An Appropriately Untimely "Men in Black 3" Review

"Men is Black 3" is everything that you expect it to be. It's noisy, chaotic, filled with special effects, and the predictable plot has a lot of logic holes it. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return as Agents J and K, the same characters we remember from the original 1997 "Men in Black," except without nearly the same amount of energy or verve. Jones in particular looks tired and uninvested in much of anything that's going on. There are a few new faces like Agent O (Emma Thompson), taking over leadership of the Men in Black's secret alien-policing organization from the recently departed Zed, and also a new alien villain, Boris "The Animal" (Jermaine Clements), but neither of them really get as much to do as they should.

But in the end, none of this matters. Even though "Men in Black 3" is a totally unnecessary sequel, doesn't have nearly the amount of pop and inventiveness of its predecessor, and takes forever to get going, it is a perfectly good piece of entertainment. It finds a way to do something novel with the "Men in Black" universe, and give its characters some new dimensions. Smith and Jones are fifteen years older and still playing the same old schtick, but the schtick still works, and we get some interesting variations on it. I pointed out Jones as one of the film's weak points, but he's hardly in the movie. When our villain Boris escapes from a secret alien prison on the moon, he finds a way to travel back in time to 1969, kills Agent K, who had originally apprehended him, causing the present day version to disappear. Agent J, the only one who remembers his partner, has to go back in time to stop Boris and put the world to rights.

Agent J partners up with the 1969 version of Agent K, forty years younger, and played by Josh Brolin doing an uncanny vocal impersonation of Tommy Lee Jones. He supplies everything that Jones doesn't, all the dry humor and straight-laced straight talk necessary to counter Smith's flippant cool. So Smith gets to play the fish out of water again in the 60s, which he does so well. And J and K get to connect as partners with a slightly different dynamic. The 1969 version of the Men in Black organization creates opportunities for all sorts of different takes on familiar concepts, including retro aliens and period-appropriate cameos. There's nothing really new going on here, but it's all pleasant and diverting enough. Also, there's one new supporting character in the mix, who proves to be the crux of the plot and the best damn thing about "Men in Black 3." This is Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), a bright-eyed alien visitor who can see a plethora of possible future timelines. Sometimes all you need is one really good, original element to make a movie like this work, and here it's Stuhlbarg and Brolin's performances.

I think I’m inclined to give this one some leeway because the last "Men in Black" sequel was such a disaster. Most of that film's mistakes have been avoided here, thankfully. There are some cameos and direct callbacks, but they're worked in much more subtly. The story is also much better conceived, putting the state of the partnership between Agent J and Agent K directly at the center, and successfully mining some real drama and emotion out of it. There's a little flirting between K and O, but no real distracting romantic subplots. The writers have also quietly ignored or undone everything that happened in "Men in Black II," except for bringing Agent K out of retirement. And if you're worried about the lengthy gap between the sequels, I think that actually worked out in the new film's favor. There's a certain nostalgia to the series now, amplified by the time traveling and multiple references to the bygone American space race.

Looking for a summer blockbuster, you could certainly do worse than "Men in Black 3." There's no reason why the film should exist, but it does, and in a far better form than I think anyone was really expecting. There is a lot glaring problems, enough that I would strongly advise against the filmmakers trying to continue the "Men in Black" series in this format, because it feels like they only pulled this one off by the skin of their teeth. But they did pull it off. The special effects are shiny and bright, the story has just enough substance to make the outing feel worthwhile, and it's good to see Will Smith on screen again.

It really has been much too long.
---