Men in Black: International’s smart casting of Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Kumail Nanjiani pays off in giving us the best entry since the original MIB.

Score: 3.5 / 5

It’s been a while since the last Men in Black movie, 7 years to be precise. The franchise that was one led by one of the last big movie stars Will Smith is back. This time with a brand-new cast in an attempt to relaunch the series. This entry introduces the new leads, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and Agent M (Tessa Thompson), as they take on a case involving a potential mole in the London branch of the MIB.

That’s all I’ll say on the plot as it’s pretty simple all things considered and isn’t a major pro or con in this movie. What is massively important is the two leads of the movie. Chris Hemsworth continues his push into comedy blended roles that his talents match perfectly. Hemsworth is a comedy action star, he solidified that in Thor: Ragnarok, and continues to dive deeper into this style of role. Speaking of Thor: Ragnarok, Hemsworth and Thompson’s chemistry was great in that Marvel film and it was a great idea to reunite them for a different franchise. Thompson continues to show she’s a talented actress and holds her own with Hemsworth. She can be equally funny and holds her own in action.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you know this actor) it’s Kumail Nanjiani who steals the show. He voices a small fist size alien who has sworn his loyalty to Thompson’s Agent M. Nanjiani is an excellent comedian and his deliveries in this movie are great. When he’s involved the humor takes it up a notch. Especially when it’s between himself and Hemsworth. The only other major actor involved is Liam Neeson, who plays Agent High T. There isn’t much to say about High T. He’s pretty one note. I’m very happy he didn’t end up playing as Hemsworth’s partner or it would have made for a less interesting movie.

This was a long way of saying, this movie is funny because of a talented cast and a script that plays off their actors’ skills. What else does the movie have? Well it has some okay action, and just like the previous movies a large variety of alien creatures. The villains are not that very interesting, but that seems to be the problem with most of these movies (and so many Marvel movies that everyone loves). Point is if the movie is working on other levels, I don’t care if the bad guys are just evil to be evil, blah blah blah. It does what it needs to do. It gives us an excuse to watch these funny actors play off each other, which is all I need for an action comedy.

Personally, I liked this new Men in Black movie a whole lot. It’s probably the best the series has been since the first one, and I would love to see more of trio Hemsworth, Thompson, and Nanjiani in a sequel. It may not have the most interesting plot or villains to get interested in, but it was a funny good time, and that’s all I will ever want from a Men in Black movie.