Hemsworth, Thompson make ‘Men in Black International’ watchable

“Men in Black: International” gives us a recycled version of the plot from the original 1997 “Men in Black,” an antagonist with no motivation and a cutesy sidekick that’s annoying as often as he’s funny. So thank heavens someone saw fit to cast Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, otherwise this would be just another unwatchable franchise movie dumpster fire.

“International” teams rookie M.I.B. agent M (Thompson) with Agent H (Hemsworth), an agent who saved the world from an alien race called The Hive several years prior. Now, M and H are assigned to protect a member of an alien royal family.

Things go awry when extraterrestrials that look like colorful cosmic clouds show up in pursuit of the movie’s McGuffin. It turns out to be an incredibly powerful weapon that blasts immense canyons into an expanse of desert dunes on the lowest power setting. On top of that, M has to deal with a mystery revolving on what happened to H in his past. And, oh yeah, there’s an apparent mole that needs to be ferreted out of Men in Black. Phew. That’s quite the to-do list.

The story of this flick is much less new story and much more old story with new stuff piled on top. Just like the original 1997 entry in the series, this one revolves around a new agent entering the organization to be trained by a veteran agent. Just like the first film, our protagonists end up guarding a mysterious object and playing keep-away with bad guy aliens who want that object.

What’s new is the plot strand about the mole within the M.I.B.s. This plot doesn’t really add much in the way of tension or drama because the movie tips its hand in the first scene, and when we learn who the mole is, it’s not much of a surprise. That’s some pretty poor writing.

Another writing or structural issue is the way “International” opens. We get a scene depicting some backstory regarding H and Agent High T (Liam Neeson) facing off against The Hive. Then we jump even further back in time for another scene full of backstory regarding M’s childhood. This makes the front end of this movie really drag, and it might have worked better to move one or both of these scenes further into the body of the film, if not excise them completely. For a movie that has serious pacing issues and doesn’t really get going for a good hour, this opening nearly sinks the movie all by itself.

Then there are some character issues. Take Pawny (Kumail Nanjiani), the cute sidekick designed to keep the attention of younger audience members and supply some laughs. He’s obnoxious to the point of distraction too many times. And the character of Agent C (Rafe Spall) is such a one-note slimeball kind of character with such a predictable arc, he becomes someone you wish you didn’t have to waste time watching.

On top of these flaws, “International” wastes Emma Thompson, who plays the most interesting character in the whole film. It forces in lame gender politics-derived humor that doesn’t work at all. The action scenes look cool, but they’re lacking in tension or dread that something bad may befall our heroes.

But there are two very good reasons to watch this movie. Those reasons are Hemsworth and Thompson. We’ve seen them play off one another before, in “Thor: Ragnarok,” so we know they have chemistry. And they are a very funny pair. Hemsworth doesn’t get enough credit for his skills as a comedic actor. His hunky goofiness makes H instantly likable and he knows how to deliver a joke. Thompson delivers the cool to balance Hemworth’s goofiness. She’s convincing as a smart, sharp, confident rookie who has a lot to learn but obviously belongs with the M.I.B.s.

Together, Hemsworth and Thompson save “Men in Black: International” from becoming another dull summer franchise blockbuster. That doesn’t mean it’s great. But it does mean it’s worth seeing once if you don’t have anything better to do on a Friday night.

3 Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13