10 Movies That Tried To Exploit Nostalgia (And Failed)
8. Men In Black International
The Men in Black franchise may have earned over $1.5bn at the box office, but it seemed like a strange idea to continue the series without original stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, whose brilliant double-act carried the original trilogy even through its weaker moments. Unless we could have got that rumored MiB/Jump Street crossover, which would have been awesome.
It may have existed in some form for over 20 years, but is the Men in Black franchise really popular enough to get audiences invested in a new installment that doesn't feature the original stars? Apparently not. Without Smith or Jones, International simply welds a story onto the tropes and iconography established in previous movies that people will remember.
Black suits, sunglasses, Neuralizers, a mode of transport with a 'big red button', tiny guns that are incredibly powerful, Frank the Pug, a veteran actor playing the stoic head of an MiB branch and celebrity aliens are all featured, yet only highlight how little genuine inventiveness or originality can be found in Men in Black International. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson proved in Thor: Ragnarok that they have more than enough chemistry to power a sci-fi buddy comedy but it turns out lighting doesn't strike twice, even if you're already the God of Thunder.