Men in Black 3 - Better than Expected!

Men in Black 3

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Stars: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin

I had slightly low expectations for Men in Black 3 and ended up being pretty pleased with the movie.  There were plenty of laughs.  The story was fine.  The aliens and tech were cool.  Overall I’d say it was a winner.  I had a few smallish issues but nothing worthy of note. 

The story is this:  An icky alien, Boris the Animal (“It’s just Boris!”) escapes Lunar Max, the prison built on Mars specifically for him.  He vows to go back in time in order to kill Agent K and save his own arm from being cut off.  Also, this gives him the opportunity to take over the earth in present day.  Time/space travel (and its issues) aside, the story worked and the movie’s plot got us from point A to point B without too many detours.

Honestly, and if you’re at all interested in this movie you’re probably already aware, the best thing about the movie is Josh Brolin (to me you will always be Brand from The Goonies!) as a young Tommy Lee Jones.  His impersonation of Jones was impeccable.  The voice, the mannerisms, all of it was perfect.  Plus he was able to get the essence of a young Agent K before whatever made him the cranky old dude we know and love.  Will Smith was his typical goofball self.  He and Jones both slipped back into their characters with ease.  As a huge Flight of the Conchords fan, I was thrilled to see Jermaine Clement as Boris the Animal (“It’s just Boris!”).  He camped it up just right and was an entertaining bad guy.

As mentioned, the aliens were fun and I noticed the cool switch that Rick Baker, famed special make-up effects guru, pulled.  The aliens in present day look like the aliens we now expect to see.  When they go back to 1969 Rick gives us the aliens you’d expect to see in sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s.  Clever!  The main bad guy, Boris, was totally gross and had parts of his body that opened and closed (mostly for his bug friend to get in and out).  Ewww.

So yeah, overall I enjoyed it.   It's not going to win a Pulitzer or anything but was a fun, summer flick.  Do I think we need a fourth one?  No.  Will we get a reboot with Jaden Smith stepping into his dad's role?  Sadly, I think that yes, that will happen.