Men In Black: International (Dir F. Gary Gray, 1h 55m)

It's fair to say that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, as Agents J and K of the shadowy organisation Men in Black, are one of the great double-acts of 90s cinema-the inpulsive wild hero, and straight laced straight man teaming up to save the world three times in a row. But as with all great double acts, so they went their separate ways, with the third Men in Black films largely swapping Jones for a younger K, played by Josh Brolin.

In their place, gamely holding up this globe-trotting sequel that at least tries a couple of new things, and expands the shadowy organisation beyond New York and environs, are the seemingly tried and tested duo of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, last seen teaming up in Taika Waititi's cosmic comedic revenge road movie, Thor Ragnarok, who sadly give a more punch-clock performance than either their superheroic adventure or the Smith and Jones joint of the previous movies.

With an alien threat appearing in London and offing a seemingly vital member of an alien royal family-in what seems like only the latest in MIB's pretty poor track record in keeping any alien royal safe-in search of a dangerously powerful weapon, so odd couple H (Chris Hemsworth in full shambolic playboy mode) and M (Tessa Thompson, who sees her parents being neuralized by MIB operatives as a young child and essentially strong-arms her way into the organisation) are sent on the trail of the murderers, from London to Marakesh to Naples to Paris on a globe-trotting expedition to get to the bottom of the death, and how it connects both to a suspected mole within the secretive group, and a mysterious and terrifying alien force known as the Hive.

The real problems begin and end with the main duo. Certainly, both Hemsworth, leaning on the comedic chops the most recent Marvel films have clearly shown he posesses, and Thompson, who lends M a nice mix of Will Smith's J's "new kid on the job", and a new, and surprisingly fresh feeling sense of an inquistive and sharp, and altogether more millenial-feeling heroine, whose life-long attempts to find the organisation have left her perfectly positioned to join its ranks. 

As individual characters, they're enjoyable to be around-there's a shambolic, heavy drinking, almost-Bond-esque sense to H, as he stumbles and drinks his way from problem to problem, protected by High Tea, (Liam Neeson at full Neesonic fatherliness), whilst trying to regain the qualities that High Tea and the rest of MIB London demand of him, whilst M is driven by her dedication to finding the truth, whilst becoming used to the world that surrounds her, and finding her place in the universe, all on her first mission.

Together, however, it's messy. Gone is the natural back and forth banter of Thor and Valkyrie, with whom these two cannot help but be compared, where both were comedic foils to the other-gone too is any comparison to the banter between the deadpan old hand, K and the quipping J. In H and M, there is little banter-more  with the majority of the smart one-liners falling to Kumail Nanjiani's Pawny, a diminutive alien creature who pledges his loyalty to M early in the film, and is by far the funniest and most enjoyable character of the film, holding together H and M in the low-points of the film, and perhaps the closest the film gets to actually being good. Whilst, in the film's final third, there is finally a few moments where the duo click, they're too sparse, too sudden and lack development to be believable.

 Yet, perhaps because this is a film that runs against, to a degree, what the original trilogy was, in so far that it very much demystifies the MIB to the degree that, despite their increasingly hi-tech gadgetry, there is a degree of bumbling, boys-only, heavy-drinking club that desperately needs fresh blood, so the disparate duo actually works-the film, to its credit, has a taut enough plot, testing both its heroes, that, despite an ending so telegraphed that an educated guess could reveal its true villain, to their limits. With an excellent supporting cast and visual effects that continue to expand this universe, so MIB International at least attempts to create something fresh from what, in blunt terms, was a rather tired universe.

However, with a clunking duo that only find their feet late into the adventure, a lack of the series trademark comedy or partnership, a number of plot points that seem to have been lifted or adapted blantantly from the previous three films, and a general sense that this film has been made out of duty, rather than a particular love of the original, so this film is less an international hit, more a close encounter of a half-baked kind

Rating: Neutral.