J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) don the black suits again for the third instalment of the extra-terrestrial FBI comedy franchise. Meanwhile Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men) makes first appearance alongside Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement.
When K suddenly disappears, J is informed his partner has been dead for over 20 years. This perplexing paradox isn't just a threat to the missing MiB veteran, but also to humankind. Agent J jumps back in time (literally) and partners up with the younger Agent K (Brolin) to set matters straight.
The first Men in Black hit the ‘90s like Hanson hit the hearts of pre-teen girls of the same era, blending edge-cutting CGI with some comedic chemistry created between its two polar-opposite leads. With its expansive universe, it seemed as if the franchise could have stretch out for many films, though the abysmal sequel screwed the pooch on that possibility.
After a decade of absence, we’re confusingly presented with this three-quel to a series many of us stopped caring about. The trailers also showed little promise with standard-issue FX and overloaded Will Smith-isms (though, to the film’s credit, not once did I hear an “Aw hell naw!”).
However, MiB 3 isn’t a bad movie at all; it’s simply a vapid one. Isolated throughout the movie are some truly neat ideas that they fail to capitalise on. Jemaine Clement is superb as the lead baddie Boris the Animal, but is given only 15 minutes onscreen. The time-jumping mechanic is a totally badass visual fiesta, but is only used twice. Josh Brolin is freakishly convincing as a younger Agent K but isn’t given anything interesting to do, spending most of his time droning out one-word reactions.
Without the CGI wow factor or the punchy script that carried the original, there just isn’t enough left to recommend in MiB 3. There are spots of visual ingenuity and a great understanding of 3D that’s rarely seen, but it’s a timid wasteland of potential.
By Liam Maguren, Flicks.co.nz
This film, though started off rather boringly, ended out to be one of my favorite movies of all time, this movie mushes comedy, action, and i guess a little bit of romance into a awesome blockbuster motion picture. I would defiantly say that this flicks review is shockingly harsh, and makes the movie sound bad, (excuse the language but F*ck you Flicks Reviewer and Empire. Good day.
I love the Men In Black series and this was another great movie with a great story and i thought the ending was awesome. Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones are my favourite actors and i was blown away by the performance of Josh Brolin playing Young Agent K i thought it was a great idea replacing Rip Torn with Emma Thompson. 5 Stars
Between Smith, Brolin and Stuhlbarg, the film manages to get past its ramshackle story and sometimes surprisingly-shoddy CGI.
Despite some good moments, Agents J, O and K are missing an E.
Easily erases the second installment's vague but unpleasant memory and -- though we might hope producers will quit while they're ahead -- paves the way for future installments.
You do sense, though, that the people behind MIB3 (mainly veteran producer Walter F. Parkes and script doctor David Koepp) were smart enough to let the audience grow up a bit, enough to get the Andy Warhol jokes and one brilliantly weird creation, a delicate alien who can see every outcome at once.
In a summer hardly starved of comic-book properties, this redundant extension of a series that ran out of gas a decade ago doesn't need a neuralyzer to be forgettable.
