Men In Black: International Trailer Features Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson Taking Down Aliens
The universe is expanding — and Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are to thank.
Sony Pictures has just dropped the first trailer for Men in Black: International, the forthcoming spin-off flick that reboots the Men in Black film franchise, starring Thor: Ragnarok buddies Hemsworth and Thompson as a pair of alien-butt-kicking agents prepared to defend the galaxy from all kinds of scum.
The footage opens on Liam Neeson's character, the head of the Men in Black's U.K. branch, speaking in voiceover. "Always remember: the universe has a way of leading you to where you're supposed to be, at the moment you're supposed to be there," he says, seemingly talking to Hemsworth's Agent H, who slips on a sleek pair of shades and amps himself up for an adventure.
We then hear Thompson's Agent M revealing that she's spent 20 years trying to find the Men in Black, and watch as she pushes her hand through a fence via a ripple in space. It's clear she's no ordinary woman — and she just might be the smartest, most adept addition to the agency in history.
"You are the best kept secret in the universe," she says in the trailer. "And I found you, which makes me perfect for this job."
From the outside, Agent M is an obvious choice to join the Men in Black, but one very important person isn't completely sold just yet: Agent O (Emma Thompson), the ex-secretary who rose to the position of the chief of MIB following the death of Agent Zed (Rip Torn, then Kirk Larsen) ahead of Men in Black III. While Agent M doesn't think a sweet black suit is the answer to all her problems, Agent O has an inkling that the ingenue is a little in over her head.
Still, she gives Agent M the full rundown of how MIB operates — "we're a rumor, recognizable only as déjà vu and dismissed just as quickly" — and sends her to London to prove herself on a high-stakes mission: tracking down the mole amongst the Men in Black. At the headquarters in London, Agent M comes face to face (or foot to face, really) with the coffee-guzzling Worm Guys and meets Neeson's character, who assigns her as Agent H's partner.
From there, the footage leans into the humor of the Men in Black property and underscores the charm and charisma Hemsworth and Thompson bring to the screen. As Fergie's "London Bridge" plays in the background, the spunky Agent M and goofy, taco-loving Agent H fire off laser guns, fly (and then crash) a high-tech motorcycle, put the famous neuralyzer to good use, race across the open sea, fight a multi-armed woman with the strangest hair we've ever seen on a person's head, and launch their car into the skies.
The Men in Black: International trailer wraps on the best note imaginable: with a cheeky wink to Hemsworth's Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Thor. In the last few seconds of the clip, Agent H grabs a teensy hammer and hurls it at a blue-faced alien.
Check it out above, then take a look at the newest poster for Men in Black: International below.
Speaking openly here, Men in Black: International looks all kinds of fun based on this first trailer. The interplay between Thompson and Hemsworth is fantastic, as it always is, and it's great to see that their characters aren't just new versions of Will Smith's Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K. (Because how boring would that be?)
In the same regard, it seems like International is less focused on recreating the magic of the three MIB movies that came before it and is more concerned with establishing itself as its own fresh-and-cool entity within the franchise and taking the series to new heights. (Quite literally, given all that soaring through the air Agents M and H do.) And this is a good thing. It's incredibly hard to get reboots and sequels right, as they often wind up feeling too different from or too similar to their predecessors, but Men in Black: International seems to have found the sweet spot between those extremes.
Directed by F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious) and featuring Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Ferguson, and Rafe Spall, Men in Black: International will open wide — and might win the summer box office, in our opinion — on June 14, 2019.