Why Men In Black: International Failed

1. It Doesn't Understand Its Own Franchise

While there were clear production woes with Men in Black: International, the main issue seems to stem from the fact that the finished product - and potentially Sony at large - has no idea what Men in Black actually is.

Sure, at a glance, the latest movie couldn't be more enveloped by the brand. There's a quirky, oddball central partnership, the neuralysers, the suits, the cars, the technology, the futuristic headquarters, the celebrities who are aliens in disguise, but there's nothing beneath the surface.

The iconography screams Men in Black, but movie franchises are more than iconography. It's an issue we've seen crop up over the past few years, where sequels and reboots understand the images and symbols that define their brands, but not the ideas behind them.

It's why Godzilla: King of the Monsters amounted to little more than action figures being smashed together, why Aladdin had the songs you loved as a kid, but somehow they weren't as catchy, and why Men in Black: International has the sick suits, but none of the wonder that made the original so resonant.

Again, there's no saying whether this is because of the troubled production or whether the original script also misunderstood the franchise's identity, but the important thing is that either way, it was completely absent in the finished product.