The first hour or so of International is pretty tedious, with far too much emphasis on the intricacies of the agency’s labyrinthine bureaucracy. And the world-ending crisis—a small gem-like thing that has to be kept out of the wrong hands—is a lazy MacGuffin even by blockbuster standards. The primary villains are a duo of shapeshifting aliens played by Les Twins, a pair of French identical twin dancers, but the brothers’ remarkable physicality is barely used. Things come slightly to life with the late addition of a tiny alien sidekick, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani. And the movie finally attains the correct level of zaniness when Rebecca Ferguson enters the story as Hemsworth’s three-armed extra-terrestrial ex. By playing it utterly straight, Ferguson makes the whole ridiculousness of this thing hum along briskly. But by that point, we’re barely keeping our eyes open.

Varsity Theatre tickets.
Admiral Theatre tickets here.
Majestic Bay tickets here. by Ned Lannamann