Much better than #2 - solid and entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2012)

A significant upgrade over part II, Men in Black III offers a plausible plot, the usual engaging performances from Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, and awesome-looking aliens. It's a keeper.
This time around, the taciturn K (Jones) finds himself the target of the nefarious Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement), a bad, bad alien who's just broken out of the maximum-security prison designed to hold him on the Moon. Turns out Boris isn't just out to get K, though; he plans to travel back in time to when K arrested him (and shot his arm off) and kill him there. This, of course, leads to a time-travel journey taken by Agent J (Smith), who must stop Boris before he messes up the future for K - and instigates a full-scale alien invasion in the present day.
It's the kind of movie that doesn't need to try too hard to win an audience over. We know the characters; put them in an interesting situation, and everything works out fine. Some movies throw in the figurative kitchen sink, the better to confuse the audience into thinking everything means something - when, in fact, nothing means a darn thing. MIB doesn't bother with trickery. The personalities of J and K - well established and reflective of the public perception of Messrs. Smith and Jones - meld so seamlessly and are so symbiotic that the actual plot is almost (almost) relegated to the background.
Remember, it can be difficult to create a decent third film in a series. There are no surprises with the characters, and presumably we know all about someone's backstory. In MIB III, though, we do learn a little bit about Agent K's past. But thanks to a vibrant script by Joel Coen, that past history is more complementary than front and center. I think a focus on just K's 1969 life would have made for a pretty dull movie. I mean, it's not as if he's Mr. Excitement, right?
Clement is a terrific, terrible villain as the monstrous Boris the Animal ("It's just BORIS!"); he has this nifty parasite thing that lives in his remaining hand, and when he aims the hand at someone, a dart shoots out. Pretty cool. Emma Thompson is also on board as the new head of the MIBs (her name? O, of course. Get it? O and K?); former leader Zed (Rip Torn) has passed away. Alice Eve plays the 1969 version of O as well.
An undercomplicated plot doesn't mean that the special effects are blasted in your face, though. In fact, they're kept at a minimum, again lending support to the charisma of Jones and Smith instead of supplanting it. There are some cool transportation devices in 1969 (but not in the current day, weird), and the time-travel device itself is wacky (it's a time JUMP, literally). The effects feel as if they're meant to be there, not that they're shoehorned in to make things look pretty. And that's a positive development.
Men in Black III is a typical, solid blockbuster action movie. Not all action movies can stand up to much scrutiny, and if you're Michael Bay they don't stand up to any scrutiny at all, not when your third act is always Blow Stuff Up. This is an audience pleaser with a fascinating plot, amiable performances, good effects and set pieces, and some funny dialog to boot.