Technical
assessment: 3
Moral
assessment: 3
CINEMA
rating: V14
Molly (Tessa Thompson) earns a probationary term in MiB after
impressing “O”, (Emma Thompson), head of MiB who made her undergo a series of
tests. It’s a dream come true for Molly
who as a child befriended and set free a baby alien that had strayed into her
bedroom. In MiB London, Molly becomes
the rookie “Agent M” assigned to team up with veteran Agent H, Henry (Chris
Hemsworth) Henry, a glib and cocky operative who’ll do anything to accomplish a
mission—including having interspecies sex with Riza (Rebecca Ferguson), a
glamorous cross between human and octopus. Riza has three arms and she’s an
arms dealer—how funny is that—and now happens to be in possession of a little
doomsday weapon that H and M must find and destroy, with the full support of
MiB London division’s honcho, High T, (Liam Neeson).
With
a trite and convoluted plot, Men in
Black International (the fourth of the MiB
series), can be likened to a dish of plain pasta garnished with nachos,
gelatine cubes, jalapeno peppers, sprinkles, baba ghanoush, and Oreo
cookies—bland carbohydrates plus garnishings that might be palatable or even
exotic when taken singly but when together served as a meal would make you
seriously wonder what culinary school the chef got his hat from. The CGI of the outer space creatures look
lifelike; the baby alien and Pawny (M’s minuscule alien sidekick) are endearing
enough; the action keeps you from dozing off; the gadgets, although generics,
are in new shapes; Riza’s outlandish costume matches the character’s
eccentricity, and yet altogether they fail to excite. Even the much touted chemistry supposedly
carried over from Thor Ragnarok by
Hemsworth and Thompson can’t save the day.
What,
then, spares Men in Black International
from total oblivion by its fans? If you
just close your eyes to the abovementioned disappointing elements and focus instead
on the human values still enveloped in the story, you’ll find a number of
desirable and rewarding traits demonstrated by the characters: kindness to a
stranger (Molly saves the life of the baby alien); single-mindedness in
pursuing a goal; gratitude for one’s life saved; self-confidence rooted in
self-knowledge; sacrificing self-indulgence to give way to service. In the end traitors are uncovered and a good
cause is rewarded; it is unmistakable, too, that good triumphs over evil.—TRT
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
LEAD CAST:
Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rebecca
Ferguson SCREENWRITER: Matt
Halloway, Art Marcum
PRODUCER: David Beaubaire, Howard Chen, Edward Cheng EDITOR: Zene Baker, Christian Wagner, Matt Willard MUSICAL
DIRECTOR: Chris Bacon, Danny Elfman
GENRE: Science
Fiction, Comedy, Action CINEMATOGRAPHER:
Stuart Dryburgh DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures LOCATION:
United States, London, Marrakesh
RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes.
