Film Review: MEN IN BLACK 3 (2012)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Etan Cohen, Lowell Cunningham (based on the Malibu comic by)
Running time: 102 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 25^th May 2012

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 24^th March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I very much enjoyed the first MIB film, the second was still good, but had lost a little and so we come to the third. I guess I watched it in the hope that the critics were wrong; maybe I’ll disagree with them on this one (it does happen). Well I’ll tell you at the end; for now I can tell you its very slick with your two favourite MIB agents back doing what they do best. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When badass alien Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from a maximum security prison on the moon, it can only mean trouble for the MIB. In particular he has a grudge against the man who put him there, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). In order to get his revenge he travels back in time to 1969 and kills the young Agent K, erasing him from history. The trouble is, his partner, Agent J (Will Smith), can still remember him. Realising there’s a time rift problem, their new boss, Agent O (Emma Thompson), sends Agent J back one day before the young Agent K was killed (with me so far?). Back in 1969, Agent J meets up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and a being called Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), the last of his species, who can see all possible futures. They use his ability to track down Boris… but is it too late? Guess I’d better leave it there or I might say too much!

It’s very well made, very slick and everything we’ve come to expect from an MIB movie. It has been said that Tommy Lee Jones plays the part like he really didn’t want to be there and I can see what they mean; he seems to be just going through the motions in many of his scenes. I thought Josh Brolin did a decent job as the young Agent K and Will Smith played Agent J with his usual panache. I did feel they went for a few too many cheap laughs, but it was good to hear ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ by Status Quo in the Andy Warhol party scene. Maybe not as good as the first one; about on a par with the second… Worth a look if you’re a fan of the franchise; otherwise, I’d give it a miss.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (just)

My score: 6.5/10.

IMDb Score: 6.9/10 (based on 142,538 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/

MetaScore: 58/100: (Based on 38 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 70/100 (based on 255 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 72/100 (based on 435,194 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/men_in_black_iii/

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http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Agent J: I'm looking for K, have you seen him? Sort of a surly, older gentleman, smiles like this...
[J makes a poker face]
Agent O: K's been dead for over forty years.

[a tasered J wakes up in 1969 MIB headquarters]
Agent J: You have got to turn the voltage down on that thing, I can't feel my tongue!
Young Agent K: How do you know my name?

Young Agent K: Who are you, and what do you know?
Agent J: I'm an agent of Men in Black, but I'm from the future. We're partners, twenty-five years from now you're going to recruit me. And 14 years after, the guy you DIDN'T let me kill at Coney Island he escapes from prison, and jumps back in the past and unleashes a full-scale invasion of Earth. We have about 19 hours to catch him and kill him, so really we need to go right now!
Young Agent K: [deadpan] All right.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/meninblack3/
Trailer: