Entertaining If Not All the Way Good

Rating: Null/10 (31 May 2012)

Men in Black 3 (2012)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A dangerous alien (Jemaine Clement) escapes from a specialty built prison on the moon and travels back in time to try and kill a young Agent K (Josh Brolin). Still in present day, Agent J (Will Smith) has to also go back in time to make sure his partner, the elder Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is still around for the future. MEN IN BLACK 3 comes ten years after the previous film, which was a complete dud so the good news is that this film is much better than that. With that said, the film will certainly keep you entertained but at the same time you wish they had done just a little bit more to make it more memorable. The film turns out to be one of those movies where it's fun while you're watching it but by the time you get to your car the thing is almost erased from your memory. As you'd expect, the special effects and creature design are extremely good and they blend in well with all the live action stuff. I thought the look of the new monster was rather creative and I especially liked his "weapon" which was pretty much a little creature that could crawl out of his hand and throw blades. I was surprised to see that there really wasn't too much room for all the sci-fi elements that were in the previous two films as this one here is really character driven by the humans. There's a lot more story going on this time around and this certainly takes the thing into a few neat and interesting directions. The majority of the running time takes place in 1969 so it's Smith and Brolin doing most of the action and I thought the two of them had some nice chemistry and they were certainly entertaining. I'd also add that Brolin did a very good job at playing a young Tommy Lee Jones and perfectly nails some of his mannerisms. As for Jones himself, he's really just limited to an expanded cameo but it's fun to see him. The same with Emma Thompson. Clement is good as the bad guy and Michael Stuhlbarg has fun as a future seeing alien. The 1969 settings made for some funny moments including Smith being pulled over by some racist cops but I felt that more should have be done with the setting. In the end MEN IN BLACK 3 should keep fans of the series entertained but I think a little more work could have made the film better. However, I will say that the twist at the very end of the film was incredibly emotional and I must say that I was highly impressed with how powerful the sequence was. It's certainly nothing you expect to see in a film like this but it's probably the best moment of the entire series.