Good, though no better than you could hope for

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2012)

When Tommy Lee Jones disappears(he probably just forgot his way to set, they shouldn't worry so much), J goes back in time to prevent his death back then(and to get the plot going and improve the jokes, because they were really stretching it before then). When he gets there, the duo have to try to figure out how to ensure that what he did to prevent the outer space invasion that takes place without young K, played by Josh Brolin, whose performance(and in general, acting in this is marvelous) lives up to his casting decision: spot-on. And the character dynamic between the two is revitalized by this, and this aspect not only helps make this an enjoyable sequel(huh, I guess they did have that in them), it's just about the only original aspect to do so. Following the formula set up by Back to the Future(and barely focusing on maintaining the timeline), going into the 60's(because it's a different decade than ours, so it's funny! To be fair, like with Dark Shadows, actually to an even greater extent than that, it's just the backdrop and very few of the jokes and gags rely on that... they do the obvious "the people around Andy Warhol were not from Earth!" bit, but it doesn't take up much of this) and having someone be able to see things that haven't happened yet(can never have enough of those!)... that last one is genuinely likable, with his frailty and quirk(one of the aspects that made the first one great, that the second lacked(opting for being dumb, instead) and that this has relatively little of other than that). The villain is bland as they come(I am pretty sure he actually changes personality traits every time he goes off-screen), deep voice, "scary-looking", and several of the big action scenes(this is very much a Hollywood movie of today(seen in how worried it is that we'll lose interest if long passes without a fight or someone shooting at each other)... don't get me started on how this retcons stuff into the 1997 film that lessens that one), especially the first two, are completely pointless(fluff... if not poorly made at that). It's well-paced and definitely exciting, adding a sense of danger back into the franchise, albeit not getting rid of all the stupid MiB personnel. There is a little moderate to strong language in this. I recommend this to those who want more of this series and like recent American cinema. 7/10