Why Men In Black: International Failed

5. The Narrative And Characters Are A Meandering Mess

While the two leads struggle to make their mark, the biggest problem is that the arcs for Thompson's Agent M and Hemsworth's Agent H's both vanish halfway through the film. There's a theme in there about how the two learn to become better agents after teaming up, with M learning to let her gut emotions occasionally override her book-smart, logical approach to every situation, while H realises that sometimes, not every problem has to be solved with his fists.

That should be the start of both their character arcs, a great foundation to build off, but in the final film, that's literally all there is. Their partnership doesn't work because the characters learn from each other or grow emotionally throughout the movie, it works because Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are naturally charismatic and look damn good in black suits.

Even away from the underdeveloped character arcs, the story of Men in Black: International is a total mess. Though it starts off relatively simple enough, with clearly-defined character motivations, it eventually spirals into nothingness, somehow becoming increasingly convoluted and messy despite having a threadbare story.

Even the idea of the Men in Black going "international" seems half-baked. Though the previous movies had stuck to an American setting, the scope was inherently intergalactic. When your franchise is all about dealing with threats from outer space, setting your movie across Europe hardly feels noteworthy.

Plus, the filmmakers do nothing with the expanded international scope. The only other MiB office we get to see is the one in London, which functions identically to the one in the US.

Yes, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson look cool wielding guns in the middle of the desert the same way Daniel Craig did in Quantum of Solace, but that one image is meaningless if it loses nothing when it's plastered on a poster, context-free.