Men in Black: International

Men in Black International is a science-fiction action-comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It is a spin-off from the Men in Black film series, which in turn was based on the Malibu/Marvel comics of the same name by Lowell Cunningham. It is the thirty-second Sony Pictures Animation film. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Kumail Nanjiani, and Liam Neeson, along with Emma Thompson reprising her role as Agent O from Men in Black 3 and Tim Blaney as the voice actor for Frank the Pug, the Remoolian alien disguised as a dog from the first two films.

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In 2016, Agent T and Agent H arrive at the Eiffel Tower, armed and ready to stop an attack that is about to happen. They come across a man proposing to his girlfriend, and explain that an alien race, The Hive, a parasitic race of aliens who survive by merging their DNA with those of the races whose home worlds they have conquered, are invading. The agents quickly neuralyze the two and telling the man to propose on their way down from the tower instead. The two agents get to some doors, holding their weapons at the ready just as some creature start to force their way through an into Earth.

In 1996 as a young girl, a man and his wife hear a noise coming from their backyard. The husband goes outside to investigate, but then comes running back into the house claiming that whatever was out there wasn't simply an animal, but some type of creature. Their daughter Molly Wright witnesses her parents being neuralyzed by agents of the Men in Black, while she helps an alien escape them. As it was assumed she was asleep at the time, she narrowly escaped the same fate.

23 years later, it seems that Molly is having difficulty finding employment with both the FBI and CIA, due to her strong belief in the existence of extraterrestrial beings and alien life, even being referred to as "delusional" by members of the two large intelligence-gathering organizations. She has a tracking system that gives her an alarm about an unknown object approaching the planet. She rushes out of her call center job, telling the guy next to her that "Jimmy is coming home to see his kids."

At home through what appears to be a computer program written by Molly that can patch into the Hubble space telescope and relay it's feed to her directly, Molly manages to track an unauthorized object entering Earth's orbit to an alien landing site a short distance away. She runs out of her apartment, grabbing her coat revealing a World News article showing that Jimmy is a green alien and he's sent a message to the mother of his triplets saying he is on his way back.

Molly takes a cab to the location that was indicated as the landing site, only to find nothing there. Turning around in puzzlement, she scares some birds and they fly behind her and disappear, causing her to accidentally discover the holographic force field used by the MiB to conceal scenes of alien activity from the public. She sets eyes on figures wearing the same sharp, pressed, black suits she remembered from her childhood, and surmised that they must be agents of the Men in Black. She quickly removes her outerwear, revealing a black skirt suit very like the ones sanctioned by the MiB, and follows them back to MiB headquarters, walking through the doors that are the entrance to the MiB's base of operations.

She walks by the doorman and Frank pretending to know about the organization and the full situation with Jimmy. As soon as she enters the elevator and the door closes, Frank asks the doorman if he's going to call in the intrusion or not. The doorman radio's in a Code Black. Molly gets to see a little of the MiB headquarters before the Code Black causes the elevator to suddenly lock and descend rapidly. After questioning about whom Molly is working for and finding out that that she is alone, Agent O makes it known that she is impressed by Molly's tenacity and cunning. Molly believes that she has proven herself by uncovering the secretive organization and has a willingness to join the group, stating that she has had no life outside of her search for the men who had neuralyzed her parents when she was a child. Agent O grants her the rank of "Probationary Agent", with the designation "M", and sends her to the London, England branch of the MiB, led by the former Agent, but now High T who is presently in charge of that branch.

Assigned to Agent H as his partner, her first task is to assist him in his meeting with Vungus the Ugly, a member of an alien royal family, at an alien nightclub. Vungus has a past history with Agent H, and can feel that he has changed. Unfortunately, this assignment does not go well when The Twins conduct an attack on Vungus, wounding him. Escaping to the street, a firefight ensues between the Agents and the Twins, who turn out to be invulnerable to the various firearms Agent H keeps in (or on) his vehicle. Slowly dying from his injuries, Vungus passes on a mysterious crystal to Agent M, claiming that he can no longer trust H because he has changed, before he dies. After being reprimanded by High T after the firefight destroys much of the city street and surrounding buildings, M and Agent C are instructed to begin an investigation into the attack, after M states that the culprit responsible for revealing the location of Vungus to the aliens who attacked must be an insider at the MiB.

It's concluded that The Twins are showing DNA traces of The Hive. M also learns that High T and Agent H were responsible for repelling an invasion of Earth by the Hive at the Eiffel Tower in France in 2016, and that Agent H's performance and dedication to the job has since been on a decline, with High T covering for him out of mutual respect.

Armed with this new information, Agent M is convinced by Agent H to follow up a lead in Marrakesh, where they encounter Pawny, who is the sole survivor of a race of aliens who were attacked and subsequently wiped out by the Hive. Shortly afterwards, the trio is attacked by agents of the MiB, led by an angry and suspicious Agent C, who had recovered video surveillance footage of Vungus passing the mysterious crystal to Agent M, and believes that she is the inside traitor who was involved in the attack on the alien royalty.

Escaping on a rocket-powered bike sourced by an alien contact of Agent H, and subsequently crashing into the desert after a heated chase through the streets and alleys of Marrakesh, the crystal is revealed to be a superweapon powered by a blue giant star. However, it is stolen by his contact and the trio learns that it was taken to an arms dealer by the name of Riza Stavros, a former "partner" of Agent H's. Attempting to infiltrate Stravos' island fortress, they are caught by Stravos and his bodyguard, however, the bodyguard recognizes Agent M as the child that helped him escape the agents of the MiB 23 years ago, and returns the favor by allowing them to leave while he keeps Stravos contained. Shortly afterwards, the group is attacked by The Twins yet again, and a brief fight ensues. High T and a several MiB agents arrive in the nick of time and kill the twins before they could get the upper hand.

Although the case seems to have come to a conclusion, it is then realized that The Twins could have potentially acquired the weapon to use in defense against the Hive, rather than for them. The evidence is further strengthened by the fact that only High T seemed to know that the twins contained traces of Hive DNA. Agent C concedes the fact that all evidence points to a massive deception of the London branch of the MiB by High T, and allows Agents M and H to follow him the the Eiffel Tower. On the elevator ride to the top of the Tower, with the help of Agent M, Agent H realizes that he cannot remember the events at the Eiffel Tower 3 years ago, in 2016. It is revealed that the Hive had "converted" High T into one of their race, neuralyzed Agent H to have him be considered the "hero", and concealed the events of that day.

The Hive-controlled High T activates a wormhole that has the potential to draw all of the Hive to Earth, however Agent H is able to interact with High T's true personality long enough to distract the aliens and allow Agent M to destroy the infestation, along with High T, using the crystal weapon.

With the truth behind High T and the Hive's concealment of the events at the Eiffel Tower and their control of the head agent, Agent O travels to Paris to debrief Agents M and H, where she appoints Agent M to a full member of the agency, and makes Agent H the probationary head of the London branch until a new permanent head can be found. Agent H is then left to wrap up the scene at the Tower with Agent C and the other Men in Black, whereas Agent M is re-assigned to New York.

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 * Chris Hemsworth as Agent H
 * Tessa Thompson as Agent M
 * Liam Neeson as High T
 * Kumail Nanjiani as Pawny
 * Emma Thompson as Agent O
 * Rafe Spall as Agent C
 * Rebecca Ferguson as Riza
 * Les Twins as The Twins
 * Tim Blaney as Frank the Pug
 * Spencer Wilding as Luca Brasi

Production[edit]
In February 2018, it was reported that Chris Hemsworth would star in the film, set to be directed by F. Gary Gray. The following month, Tessa Thompson joined the cast. In May 2018, it was reported that Liam Neeson was in talks to star in the film as the head of the UK branch of the agency. The film was written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway and produced by Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes. In June 2018, Kumail Nanjiani, Rafe Spall, and Les Twins (Laurent and Larry Bourgeois) were added to the cast. Danny Elfman, who scored the first three Men in Black films, returned to compose the score for the film alongside Chris Bacon. Steven Spielberg executively produced, as he did for the first three MIB entries, along with Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed all the previous films. The Aragonese Castle in Ischia was one of the filming locations Principal photography on the film began on July 9, 2018, at Leavesden Studios and on location in London, and continued in Marrakesh such as the Jemaa el-Fnaa and El Badi Palace, Ischia and the Aragonese Castle, and New York City. Emma Thompson was announced as reprising her role as Agent O in the film later that month. In August 2018, Rebecca Ferguson joined the cast of the film. On October 17, Hemsworth confirmed that filming had wrapped.

Visual effects for the film were provided by Double Negative, and supervised by Alessandro Ongaro with the help of Rodeo FX, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Method Studios.

The film went through a troubled production due to frequent clashes between director Gray and producer Parkes, which started when the executive overseeing the project, Sony's executive vice president of production David Beaubaire, exited the studio in the summer of 2018, and was not replaced. An early draft of the script, which Sony initially praised, and which received the attention of stars Hemsworth and Thompson, had an edgier tone than the finished film; it featured sociopolitical commentary on the current debate surrounding immigration. The main antagonists were to be an alien music group inspired by the Beatles, with the four members merging into one villain during the climax. Parkes, who had final cut on the film, had a heavy hand in overseeing rewrites during pre-production and filming. Parkes' new script pages stripped away the early draft's modern sensibilities, and were newly sent, daily, to Hemsworth and Thompson, who were both so confused that they hired their own dialogue writers. Parkes not only dictated rewrites but stepped in on directing duties, although no Directors Guild of America rules were said to have been violated. Gray tried to exit the production several times but was convinced to stay by Sony. Parkes and Gray also clashed over the color-correction process during post-production. The studio tested two cuts—one put together by Gray, the other by Parkes—with the version by Parkes being chosen as the theatrical cut.

Release[edit]
The film was originally going to be released on May 17, 2019, but was pushed back to June 14, 2019. The film had its world premiere in New York City on June 11, 2019.

Some press estimated that Sony would spent around $120 million on prints and advertising for the film, a figure considered to be on the "lower end" for a tentpole feature. They also partnered with several companies to promote it, including Lexus, Hamilton Watches, Zaxby's, Dave & Buster's and Booking.com, for about estimated $75 million worth of advertising.

Lexus had a partnership with Sony Pictures to use their vehicles for the film, the RC and the RX, all in their F Sport variants. The motor company also designed an alien-looking spaceship in the same body of the RC model.

Home media[edit]
The film was released on Digital HD on August 20, 2019, and on Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on September 3, 2019, in the United States.

Box office[edit]
Men in Black: International grossed $80 million in the United States and Canada, and $173.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $253.9 million. With a production budget of $94–110 million, and an additional estimated $120 million spent on marketing and ancillary market revenue, it was estimated that the film would have needed to gross $220–300 million worldwide in order to break even.

In the United States and Canada, Men in Black: International was released alongside Shaft, as well as the wide expansion of Late Night, and was projected to gross $30–40 million from 4,224 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $10.4 million on its first day, including $3.1 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $30 million, topping the weekend box office but coming in below expectations. This debut made it the first film in the series not to open above $50 million. The underwhelming opening was blamed on the dated franchise, poor critical reviews and audience anticipation for other, upcoming big releases Toy Story 4 and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The film fell 64% in its second weekend to $10.7 million, finishing fourth, and then made $6.7 million in its third weekend, finishing in sixth.

Worldwide, the film was released concurrently with the United States in 56 additional countries and was projected to gross $70–85 million, for a worldwide debut of $100–115 million. It ended up making $73.7 million overseas and $102.2 million globally, finishing first in 36 of the markets. It underperformed in Asian countries like China ($26.3 million) and South Korea ($4.9 million) due to poor word-of-mouth, similar to the U.S., although it finished first in Mexico ($3.9 million), Brazil ($1.8 million), Russia ($5.1 million), the UK ($3.4 million), Australia ($2.6 million) and France ($2.5 million).

Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 318 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Amiable yet forgettable, MIB International grinds its stars' substantial chemistry through the gears of a franchise running low on reasons to continue." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest score of the franchise, while those at PostTrak gave it a 72% overall positive score and a 46% "definite recommend."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it "Meh in Black, making another intensely tiresome and pointless reappearance," and gave the film 1 out of 5 stars. Peter DeBruge of Variety said that "The connection between Tessa Thompson and Hemsworth is what saves the day, not anything their characters do onscreen" and called the film itself "amusing, if uneven." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing: "Men in Black: International isn't bad; it's an improvement over Men in Black II (2002) and Men in Black 3 (2012), sequels that even its makers may have forgotten. As a species we appear destined to revisit this basic concept and renew the hunt for fresh variations on the zingy, disarming first picture, which brought the Lowell Cunningham comics to the screen so shrewdly and well in 1997."