Review 53: Men in Black III

 

Men in Black III is a hilarious heartfelt and often clever sci fi action comedy film and a welcome return to form for the Men in Black trilogy.

Veteran MIB field agent Agent J (Will Smith) learns that Agent K's (Tommy Lee Jones) life and the fate of Earth are at stake. He must time-travel to 1969 to stop an alien criminal named Boris (Jemaine Clement) from assassinating K and changing the course of history of the planet. In 1969, J, team up with the young version of Agent K (Josh Brolin) to stop Boris, while apparently also facing a twenty four hour time limit before he will be trapped in the past forever.

The plot is fun, imaginative, tense and really shows how great a Men in Black sequel can be.
The film makes effective use of time travel,

At the heart of the film is simple but extremely effective story of friendship and that is the friendship between Agents K & J. Regardless of the predecessors quality, we've seen their relationship evolve over two films. Seen them go on countless adventures, fought countless weird, wonderful and goofy alien threats and too see it pay off the way it does in this third instalment is both poignent, affecting and emotionally satisfying and rewarding.

Fate:

Returning director Barry Sonnenfeld's directing is quirky, the cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of the 60’s, the score by Danny Elfman is great, the production design is breathtaking (the contrasting look of MiB during the two different eras is stark. The 2000's look of MiB is really high tech & beautifully advanced whilist the look of MiB in the 60’s is clunkier, heavier and far less advanced).
The costumes are brilliant, the make up is rich and full of detail, the action scenes are terrificly, pulse pounding and exciting, the props are superb, the special effects are fabulous, its well paced and the ending is equal parts hilarious and has a rather unexpected amount of poignancy to it.

The acting is great, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith show that 

Jones isn't in the film that much but

Smith, in particular, shows that he's at the top of his game as Agent J, his determination to save not only his friend but his partner. This time we get to see J go back in time to when America was really changing

Emma Thompson is a small but wonderful addition to the trilogy playing Agent O the new head of MiB. In true Thompson fashion, she's very practical, strict and by-the-book and when she comes across J asking after K, a man she was co-workers with at MiB in the 60's and had an affair with but died 40 years prior to the events of the film, she's naturally concerned and sceptical that he's got a few screws loose.

Back in 1969 we're introduced to younger versions of Agents O & K played by Alice Eve & Josh Brolin with Brolin in particular practically stealing every scene he's in as the Young Agent K. He expertly captures Jones' mannerisms, his accent, his attitude, but never comes across as merely imitating him. He and Smith's chemistry is electric and just as palatable as Smith and Jones. In this scenario, K is the lighter one and J has gotton so use to working with Jones' K that he's subconciously taken on some of his curmudgony attitudes, thereby giving us an inspired role reversal. 

Michael Stuhlbarg is also in the film playing a curious character named Griffin

Jemaine Clement was a brilliant villain playing Boris the Animal, possibly the best villain of the trilogy since Vincent D'Onofrio's Edgar the Bug, though I realise that's not a particularly high bar.

Not only is he practically unrecognisable behind all that make up but he also has a simple but very effective motivation. His beef with K was expertly established and now he's back for revenge.
He posses an extreme disregard for both alien and human life and is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way or even just for his own amusement.
Ruthless, cunning, selfish, cruel, sadistic, treacherous, hotheaded, short-tempered, arrogant and exceptionally devilish, Clement brings an  physically imposing whilst also being wonderfully deadpan and dry.

Comedians Bill Hader, Will Arnett and Michael Chernus show up in smaller supporting roles that are simply inspiredly hilarious.

Men in Black III is perfect popcorn entertainment and a welcome return to form for the Men in Black trilogy 4/5.

The Anonymous Critic