Men In Black International - How to Build a Toxic Hero | Anatomy Of A Failure 

The new writers' room has kept me pretty occupied, but don't think I forgot about you Fellas and Fellarettes! And big ups to all my Patrons for helping me keep the content coming. Couldn't do this without you!!

When will Hollywood learn? Strong FEMALE character = no Strong female CHARACTER = yes

Simple statement: if your characters main character trait is that she's a woman. You have failed as a writer.

Being a girl shouldn't be a trait, of a character. There are other things a girl character can revolve around in writing.

It would have been so cool if there was this alien conflict but the MIB rejected her and even wiped her mind when she brought it to them. Luckily, she had kept contingency plans like videos and diaries to combat that. So the stakes are high, she can't be caught by either side, and she has to solve the central conflict without any of the tools/advantages, thus earning her place in the MIB.

This whole "empowerment" somehow makes everything even more sexist. As a girl myself, I hate it.

As a woman I can say that all these overly aggressive pro female movies are horrible. Instead of writing a strong female character why won’t they write a strong character that happens to be female. Stop dumbing down the male characters because intelligent women and men can coexist with one another. Look at ripely from aliens one of the best characters ever written and the fact that she was a woman was not constantly thrown in the audience face. She was challenged by her peers she was flawed she was scared and that made her likeable.

J wasn't just the "opposite of good agent material but stood out". He stood out because he was, in fact, a cut above the rest. But he SHOWED it. While everyone else was struggling with the uncomfortable chairs and ruining their test papers. J decided to break with convention, try something new, and got himself a table. Not concerned with how it made everyone else see him. Something an agent needs. Then in the shooting gallery. Everyone else saw Aliens as the bad guys and shot at them. J had no prejudice whatsoever. He didn't see the Aliens as the bad guys (something the MIB would find an attractive quality in him) and instead looked for the one thing there that would actually be out of place for a person used to dealing with aliens. It was easy to see why he was Agent material. None of the other guys there acted anything like him. They acted like narrow-minded cowboys while J showed imagination and promise.

Literally she’s the best at everything. How are we supposed to empathize with that?! It’s like Hollywood doesn’t understand that a good character doesn’t just wake up the best at everything.

For me Men in black will always be Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Period!

conspiracy theory: this movie was made by the Men in Black so that people would forget about the series.

You know what would have been a cool twist? If Molly was some kind of artificial sleeper agent created by the enemy aliens to infiltrate MIB, get the weapon, and bring it to them. It would explain why she was such a shallow and undeveloped character: she was literally created with the sole purpose of getting into MIB. It would explain why she was so good at everything and why she could instantly handle alien tech: she was created with these abilities so they would accept her. Imagine the stuff you could do with that? Like, they could first discover this when they research her story about how MIB erased her parent's minds, and perhaps they learn that family didn't have a kid at all and that's why they only erased the minds of the parents. Perhaps have her partner be kind of a dick to her, like he's jealous that she's so quickly becoming so good at things it took him years to learn and master. She could have this really somber sort of inflection on herself, about what being "alive" and "human" actually means once she learns she's actually only a few months old and all her memories of friends, family, and events are all false, and that could be her asshole partner's redeeming moment where we learn he's not actually such a bad person at heart: he comforts her and tells her that no matter where she came from, she's still a person with feelings, emotions, and wants and needs who can choose her own path in life. Then maybe finish off with a moment where she decides her origins don't matter, that she's alive and she is going to live the way she wants to, and betrays her creators to help MIB save the world. Then finally in the end, perhaps she leaves the MIB, deciding she wants to just live life as a human and see where life takes her rather than following her programming of "JOIN MIB". Think like MIB meets Blade Runner or Detroit: Become Human.

Is amazing how they manage to make the deneuralyzer immersive by making it actually work with the audience. For example, I don't remember a single line on this movie

Does Chris Hemsworth always have to be the dumb pretty boy trope to make the female characters look smarter in lazily-written movies?

"But we did everything right, we made sure the female character took the lead in every situation, we made sure she has 0 flaws, we made sure to focus the whole movie on the strength of the female character, and how women are badass and better than men, and we made sure all the men look stupid compared to the female lead....why did it fail?" - Hollywood

If "The universe has a way of leading you to where you are supposed to be at the moment you are supposed to be there," is the theme, how interesting would it be if one of the main characters primary motivations was to actively rebel against this notion just to helplessly fall into the universe's place for them each time they tried to run from it. It would demonstrate the notion better than characters who just follow a script because they have to without input.

I came up with a different motivation for Molly: What if the Neuralyzer malfunctioned and caused some form of memory loss that Molly still struggles with? If the MiB damaged Molly's memory, she could be trying to infiltrate the MiB for revenge or a cure. She has ulterior motives for joining the MiB and may even be a threat to the agency after they ruined her life. To contrast her, I'd make Hemsworth a brave and loyal agent who never questions the shady agency he's worked so hard for. Then you do the buddy cop thing where they have a couple adventures, learn lessons from one another and have a big dramatic reveal that the MiB gave child Molly brain damage. Agent H defies the agency to help Molly, but she's come to see the MiB as a flawed force for good and after she gets her cure/revenge rejoins the agency with her partner.

She’s a woman of color in 2019 she’s not gonna have any flaws as a character.

"because I'm smart" smart people dont tell you that, they show you...

I completely agree. Unlike the hiring process of Jay, who chased down an unlicensed cephalopod "on foot", vouched by Kay to Zed (MiB 1). But then it turns out that Kay knew about Jay for a long time and has been looking out for him since his childhood (in MiB 3) but didn't give 'special privileges' through the hiring process just because. If Jay couldn't go through the 'natural' hiring process, the audience probably wouldn't buy the idea that Jay even belong in MiB.

She's like the oc character that Fanfiction writers make and then give them a Mary/Gary Stu personality and then slap childhood trauma as one of the things that we can "relate" to.

So basicallly just another case of "she's talented, smart, athletic, powerful, perfect from the start with no needing of character development *because woman* ". When are these people gonna learn?

MIB international is a perfect example of a movie that simply didn’t need to be made

I like how every time I watch a video criticizing a movie that I've watched I find it impossible to disagree with any point made but I still see the points made have completely flown over my head when I watched movie, effectively proving to me at least, that I'm lucky to be able to enjoy any media thrown in my face.

"She can fully explain alien weaponry the likes of which nobody on earth has seen before" Lol! What Hollywood would do in the name of female empowerment.

Remember when female leads were actual characters, like Alien

This strong female lead shit has to stop. You can't make someone perfect with no flaws because they are a woman there is no character development. If you look at the original, will Smith was far from perfect. He was a child in a man's body. He was immature but that's what made the character great and opened the door for character development. He wasn't the smartest or the strongest or the most well prepared, but he was "different" and had that special something that they saw to let them know he may just be the RIGHT guy. Not the best guy, the RIGHT guy. When he takes the test and fails miserably, he did the one thing nobody else did, he took the desk and that showed someone who, although he may not be the most booksmart, has a certain thinking process that sets them apart. And that opens the door for character development. He can now fulfill his potential, but it's not potential that's guaranteed and because he's no immature that the bar is set so low by everyone else, so not only can he reach his potential, he exeeds it and stands out. Why? He's not the BEST. He's not a flawless superhuman beast. He's just DIFFERENT. It makes the audience feel as though they could be him. They don't have to be Michael Weston, but use what's different about themselves to overcome obstacles that seemingly "superior" colleagues fail at

"You will not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter" MiB International: *Yes but actually no* (MiB is supposed to be this secret organization that doesn't exists, yet (other than the first 10-ish mins), the rest of the movie is the EXACT opposite of secretive. Riding an alien motorbike through a city of people. Creating a nuclear crater in the desert. Hell, Agent H started wearing pink shirt and white pants in the latter half. Agent J was covered in alien baby puke, and Agent K still lets him worn his jacket in the car)

"I'd have to go through minute by minute and no one has time for that." You underestimate my power.

Like someone said on the Charlie angels video, being female isn’t a personality trait.

See, in the scene where all the soldiers are doing a written test with Will Smith in MIB, a collection of seemingly "perfect" candidates are being pitted against one normal dude, and you automatically think the normal dude will under-perform. But despite being a normal guy, he was the only one who thought to bring the table over to him to write the test. Everyone else just followed orders and did what they were told, he was the one who thought outside the box. So he ended up getting the job not being he was smarter, stronger, or faster (Though he did manage to chase that one alien down on foot), it was because he was willing to open his mind to new possibilities outside of established convention. He wasn't perfect, he just had the right potential. And that's what makes good protagonists compelling; if you can sum it up in a single word, that word would be "potential". They aren't what they need to be, not yet, but they have the "potential" to grow and become what they need to be if they make the right decisions and do what needs to be done. Being perfect from the beginning and having nothing to strive for completely undermines that whole concept, and it turns your whole narrative arc into a flat line.

Bro I’m writing a story but, u helping me with characters development and what not to do, like for real bro, u could be my father

Man, it boggles my mind. Idk if writers and directors think their audience are dumb or they actually are. This was on point. If I wasn't watching this with other people I would've turned it off, based on all these points. RU-vidrs, like you, should be hired on as consultants to help these inept story tellers.

This movie is bad from the moment they accept a civilian without question The men in black organization should've just immediately clean her memory and then test if she has what it takes, seen as she has no physical or mental ability that makes her an invaluable agent to have they'll just deny her entry and move along Remember when Will got accepted, he first beat an alien in a race without knowing it was an alien, then he proved to be adaptable in the written test taking the table for himself and then he proved to show empathy for non human creatures and having a rational objective look into things shooting the "girl" with a book WAY to advanced and possibly dangerous for her age This movie has nothing, she just appears there saying she wants to be one of them and they accept her, no testing, no training, nothing, it's just "she has vagina therefore she's perfect for the job"

My thoughts on this movie in one sentence: Where’s Will Smith?

gosh you're so right about the "want" versus "need"

*Thanks a lot man. I was watching this movies cuz I loved will smith's MIB movies and then I tried to enjoy it ignoring all my doubt about her character and wierd plot thinking that it will blow my mind after a while somehow. I couldnt even finish half of the movie and I felt asleep somehow and never comepleted the movie. Now I understood why it happend.*

First movie: So, becoming a Man in Black is really difficult, International: Actually, super easy. Barely an inconvenience.

The funny thing is the more they want to write a "strong female character" the more sexist it is :P

Basically she's just like Rey from star wars, perfect from the get go lmao

This was just a homage. Kinda brings a tear to your eye the effort and skill put into the first three. Unusually good movie, which i think was communicated by the title "international" instead of mib4.

On the scene where the lil alien said “are you a queen?” And she said “besides the fact that all woman are queens no” or some shit like that pissed me off at how hard she was trying to act empowered 🤣😭

How neat would it have been if it was an alien who grew up on earth who wanted to become an MiB agent?

I even forgot this movie existed. When it came out I had no drive to watch it. Now it makes sense

I'm just glad I was there to experience the magic that was MIB for the first time, back in 1997.

This movie came out in june, and I already forgot it literally existed.

The biggest flaw of this film is how quickly she got the job. I feel like I'm watching bad fan fiction with a Mary Sue main character. Everything just gravitates to her, for no reason other than she's the main character.

I could not resist myself subscribing your channel after watching this video. Love from Bangladesh 🇧🇩

I actually don't mind her backstory, it's a good indicator of a strong character that they believe in themselves for what they know is right despite the backlash. However, it doesn't justify her being super good at everything. Especially that little moitor showing that she excels at alien's languages. Like, how? It's classified MIB knowledge that the public (her) aren't exposed to. Hemsworth was shown as an idiot, not just an egotistic which again, makes no sense. Because they were just talking about how legendary he is, how challenging it is to be an MIB because you have to be witty, smart, etc. Then how did he become one if he was so stupid? I actually really liked the plot twist, but since they don't show him being a good person/agent before the alien control, you lose the satisfaction or the little celebration at the end. I especially HATED the affair bit, he's a dumb hunky who sleeps on the job ruining the agency's work and possibly bringing doom on the planet?

they made her so unrelatable that it is ridiculous, she is the best in everything and she is in pain? she is traumatized but she improved? everyone love her but she feels discriminated? strong characters are built, not just born because they are man or woman

It’s funny how “Molly” is more like the soldiers who don’t use the table in the first MIB

Thanks for the pertinent critique. I had been looking forward to seeing this blockbuster and was bitterly disappointed. Agent J (is that her name? ) not only only looks like she'll be blown away in a heavy gale but seems to have set her hair in diesel-engine heavy-duty lubricant.

adding this channel to my collection.

When is Hollywood going to realize that making strong female characters doesn’t mean you have to make them emotionless and without any weaknesses? Literally every great character in history has weaknesses and depth to their personality, and that makes them relatable and interesting! As a female, I don’t need a female hero, especially if this is the type of female hero/lead they want to portray.

the biggest sin of this film is that after she started saying "i want to know everything" her eyes didnt start burning and she didnt get disintegrated by all the knowledge pumped into her

A good contrast of Molly's lack of conflict/resolution would be Jodie Foster's portrayal of Dr.Eleanor Ann Arroway in the movie Contact where the conflict to her search is set up through her father and the resolution is granted to Dr.Eleanor through her father which is very excellent.

Hell this is 2 years old at least and I only now just knew this existed and am glad for the forewarning.

What’s so funny is how he didn’t even do a spoilers warning Bc he knows well enough people aren’t gonna go watch this movie

Turns out absolutely perfect characters with no flaws whatsoever make for terrible protagonists.

Great video. All well said and I couldn’t agree more.

Your transition sounds are so satisfying to listen to.

so she's literally just a mary sue.

''These people brainwashed my parents and were hunting my cute little alien friend...i want to join them!'' what?

These are always fun vids to learn from!

man i remember watching this for the first time i fell asleep to it 3 times and finally finished it and regreted watching it

"Do you want to go and see the new Men in Black film?" "Cool, I love Will Smith films!" "Err...he's not in it." "Tommy Lee Jones?" "Nope." "....yeah, I'll leave it thanks."

One thing they got right: Elon Musk is an alien...

I'm late to the party but RU-vid started putting MIB clips in my suggestions today so here I am Here's one thing they could have done: Made MOLLY an alien herself. Wondering all her life about her heritage. Wondering if she is crazy. Perhaps she is even from Luca's planet and he recognizes her as a princess or something. Perhaps MIB knows all along her true identity.

Bro, I COMPLETELY forgot about this movie, same with that new charlies angels... Great analysis!

I’ll tell you the problem. The problem is they expected female empowerment to carry this movie and its protagonist. But empowerment is a by-product of writing, not a device that magically creates good writing.

A lot of the problems I have with the idea of having a strong female lead is that big companies assume strong means perfect. Strong really refers to how well written and convincing they are.

Gonna be completely honest. I forgot that I watched this movie, so yeah that neurolizer joke was pretty spot on

I know this is a few years late but can we just give props to Molly for her insane ‘Join MIB any%’ speedrun

The only reason this movie exist: Thor Ragnarok made a lot of money.

In the original MIB, the rookie ,Agent J, had to learn about being an MIB from the veteran Agent K. In MIB International, rookie Agent M teaches veteran agent H how to be an MIB.

The guy reading the newspaper in the entrance carried the franchise

RU-vid recommended the at 4:00 AM, just when I woken up and was trying to fall back asleep. 👍

Will Smith's character had to prove himself before he was even considered for testing in the MIB program. How come they didn't just neuralize her as soon as she found them? It would have made more sense then just giving her a job.

Will smith takes the first entire movie becoming a men in black: Molly: first 60 mins becomes a fully agent without any training 🙃🙃🙃

Criticising is easy but you do better and offer solutions. Legend

I honestly forget this movie even existed

What if in addition to an alien killing her mother, she distrusted every alien she met now, and instead of Hemsworth, her partner was an alien and she had to learn to trust them. And she chose him as her partner because he was wearing a human disguise in the headquarters because he feels self-conscious about being a “dangerous creature” from another world. And her distrusting aliens causes an interesting character dynamic, and he can learn to accept himself as he is

This movie is written like how a little girl talkes about her vacation.. And then we went to.... And than we did.... And then mom...... THE END!

I absolutely adore Tessa Thompson, she's amazing when she's given a material to work with. here... there's no material. nothing. nothing for her to play, to act, to do even. it's pretty obvious that she wsan't doing her best but honestly... not even Marion Cotillard or Meryl Strip could do a good job with this character

The example of a different possible backstory is really close to shines backstory in fire force. Cool

The problem with this movie is that there was no reason to make a new MIB movie in the first place.....

That awkward moment when critics and audience agreed. 🤣🤣🤣

Watched men in black movies soooo many times growing up and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this remake version.

this content is GOLD

My suggestion is that, instead of yet another "I must avenge my parent" narrative, she had a childhood friend, a walking talking sentient friend, who was an alien who was kidnapped by another alien right in front of her. Her motivation becomes "my friend has met a fate worse than death, and no one but me even knows she existed." She hides from the MIB and accumulates her own knowledge and experience with aliens while trying to figure out what happened to her friend, and so by the time of the movie she has a reason to be good with aliens and their stuff, but has no idea how to be MIB. She finds out that even the MIB has no idea where her friend went--she's a missing persons cold case, but there's been a rash of disappearances lately... I'm just so tired of dead parents being part of the tragic backstory. An abduction has the potential for a rescue, and I think for an even more tragic discovery because years of not knowing their fate.

The entire film initially had to be rewritten, as Chris Hemsworth refused to be the Ending Villain, so it was Changed to accommodate his refusal of that plot twist. THAT'S how heavily they relied upon name Actors for ticket sales..

14:56 - 15:04 That was basically me throughout all of uni because I didn't know how to make good papers so I instead just tried my hardest, ended up creating shit papers, and then spent the rest of the time patching it together in order to make it look like I knew from the start what I was doing. I passed almost every time. And now I have a master's degree in political science.

"Because Im smart, Im motivated, I look good in black" If they added in Im a girl that would be her entire personality right there

I feel like people forgot that you're supposed to NOT write Mary Sue characters.

Not to mention the movie started as a comedy movie staring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, where their dynamics was the ''thing'' about MIB, and not necessarily the aliens. If you don't have the main cast, that was what made MIB popular, why bother doing another one, and not only that, but doing it with a terrible storyline?

"taking the life of mollys mum"... that's just the revenge cliche. Whereas curiosity and searching for a childhood friend is done less often and relatable. But hey, what do I know, men in black 3 with Boris the animal is my favorite MIB film.

It's comical how all your videos are about movies that, when I saw the trailer, I was like: "Lol...that's gonna bomb so hard"

As the movie ended my brother said "There goes another movie franchise down the gutter".

Chris Hemsworth should stop taking roles in rewritten movies that push a "girl power" agenda without actually writing a good cohesive story or characters that arent absolute shit.

A newralizer is embedded in my head as a feature. I already forgot most of the things you've just said in the video :)