Agents J and K are back, and so is another earth invading force!

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2012)

Definitely a huge apology for the mess of a sequel Men In Black 2 was, MIB 3, in my opinion, could even be better than the original MIB. Revolving around a time traveling plot, which usually has a good probability of screwing up, the film pulls it off quite nicely, keeping it really, really simple as far as the time traveling is concerned, avoiding too many paradoxes.
The story revolves round a certain "Boglodyte" Boris The Animal, the last of his kind, who Agent J imprisoned 40 years ago, breaking out of a lunar jail to get revenge on J for blasting off his arm and imprisoning him. He decides to take a trip to the past so he can rectify his mistakes that got him caught. Meanwhile, our Agents J and K have a heated argument over the incident concerning Boris, and J refuses to tell K what happened back then with a "Don't ask questions whose answers you don't want to know". But before they could go anywhere with this, J simply disappears by the next day, and K finds out that he's been dead for around 40 years, killed by Boris, which implied Boris' plan was successful. So K decides to travel back in time to 1969, to prevent J's death. Perhaps not a jaw-dropping plot, and it does have a few holes here and there, but it's more than enough to keep you seated till the end.
Tommy Lee Jones didn't have much screen time this time, as he had only kind of a secondary role in the film, since it mainly revolved round Agent K (Will Smith) and a "younger" Agent J (Josh Brolin). Will Smith, like in the predecessors, serves as a great comic relief, and even if a few of the jokes were clichéd, he was a major driving factor of the film. Josh Brolin performed his role of a merrier, more talkative Agent J almost perfectly, yet to encounter the event (the Boris incident) that changed him completely. The screen chemistry between these two agents was really tangible, and made for a great watch. Another character which needs mention is the Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), the last of his multi-dimensional seeing kind who could look into the many possible futures, and the second half pretty much revolved round our agents saving his ass, and him saving theirs. Occasionally providing comic relief with his future predictions, he was a delight to watch. Jemaine Clement as Boris The Animal (Really, "it's JUST Boris!") did what he was supposed to do, growl, act and talk badass, and growl more.
The CGI effects were impressive, if not ground breaking, and the aliens looked pretty realistic. A complaint I have would be the 3D, it was completely unnecessary for a few aliens popping out of the screen. Even though the film was shot wholly in 3D instead of being converted, it didn't impress much, and seemed pointless (or maybe that's just my usual 3D hate, because having to wear two glasses to watch a film is, well, uncomfortable to the say the least). Action sequences were more or less ordinary, and comprised of the usual shoot 'em up, though I don't have much problem with that, since the rest of the film helps you forget it.
One more thing which I really liked about the film was the scope for character development, and specially the twist in the last few minutes (which would be the most emotional moment in the whole series) contributing heavily to that, to the bond that J and K shared.
And like in all MIB films, we have revelations about famous characters being alien: Mick Jagger being an alien sent to breed with earth women, and also, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber appear briefly as extra terrestrial life forms in the film (kind of makes sense, really). And then we find Andy Warhol actually being a secret agent working undercover.
Overall, Men In Black 3 is a great entertainer with its fair share of humorous and emotional moments, and I'd recommend it to all fans of the series. Yes, the 2nd installment did disappoint, but this one more than makes up for it. 8/10 from me.