Back is the fun charm of the first movie.

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2012)

Did you love the first Men in Black? Me too! With its razor sharp writing, awesome visual spectacle, brisk pacing, and the hysterical chemistry between stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, it was the Sci-Fi genre's ultimate answer to the buddy comedy. And even if you wanted to neuralyze the second film right out of your memory, fear not. Men in Black 3 recreates the same unabashedly campy, slightly gross charm of the first movie, adding up to one surprisingly satisfying whole.
In this third movie of the MIB - a top secret agency whose primary objective is to monitor extra-terrestrial activity on the planet earth - J and K are still kicking alien butt and taking names. However, due to a strange warp in time, K is killed by Boris the Animal, who travels back in time before K can shoot off his left arm and arrest him. J now has no other choice but to travel back to 1969 to work with a young K and help him stop Boris' evil plans once and for all.
Aside from some massive gaps and inconsistencies in continuity, this is a delightful movie, and what I think the second film should have been. By returning to the roots of the first movie, Men in Black 3 anchors itself with solid pacing, and a fun story, and even if the humor is definitely not as successful as it was in the first movie, it's still funny enough, and even the bad jokes are still tolerable to a degree. As you would also expect, it continues to play up the seamless chemistry between the two leads, giving them plenty of shining comic relief, but also adding a surprising heart to their back stories. And to back all that up, plenty of great visual eye candy to go around. Specifically, makeup design legend Rick Baker is seriously deserving of Oscar attention for his really cool alien designs.
Will Smith, aside from managing to make the film fun on his own, has a big task in the chemistry between two different actors. Tommy Lee Jones is absent for most of the film, leaving Josh Brolin to take his place as young K. Brolin is so uncanny in his mannerisms and deadpan delivery that one must assume that Jones gave him lessons on the role while the two were filming No Country for Old Men together. Jemaine Clement plays Boris the Animal with sinister relish. Not as humorous as Edgar, but nowhere near as flat and dull as Serleena. Michael Stuhlbarg and Emma Thompson also make the most of their small supporting roles.
**** / *****