Men in Black: International (2019)

I was so excited for a new Men in Black movie.  It didn’t have Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones in it.  Ok.  Fine.  That’s not the end of the world.  Emma Thompson’s there, offering some bit of continuity.  Frank the Pug has a cameo, as do The Worms, so there’s that.  Even thought it’s a mostly new cast, this could still work out.

The Men in Black are facing two threats.  One is from the Hive, an insidious organism that absorbs races rather than kill them.  The other is from an apparent mole in the organization.  When Agent M and Agent H are tasked with protecting an alien dignitary, said dignitary is killed under their watch.  Agent M is understandable, as she’s the probationary agent.  H is more experienced, although it doesn’t really show.

So, the two go off on a planet-wide adventure to figure out what’s going on and to protect the Earth from aliens that might do it harm.  Not everything is what it seems, though.  Friends might be enemies.  Enemies might be ordinary people just trying to protect themselves.

While the movie was fun, it didn’t quite capture the magic of the first three movies.  K was a straight man to J’s comedic personality.  The first three movies seemed to flow naturally as almost a single story.  This seems to be a case of trying one too many times.  Yes, it hits a lot of the marks, like fast action sequences and interesting aliens, but it’s just not the same.

Part of it might be that the first three movies had a clear enemy.  (Edgar the Bug, Serleena and Boris The Animal, respectively.)  The Hive is a little too amorphous and hidden to be taken seriously.  I get that having your own people pose a threat is something in itself, but the movie focused too much on the chase scenes and not enough on any real sense of urgency.  Agents M and H get to spend the night in the desert repairing an alien motorbike.

I also get that the stories for J and K had an arc and that arc came to an end, but it seems kind of sudden to simply replace them as lead characters.  It might have worked better to replace one or the other first.  Having cameos by other characters isn’t enough.  It’s too much of a clean break to really carry the momentum.

The London branch seems like a pale comparison of the New York branch.  How, exactly, did H become an agent, anyway?  He seems too laid back to be taken seriously.  I get that he does have skills, but the first time we see him, he’s “meditating” on the job.

While we’re at it, it’s evident that there are more than 26 agents.  New York didn’t seem to have that many agents and could have done with letters for names.  London has a lot of people.  Do they reuse letters?  MIB 3 had an agent AA, if I recall, but all of the characters shown on screen have a single letter: Z, J, K, O, M, H or C, for instance.  It’s also possible that people just use their first initial.  James D. Edwards became Agent J.  Molly Wright became Agent M.  Dealing with two agents with the same letter might be like dealing with two agents with the same name.  It also might explain why Liam Neeson’s character is called High T.

There are a few other issues that I have with the movie, some of which can’t be asked without spoiling the ending.  While it was a fun movie to watch, I was a little let down.  It’s just not the same.  I suppose another installment might do better, but this could very well be a case of a franchise going one movie too far.  It might have been better to leave well enough alone.

IMDb page

Get Santa (2014)

Back in the first days of streaming, life was good.  More specifically, the selection was good.  The studios had not yet realized how popular the service would be and allowed Netflix and other providers to stream movies at a low cost.  By the time the contracts had expired, the studios found themselves in a position to charge more.  The result seemed to be that Netflix limited the number of bigger (read: expensive) movies. They still had plenty of lesser-known movies that I imagine cost less, but would still allow Netflix to claim to offer more titles over the Internet.

I have found a few good movies streaming.  I’ve found a few bad ones, too.  Get Santa is somewhere in between.  I knew coming in to the movie that it was probably going to be nothing spectacular.  It’s about a father-and-son team that has to come to Santa’s rescue.

The movie starts with Steve getting out of jail.  He wants nothing more than to see his son, Tom.  Meanwhile, several reindeer are wandering around London.  Santa has crashed his new sleigh and has found his way to the garage of Tom’s mother.  When Steve arrives, he chases off this weirdo that’s talking to his son.  He has enough to worry about with mandatory visits to his parole officer.

The next, Steve picks Tom up for a day together.  All Steve can think about is helping Santa, who has ended up in the very same prison that Steve just got out of.  The reindeer have been taken, as well.  So, it’s up to Steve and Tom to get Santa out of jail and get his sleigh in working order.  Oh, and since Steve had to trespass and miss his very first parole meeting, he has the police and his parole officer after him, not to mention Tom’s mother since Tom didn’t get back on time.

The movie is pretty much what you’d expect.  The film is British, but I could see the Hallmark Channel airing something similar.  It seems somewhat formulaic.  You have someone claiming to be Santa and seems crazy.  You have someone who has a low tolerance for trouble that finds trouble.  You also have someone who Santa mistakes for an elf who is, in fact, not an elf.

Santa having to prove his identity wasn’t as played up as much as I would have expected. He’s able to tell people things about their childhood.  The police find someone who bears a resemblance, but it’s not explained if this is the same person or if it’s a coincidence.  (The person was arrested 20 years prior, making it look like someone who hadn’t aged.)  Then again, how do you prove that you’re someone who the world regards as fictional?

The movie is rated PG.  It is a kind of dark movie, mostly due to prison scenes.  Santa has to get a lesson on how to act among his fellow inmates.  IMDb has it listed as a comedy and a family movie.  I’m not entirely certain about either.  The movie is probably safe for teens and above.  I don’t know that younger children would understand certain aspects.  It also wasn’t particularly funny.  There were a few good lines, like Steve pointing out how useful one of Santa’s tools would be to Steve’s friends.  That was about it.

I’m hoping that Netflix rotates their steaming selection soon.  I’m kind of running out of movies to watch.  I understand that they have to keep financial concerns in mind, but I’ve noticed that I’m watching some of the more mediocre films here.  This is definitely one of them.

IMDb page