Movie review: Men in Black 3

Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenplay: Etan Cohen
Cast:
Agent J: Will Smith
Agent K: Tommy Lee Jones
Young Agent K: Josh Brolin
Agent O: Emma Thompson
Boris the Animal: Jemaine Clement
Release date: 2012
MPAA rating: PG-13

Synopsis (in just three nifty sentences ;p ):

Boris the Animal, a nasty alien creep, has just escaped from a special prison on the Moon – now he wants to go back in time and rewrite the history. Will he succeed? No, he won’t because Men in Black or, more precisely, agent J and agent K, will stop him just in time.

My impressions:

While it’s impossible to recreate the feeling of originality that made the 1997 MIB so different, the screenwriter, Etan Cohen, and the director have done the next best thing: they’ve created a story that probes the friendship between Smith and Jones and plays on our fondness for the actors in these roles.I was really pleasantly surprised because such a move is not popular among sci-fi films directors, who just seem to think 'action-action-action'. It was subtle in an unexpected way. And you got action as well so it is a win-win situation.

I also loved the sense of humour. Have you ever seen a band of aliens playing bagpipes and singing Auld Lang Syne during a funeral? Or Emma Thomson (Agent O, the new boss) speaking Alienish (even if she was just paraphrasing) ? This movie might be the only occasion! I bet the actors had a lot of fun shooting this one; let me assure you the audience feels and enjoys it as well!

I appreciated such moments when a simple pan or a bottle of mustard sauce (I am not completely sure but the colour was right for the mustard sauce) was as efficient a weapon as any space gun and the characters could not only kick and shoot but also turn philosophical. Really, for a third part of a series it was a very decent movie. Of course it didn’t have the freshness of the first installment and the plot repeated the pattern of the previous two films so yes, no big surprises in this one but still it was really good. It is mainly the performance of the actors which won my heart over – Tommy Lee Jones is really a nice Agent K although you can see he is not so young anymore (110? Maybe 111 but certainly not older ;)) . Well, the best actors are like certain types of wine – the older the better. In this one you also get a younger version of Agent K which is not bad! Emma Thompson was a real asset – I adore this actress, I really do. She is a great comedian and mainly because the characters she plays have a certain warmth I always appreciate very much. She feels real, not like these plastic dolls with tons of make-up, false smiles and silicone…whatever. Whoever decided to employ her in Hollywod made a very good move.

Going back in time, especially the jumping bit, was nicely and intelligently done – the screenwriter managed to avoid most of traps which are faced by authors using such a plot device- and of course moving to the sixties of the twentieth century was a treat in itself. By the way the chocolate milk craving as a side effect of a time warp was hillarious, now I know why I crave chocolate all the time! 

So Andy Warhol was a MIB agent? I always knew there was something shifty about him and his ‘art’- and all models are aliens! I can’t agree more! Finally let me say that I really liked the fact that Agent J didn’t need a girlfriend to keep the things interesting - another intelligent but not so very popular decision taken by the director.

Final verdict:

A nice, funny, relaxing  movie, perfect for a summer evening. Nothing very deep or horribly philosophical but it has its moments - not bad for sci-fi stuff!