Movie Review

(Columbia Pictures/Amblin Entertainment)

Before superheroes dominated the summer movie season, there was a time when aliens invaded theaters to the delight of audiences everywhere.

One of them was the 1997 sci-fi action/comedy “Men in Black,” which offered a clever premise of a secret intergalactic police agency, while also utilizing then-groundbreaking CGI and Academy Award-winning SFX makeup by Rick Baker.

After two successful sequels in 2002 and 2012, “Men in Black: International” will have to make the series prove viable again in this season of sequels. The person handling this difficult task will be F. Gary Gray the director of “The Fate of the Furious,” who takes the place of series veteran Barry Sonnenfeld.

Molly (Tessa Thompson) has been obsessed with the secret agency ever since she witnessed her parents being neuralyzed. When she does find the New York City headquarters, Agent O (Emma Thompson) believes that the young woman may be more valuable as an agent. Now as Agent M, she goes to the London headquarters for a possible assignment. Upon meeting the High T (Liam Neeson), she partners up with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) who’s becoming a reckless and undisciplined agent much to the annoyance of Agent C (Rafe Spall).

Their first assignment together is to protect an alien ambassador from twin alien assassins (Laurent and Larry Bourgeois). But after it went poorly, the two agents soon realize there could be a mole within the MiB that could surely bring doom to the Earth. The two of them then team up with a small alien pawn (voice of Kumail Nanjiani) before looking for H’s ex-girlfriend Riza (Rebecca Ferguson) who could hold the key to discovering the mole.

Without the presence of Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones, the series has very little reason to continue unless the filmmakers can find a way to bring something new to the table. Fortunately, they did try to add an element of a global-wide adventure making it feel something different than before. There’s still enough of what fans can recognize that still make the franchise what it is like the alien designs, the cool gadgets, and the action mixed with the comedy. Also, there’s some intense fight scenes that help add to the fun of the movie.

Unfortunately, the script lacks the original’s uniqueness making this film just another sequel. The whole mystery subplot is very predictable that you’ll likely know what the outcome is once the movie begins. Most of the aliens are CGI, which is fine, but having no one like Baker doing the makeup effects completely takes away the charm of the other movies. Even though they were really trying to make a good movie, it’s clear that this series has lost its mojo and may not be able to recover from it.

At least the cast seem to be having a blast being a part of this film. Hemsworth is basically playing secret agent Thor, but he has some hilarious moments that makes his performance worthwhile. Thompson brings a more smart-aleck approach to her performance, and her chemistry with Hemsworth from Thor: Ragnarök continues to be pretty impressive. Neeson is just playing a nothing boss character, but he still gives it his all especially in some scenes.

“Men in Black: International” has that cool factor, but not enough to reach the standards the other films achieved. It’s a perfectly fine entry, but you might rather go back and watch the trilogy that remains as high-quality sci-fi comedies.

THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for sci-fi action, some language, and suggestive material)

THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3 Stars (Out of Four)

BATON ROUGE, La. —Adeline Casali of Harrison, Maine, was recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society.

Casali is pursuing a degree in Environmental Science at University of Southern Maine.

Sikora is among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann who had a desire to create a different kind of honor society: one that recognized excellence in all academic disciplines. Today, the Society has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States and the Philippines. Its mission is “To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”

Data Management Specialist Patrick W. Smith, Ph.D.

“For All Your Data Management Needs” “My expectations for the ad were exceeded the very �irst wee�. It’s only been a few days since my business card was advertised in the Mountain Messenger, and I have four �obs from �ive in�uiries. The ad has already paid for itself. I’m very pleased with the response!”

ORONO — A number of area students are among the 2,330 who achieved dean’s list honors for the spring 2019 semester at the University of Maine.

Students who earned the honor completed 12 or more credit hours in the semester, earning a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

Bridgton: Morgan MacNeil, Douglas Mayo, Lucien Sulloway

Casco: Sullivan Tidd

Denmark: Jane ImdiekeKing, Allison Watson

Fryeburg: Spencer Thomas

Naples: Meghan Boos, Lily Charpentier, Catherine Christiansen, Marcus Devoe

Raymond: Liam Flynn, Emily Gagne, Cameron Peavey, Nick Rose, Alex Wilkins

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Students from Norway and South Paris, Maine, were named to the dean’s list at Rochester Institute of Technology for the 2019 spring semester.

Degree-seeking undergraduate students are eligible for dean’s list if their term GPA is greater than or equal to 3.400; they do not have any grades of “Incomplete”, “D” or “F”; and they have registered for, and completed, at least 12 credit hours.

Named to the list were Ike McNutt, of Norway, who is in the game design and development program, and Peter Miller, of South Paris, who is in the electrical engineering program.

LEWISTON — Emily Carty of Sweden, was named to the winter semester dean’s list at Bates College. The winter semester ends in April.

Carty is a 2018 graduate of Fryeburg Academy and a first year at Bates.

OTISFIELD — The East Otisfield Free Baptist Church has announced the recipients of two $1,200 scholarships.

Benjamin Andrews, of Norway, in his junior year studying mathematics at Bowdoin College, and Molly Mahn, from Otisfield, a freshman studying nursing at the University of Southern Maine, Lewiston Campus, both received the scholarships.

The church congratulated both of the students, and wished them well academic endeavors.