This film sees Boris the Animal, played with much menace by Jemaine Clement, escaping from a moon base and plotted revenge of Agent K (Jones) who imprisoned him forty years earlier. Stealing a time travel device he kills him in the past, wiping K from history and leaving Agent J (Smith) to travel back and try to save his partner. Men In Black 3 is an enjoyable film to watch. Like the previous movies it’s not laugh out loud funny but it’s certainly a fun film with Smith having the majority of the good lines – the scene with police and a car back in 1969 being one highlight – but Emma Thompson as new character Agent O gets some good lines in her small appearance on camera. Jones plays his character well but in the early scenes he’s difficult to understand and doesn’t seem to have the energy he once had in the films. Will Smith is as energetic as ever and carries the film well.
Visually, the jump in CGI since the last entry is clear in the new film. Alongside some amazing camera work – the crane shots employed both in general early scenes and the climactic battle around a rocket are incredible to behold – the scenes where Smith does his time jumps are a perfect meld of real footage and generated imagery. Rick Baker’s alien make-up and costumes are as inspired as ever and effects such as those of Boris the Animal and his opening and closing skin never seem fake.
The film also takes time to acknowledge changes since the last film. Though I usually dislike scenes like this – quick throwaway lines to explain away deaths of characters because the actor has passed away or moved on that slow the film down – they are done well here with a small ode to Agent Z, played by Rip Torn who has suffered recent personal problems and several references to Frank the Pug throughout the film which, alongside cameos by the Worms, serve as fan-pleasing nods back to previous entries. Thankfully, these nods aside, it’s not a film that rests on the warm memories of the first to get its laughs.
Fleshing out the movie, Josh Brolin was perfectly cast as Jones’ younger self, both physically and in acting style, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, a future-predicting alien introduced half way through the film, quickly steals a lot of the screen time.
There is a lot to enjoy in this film and is well worth seeing, from the well created set pieces from the opening moon prison escape with its mixture of fighting and weird snogging with Nicole “Pussycat” Scherzinger, to the battle around Apollo 11 with its acrobatics and palm-sweating heights. It certainly seems to be the most well-crafted and ambitious of the three films and the ending, which is considerably down-beat in places and played with pathos, manages to be touching and clever without seeming too cheesy, plus the retro-fitting of a plot twist doesn’t seem out of place.
Throw in some great comedy pieces like the Chinese restaurant fight with a variety of aliens – the blob fish is a particular one to look out for – and you get a film that may not be overloaded with comedy but is a welcome return for Smith and Jones and, rather than damaging what has come before, adds to the mythology and universe and makes this a worthwhile addition to the first two films. It has enough creativity, interesting costume design, jokes and, most importantly, plot to carry the 100 minutes of film and is, I’m wary to say, possibly the best of the three films.
Don’t believe other reviews that suggest Jones is a mere cameo in the film; he gets plenty of screen time and Brolin plays his younger self so well it feels like the character himself never truly leaves the screen. Men In Black 3 is a well-written and performed film, though it’s not as funny as it could be.
The only shame is that the main theme song isn’t sung by Smith himself but the Pitbull track, playing over the end credits, is a grower.
(7/10)
Good review Phil. Didn’t love it by any means, but still a whole lot of fun considering the second one was such a buzz-kill. Glad to see Will Smith back on the screen too!
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