Back in 2012, Men in Black 3 appeared to finish the series. That held true – for the original characters, at least.

The third film allowed the roles played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to ride off into the sunset. However, with 2019’s Men In Black International, we get a continuation of the franchise with new leads.

And we might see the end of that franchise, too, as International failed to find much of an audience. With a budget of $110 million and a worldwide gross of $253 million, the movie nudged close enough to a profit that the producers might try again, but they can’t feel confident the series can survive without Smith and Jones.

Due to a childhood experience with an alien, Molly Wright (Tessa Thompson) becomes obsessed with the Men in Black, the organization that she sees track down a wayward space critter. After a 20-year hunt, Molly discovers the extremely secretive organization and infiltrates its New York headquarters.

Molly impresses branch leader Agent O (Emma Thompson) and goes into training to join the ranks. Before long, the probationary Agent M gets sent to work in the MIB’s London bureau.

There M meets Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and finagles her way onto a case. They search for an alien device that could end all life on Earth and encounter a slew of difficulties and complications along the way.

Nowadays movie studios seem to believe that star power no longer matters much when it comes to revenues, and to a degree, they’re probably correct. Most of the biggest-selling films lack traditional “A-list” actors in the lead, and franchises/pre-sold properties become more important.

With International, however, we might get a hint that star still matter. Would a fourth MIB film have performed better with Smith and Jones in the lead?

Maybe, maybe not. Smith couldn’t save the box office flop Gemini Man, so perhaps he wouldn’t have rescued International.

Still, I can’t help but feel that the general public associates the franchise so strongly with Smith and Jones that an entry with new leads became destined for relative failure. Or maybe International just needed actors other than these leads.

While both Hemsworth and Thompson are talented, they clearly lack the charisma and chemistry of Smith and Jones. The two leads form an attractive team but they never really connect, and their interactions fail to create a bond with the audience.

While I can't call myself a big fan of the MIB franchise, I liked the first and third films well enough. The second is a bloated mess but one and three offer pretty good entertainment.

International, though, is just about the most bland "adventure" I can imagine. It lacks any sense of wonder or creativity, as it muddles its away along from one "exciting" scenario to another.

One big difference between one/three and International stems from the nature of their villains. Both one and three had strong, well-defined antagonists, whereas in International, we're stuck with alien twins whose motive is... I don't know.

What the movie wants to pass off as a "plot" should just be called a MacGuffin. The story about the weapon exists for no reason other than to send the characters to various places and get into fights.

At its core, the plot - minimal as it may be - makes little sense, and again, the absence of a clear, comprehensible threat robs the film of much tension. The twins form the main baddies but their motives remain unclear and they also go missing for extended periods.

International continues one grand MIB tradition, though: dodgy visual effects. All the way back to the first one, the movies have suffered from surprisingly subpar CG, especially in regard to the depiction of the aliens.

Do the creatures in International look better than those in prior films? Yeah, I guess, but they remain cartoony and utterly unconvincing. The aliens seem artificial and become a persistent distraction.

None of these factors made me hate International - they just meant I felt borderline bored too much of the time. The film desperately needs some form of wonder or vivid action or funny comedy, but instead, it becomes a lumpen pile of mush.

Men In Black: International appears in an aspect ratio of 2.00:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a stellar presentation.

Sharpness looked rock solid. Not a sliver of softness materialized, so expect a tight, precise image.

No signs of moiré effects or jaggies occurred. The movie also lacked edge haloes or print flaws.

In terms of palette, International favored a combination of teal, amber and orange. Those choices came as no surprise, and the Blu-ray reproduced them in a satisfactory manner.

Blacks showed strong depth, and shadows were good, with nice opacity and clarity. This was about as good as a live-action Blu-ray could look.

I also felt pleased with the excellent DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio of International, as the soundscape offered frequent room for information to emanate from the various speakers.

The mix used those chances well. The soundtrack delivered lots of auditory material that spread out across the speakers in a satisfying manner and that blended together nicely.

This meant an active track in which the surrounds worked as nearly equal partners and kept the mix humming. Plenty of action moments made this a consistently impressive soundfield.

Audio quality also satisfied, as speech was natural and concise, while music sounded peppy and full. Effects turned into the primary factor, and those elements appeared accurate and vivid.

Bass response added real depth and rocked my subwoofer. I felt the audio suited the film and worked very well.

A Gag Reel fills two minutes, 13 seconds with the usual goofs and giggles. While it brings nothing new, it fills too little time to bore.

Nine Deleted Scenes span a total of 11 minutes, 35 seconds. Some of these offer short extensions of existing sequences, but a few more substantial moments arrive.

Most significantly, H tells us how he came to the MIB. The deleted scenes prove fairly effective overall.

A slew of short programs ensue, and two segments arrive via Alien Shopping Network!: “Alien-cestry.com” (1:20) and “The Neuralyzer: Like It Never Happened” (1:04). Both offer phony ads for MIB-related subjects, and they offer some amusement.

Called New Recruits, Classic Suits, a seven-minute, four-second program offers notes from director F. Gary Gray, producers Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes, and actors Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Liam Neeson, Kumail Nanjiani and Emma Thompson.

“Suits” examines cast, characters and performances. Based on the title, I thought it’d handle wardrobe as well, but instead, it simply brings us a fluffy view of the actors, so expect little substance.

With the five-minute, 43-second Let’s Do This!, we hear from Gray, Hemsworth, Thompson, Parkes, Ferguson, and 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood.

Here we look at various stunts and action scenes. A few useful details emerge, but like “Suits”, happy talk tends to dominate.

Look Right Here goes for four minutes, 20 seconds and brings notes from Parkes, MacDonald, Gray, Hemsworth, Eastwood, production designer Charles Wood, and prop master Ben Wilkinson.

This show discusses the movie’s weapons, cars and props. It becomes another decent but semi-superficial reel.

Via Expanding the Universe of MIB, we get a five-minute, 57-second reel with Parkes, Thompson, Hemsworth, Gray, Wood, MacDonald, Nanjiani, VFX producer Deven Letendre, creature designer Rebecca Hughes, and location manager Jamie Lengyel.

“Universe” gives us a view of the film’s sets and locations as well as aliens. This ends up as a reasonably informative take, albeit one with the usual happy talk.

During the five-minute, 36-second Frank & Pawny’s Peanut Gallery, we get narration from “Frank the Pug” and “Pawny the Alien” as they comment on some movie scenes. It’s not as funny as it should be, though it’s nice that Nanjiani and Tim Blaney reprise their voice roles.

Next comes Les Twins Leave It On the Floor, a two-minute, 22-second clip that involves Parkes, Eastwood, Hemsworth, Thompson, and Gray. They talk about the work of actors/dancers Laurent and Larry Bourgeois. It’s forgettable.

In Case You’ve Been Neuralyzed offers a three-minute, 21-second recap of the prior movies. Narrated by “Frank the Pug”, it reminds us of those films’ story/character elements. It’s an efficient overview.

After this we get The MIB Meet the NBA, a two-minute, 36-second promo. It features Thompson and Hemsworth as they investigate basketball stars for their alien status. Though it acts as an ad, it entertains.

The disc opens with ads for Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jumanji: The Next Level, Angry Birds Movie 2 and Charlie’s Angels (2019). No trailer for International appears here.

After a seven-year break, the franchise returns via Men In Black International - and it lands with a thud. Muddled and devoid of much humor or excitement, the movie meanders and fails to bring much entertainment value. The Blu-ray boasts stellar picture and audio along with a mix of supplements. International revives the series in a bland manner.