Movie Review: Men in Black 3
Movie Review: Men in Black 3 (2012)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Jemaine Clement
Plot: Agent’s K and J are back – in black! And also, in time…but we’ll get to that.
In a super-max prison on the moon, a dastardly villain named Borris the Monster (Clement) escapes, seeking revenge on the person who put him there in the first place: Men in Black Agent K.
Meanwhile, on Earth. Agent J (Smith) continues to poke fun at Agent K (Jones) for being a stick in the mud. A trip to the Chinese food joint turns messy when aliens attack, affiliated with the escaped Borris. J wants to know the history between Borris and K, who refuses to tell him their past history. After work that night, K calls J and finally reveals that he hasn’t been completely honest with J. And then disappears, having been erased from time.
J goes into work the next day and finds himself the only person who remembers Agent K. Agent O (Thompson), the new boss of the place, reveals that Agent K died over 40 years ago back in 1969.
Against orders, Agent J finds a time travel device and time jumps back to 1969 to save the young Agent K (Brolin), and to find out the secrets he’s been keeping from him all this time.
Like the previous Men in Black movies, this flick is fun and gross and everything you would expect from the series. I went in with very low expectation, but really enjoyed it despite its many flaws.
Don’t get me wrong, this movie is littered with plot holes and inconsistencies – as many time travel stories are. But if you can forget about the rules of time travel (or the lack of rules, in this movie) for 5 minutes, then you can enjoy this flick for what it is: Another fun pairing of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (and Josh Brolin, who does a fantastic and more well-rounded Agent K – for reasons that are revealed at the end) in a universe that is colorful and enjoyable.
Danny Elfman does the soundtrack again (beautifully), and Smith is at the top of his game reprising the role that helped jump-start his action star status. Jones is looking a little old in this movie, but he’s supposed to. Brolin as the young Agent K stole the movie for me. Through him you learn a new side of the character, and the real burden that being an MIB can be.
I can’t get into the plot holes and inconsistencies without giving away spoilers, but they will stick out like a sore thumb. However, I can say if you ignore the critics, if you enjoyed the first two flicks, and if you can look past the plot holes for the fun story being presented to you, you will very much enjoy this movie. And then want to go out and rent the first two flicks again, since you’ll remember how much fun this universe was to play in and how great these characters were and still are today.
Do yourself a favor: go see MIB3. Bring some friends. And have a fun time.
Sounds like it’s a fun movie with enjoyable characters. I may have to catch this one in the theaters. Plot holes I can forgive in a time-travel movie; they’re pretty much par for the course. Honestly, if someone invented time travel in real life, I expect we’d end up with some chronological phenomena that make no sense to the human mind–events causing themselves and weird stuff like that.
Ha ha ha, it’s true. Even classic / “great” time travel movies like Back to the Future aren’t without their own set of paradoxes. But if you can overlook their flaws, you can enjoy a fun flick.
Definitely worth seeing, and if you enjoyed the first two MIB movies you’ll want to rewatch those as soon as you’ve seen this one – because you’ll remember how fun the characters and the universe are.