits (although there is a big section when they are out of the suits; that's no fun!), and as much effort as they put in, there's not quite enough there for them to work with, and make H and M really stand out.  Hemsworth's H gets some good bumbling moments, being a bit of a wreck, but it's nowhere near the level of Kevin from the Ghostbusters reboot (which I will defend to this day damnit!), and his arc is a bit undone by having a reveal which essentially removes responsibility for his development.  Thompson as M gets a better arc, including touches of how much women often have to work harder than men to get the same level of respect in workplaces, but most of this happens very early on, and doesn't really come up again, certainly not feeding into the climax.  She does get a fun alien sidekick in Pawny, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, who gets some nice moments, and he's probably going to be the stand out of the film, but his character is a bit inconsistent with his wisecracks.  Oh, and there's not nearly enough of Emma Thompson's O in the film; look, underusing Emma Thompson is one thing, but given one of the lines that really made me interested in this was Tessa Thompson flirting with her, that's really disappointing!

"Look, what I meant when I told the story in that interview was-"

"Liam, when you've gotten into a mess like this, just stop digging!"

Look, the original Men in Black was a fine dinner of a blockbuster, in a good restaurant; a thing you enjoy, and look back on fondly.  This is grabbing a doughnut, and not like a Dunkin', more like a good Tesco custard doughnut from the instore bakery; it's OK in the moment, you'll enjoy the moment, but you're not going to really remember that doughnut as anything special for years to come.  It's an OK film, if only for the novelty of seeing branches of Gregs in a major blockbuster, but is has nothing to really compare to the fun of say the Noisy Cricket scene from the first, with the only point that might (the guns in H's car) being spoiled in the trailer.  If you want to see it at the cinema, I'm not saying no don't, you go do that, but you know Godzilla is still on if you haven't seen that already.