Men in Black: International (2019)

Directed by F. Gary Gray. Starring Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Neeson, Rafe Spall, Emma Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, (voices) Kumail Nanjiani, Kayvan Novak. [PG-13]

Aimless and listless continuation of the Men in Black series isn’t quite a sequel, nor a spinoff, nor a reboot, nor a movie with any good reason to exist. Thompson wheedles her way into the ranks of the MIB as a probationary agent, teams up with disinterested top agent Hemsworth on a convoluted case involving lethal twin beings that seem to be made out of energy, a mysterious crystal, and the usual mix of sketchy alien politics and threats of annihilation. The flimsy script by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum ignores humor most of the time to focus on the action and special effects side of things (and when it tries to be funny, it almost never is); worse, the film fails to generate even a fraction of the chemistry between its leads as the first film did with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (those two don’t show up in the flesh for even a cameo, though their likenesses can be briefly spotted). No need for a neuralyzer to chase away the disappointment—it’s all forgotten before the credits even roll.

35/100