Men in Black 3
Josh Brolin and a dose of Back to the Future breathe life and laughter back into the franchise.
Overview
It’s been four years since Will Smith last appeared on our screens, and a whole 10 years since Men in Black II came out. Generally it's at this point where a whole bunch of people begin furrowing their brows and saying: "Wait … there was a Men in Black II?” before jumping onto IMDb, reading over the synopsis, looking up the cast, checking out the poster, rewatching the trailer and then saying, "oh yeah … yeah … I think I saw that." Why, then, Smith decided that a third instalment of the MiB franchise was the perfect vehicle with which to mark his return is anybody's guess, but if we had to put our money on it, we'd guess someone put loads and loads of money on it (with 'it', of course, being 'him').
That said, Men in Black 3 is not a terrible film. It's not a great one either, mind you, and while it's definitely an improvement on the sequel, it remains a far cry from the wildly creative vision of the original. From the outset, too, it's clear Men in Black 3 is operating at a different pace from the others, most noticeably through the subdued performance of Smith. All the bravado, wisecracking and face-pulling of his previous outings have been significantly dialled back, though it’s unclear whether this was a creative choice or simply the star’s lukewarm enthusiasm for the entire project. After all, it’s not as though the world had been clamouring for another foray into the franchise, and the film was famously plagued by so many problems that at one point production was even suspended for three months while director Barry Sonnenfeld reworked the script.
Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) plays the villain in this instalment as the violent and time-travelling alien assassin 'Boris the Animal'. For such a talented comedian, it's a surprisingly unfunny role, and the lion's share of zingers actually go to Josh Brolin in his turn as the younger Tommy Lee Jones. Brolin's impression is at times so eerily accurate you'd swear some CGI wizardry was at play. Emma Thompson comes in to replace Rip Torn as head of the bespoke alien administrators, and Michael Stuhlbarg (Hugo) appears as the most amicable and delightfully original character Griffin an alien capable of viewing an infinite number of dimensions at any given moment.
The bulk of Men in Black 3 takes place in the past, with Smith performing a "temporal leap" back to 1969 in order to save his partner's life. It's an updated (if also less impressive) version of Back to the Future that helps breathe new life into the franchise and provide some diverting insight into the origins of Lee Jones's character's surly demeanour. There's even a twist that, while not terrifically surprising, is somehow surprisingly tender and offers a cute spin on the two previous films. Fun, fast-paced and shorter than the average blockbuster, it’s the perfect film to simply drop into and enjoy.
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