In 7 words or less: Will Smith and aliens. In the past.
What's it all About? Men in Black 3 brings us that great onscreen pairing of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith for the third time. 14 years after their first adventure, I was agog for more of Jones's laconicism versus Smith's garrulousness. I love aliens and action, as well as time-travel which hadn't been on offer before. The same alien gags and otherworldly characters are present, and the story is not dissimilar to the last two installments. An alien criminal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from moon-prison, having been placed there by Agent K(Tommy Lee Jones) 40 years earlier. He travels back in time to kill K before this can happen, which has a knock on effect of placing the Earth in deadly peril. K's partner Agent J (Will Smith) is the only one who realises that history has changed, and so must travel back in time himself to prevent K's death and consequently save the world in the present.
Best bits? As I say, Agent K is wiped from history in the present which means a distinct lack of Tommy Lee Jones during the main portion of the film. However, his younger self is ably portrayed by Josh Brolin - it's as though he spent years in acting school learing nothing but how to be Tommy Lee Jones! My favourite character was Griffin(Michale Stuhlbarg - Boardwalk Empire), a 5th dimensional being who constantly sees all possible futures, while Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Concords) chewed up the scenery brilliantly as alien mass murderer Boris the Animal.
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| Jemaine Clement as Boris the Animal |
Did it make you think thoughts? I don't think it's supposed to, though a glimpse of the MIB headquarters monitor made me question whether certain celebrities are as Earthly as they would have us believe... I also really enjoyed the time devoted to exploring the relationship between Agents K and J. It was done believably and I did cry when the reason for K being the way he is with J was revealed (despite seeing the twist coming some two or three miles away).
Would you watch it again? I certainly would. Alien comedies and time-travel comedies are good, but an alien AND time-travel comedy is ever better! Though I would probably skip some of the first act as there was too much alien gross-out comedy for my taste (I can be a bit squeamish).
Rating (out of 100%): 78% - I still enjoy MIB 1, but MIB 2 really let me down. Luckily, MIB 3 did not disappoint. This isn't the greatest film ever made, and some things fell flat, such as Andy Warhol turning out to be an undercover MIB agent, Alice Eve as an unconvincing younger Agent O (Emma Thompson), and setting up Agent J to experience racism in 1969 then doing nothing about it. However, I had so much fun watching the film, which is what I was hoping for. Good popcorn adventure films have become rare, so I often need to watch that sort of thing on DVD (or video!) on a Sunday afternoon. It was nice to experience a new one in the cinema and I look forward to adding MIB3 to my library for duvet-day viewing.
