Men In Black 3 - The Human Adventure

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2012)

WARNING! – THIS REVIEW GIVES THE ENDING AWAY! The original "Men in Black" was a small, quirky comedy that grabbed the public's imagination and became a cultural phenomenon, and like the contemporary "Austin Powers, international man of mystery", it became a victim of its own success, with its own spin-off series and a sequel that was overstuffed and tried too hard to please. When news came of the 3rd instalment 10 years after the last sequel, it really did seem like a desperate attempt to cash in on a once-vital franchise, especially as it came in 3-D. Stories about script difficulties and production problems lowered expectations even further. The film itself therefore is something of a pleasant surprise, an "MIB" movie for sure, but one that doesn't just try to dazzle us with the goodies. After all, we've already seen the weird aliens at "Ellis island" and the freaky creatures disguised as humans thing before all the way through 1 and 2. More of the same would have made it look stale and dull. Instead it does something very brave for a summer tent-pole movie, it tells a very human story. As in MIB2, it is K who is the engine of the plot, with a tragedy in his past the key to resolving a modern crisis. Boris the Animal, well played by the increasingly high profile Jermaine Clement, is the villain, though he exists more as something to be stopped, the enemy who is the catalyst for the tragedy of the piece, so he makes an impression but the film is not about him. Josh Brolin, whose appearance has been the source of much of MIB3s marketing and spin, imitates Tommy Lee Jones brilliantly, but it is never as a gimmick. He is a special effect that allows J to interact with the younger K in 1969, but you soon forget it is an impression, which is exactly as it should be. As in the first 2, there is a race against time and clues to follow along the city, but that standard ticking clock thriller model again takes a back seat to the human story between J and K. The action, while exciting (the wheel- bike chase for example) is quite thinly spread out and any action-fan seeking a mindless shoot-em-up will be disappointed here. Griffin, the 5th dimensional being who can see the many possible futures in the space time continuum is like a mixture between Robin Williams and Dr Manhattan (Michael Stuhlberg does an imitation of the younger Robin Williams that's almost as uncanny as Brolin's take on TLJ) is the "3rd" wheel that is picked up along the way, and becomes the Greek chorus to the unfolding story and its implications. Griffin, unlike the previous 2 "3rd wheels" is a man, and with the exception of Emma Thompson's new boss "O" (and her perky 1969 version played by Alice Eve) who also doubles as the undisclosed former romantic partner for K, there are no females in any prominent roles and no love interest. The 1969 setting could have been played for cheap nostalgia laughs effect as it was so regrettably in "Dark Shadows", but apart from a few race jokes and a visit to Andy Warhol's factory, little is made of it, which is a good move as it is the story we care about here not the music or fashions. WARNING- THIS PART TALKS ABOUT THE ENDING The films ending is where the human story plays itself out. The mission is simple enough, put the "Ark-shield" device in the nose cone of the about-to-take off Apollo 11 so it can protect against the future invasion of Earth, fighting the 2 versions of Boris (1969 and 2012) who are trying to stop them in a battle on the rocket's launch rigging that other critics have already noted for its evident "Casino Royale" inspiration. But though it is a satisfactory action ending, it is really just the stage on which the stories true focus plays out. The film has wisely been building up a sense of dread, of impending tragedy culminating at the launch, and helplessly we wait to watch this dark fate play out. That tragedy turns out to be of an almost "12 Monkeys" nature, as J, who remains a passive witness from afar, observes his father, an army colonel in charge of launch defence, sacrifice himself to save K from the vengeful Boris, making K swear to look after his son, who at that moment is a 5 year old J waiting in the car. K neutralises him, removing all memory of the tragedy, but also of his father, and promises to look out for him, so intertwining their fates forever. It is a moment played out with gravitas and pathos, the face of the future explained by looking to a moment in the past, and the relationship between K and J that has been the engine of the entire franchise now suddenly revealed in its true nature for the first time. Back in 2012, we see that K has never really changed from that bright cheerful 1969 version, that his trademark cragginess and surliness around J is the price of knowing the terrible price paid for his life, the awful secret he was carrying with him all these years. The film ends in a wonderful moment of catharsis as for the first time they truly know each other, and a new future promised for a 15 year old partnership. For a film that looked like a desperate attempt to ring some box office, it instead becomes the ultimate prequel, and a moving human story. Let us hope it does not pay the price at the box office for it