Here come the Men in Black…galaxy defenders.
Sorry. That’s so 1990s.
BQB here with a review of the latest MIB film.
I’m not sure if this counts as reboot. If anything, it must be a sequel. I assume the past adventures of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones from the originals are still in MIB’s history logs, but now, new characters are going on new adventures.
In this rendition, Agent M (Tessa Thompson) is a rookie, and a non-traditional one at that. While most MIB agents are recruited, she finds the agency on her own. As a child, she had an alien encounter and has ever since dreamed of joining the mysterious, clandestine alien investigation organization.
Long story short, the agency gives her a shot and pairs her with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) of the London bureau. Together, they trot the globe, aiming to unravel a complex plot that involves the member of an alien royal family, shape shifting aliens, an arms dealer who literally has a lot of arms (Rebecca Ferguson) and, horror or horros, a mole inside MIB. Add in a diminutive sidekick voiced by Kumail Nanjiani for good measure. Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson stop by as MIB higher ups.
Naturally, there are social justice updates, which is ironic because MIB was always one of the more woke franchises to come out of the 90s. Agent J was, after all, played by Will Smith, who rapped the infamous theme song and he and K were eventually joined by a female agent. In this go around, the title of the organization is questioned. Why are Men in Black? Why aren’t they People in Black? Funny, Dark Phoenix asked the same question about the X-Men. I suppose we should start looking for People in Black or X-People movies soon.
Anyway, I’d heard some bad reviews but I don’t agree. It was a good installment and honestly, I did think Men In Black 3 from 2012 kinda sucked, thus showing signs that the franchise was in need of an overhaul if it was to continue. Also good to see Hemsworth and Thompson working together again, since they first appeared together in Thor: Ragnarok.
STATUS: Shelf-worthy.
Bookshelf Battle 