Men in Black 3 (2012)

The third movie in the unnecessarily popular sci-fi comedy series from director Barry Sonnenfeld has arrived a little too late. From what I've gathered from word on the street, nobody really cares about those movies anymore. The first one made at least a bit of an impression and a profit, but the second was a huge let-down to everyone. This new installment, with returning stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as members of a secret government organization that fights alien crime, begins in the footsteps of Men in Black 2. What I mena to say is that the first half or so of this movie is just plain lousy, but by the time it was all over, I had definitely enjoyed myself. The plot involves Jones changing history to save current society from a deadly invasion by allowing himself to die at a certain point in history. Smith then goes back in time also to stop him from dying while also allowing the planet to be saved, which is all too complicated to explain right now.

What the Men in Black movies have lacked is, well, anything that could have made them at all entertaining or memorable. In many ways, this third film is quite a bit better than both of the others, simply because it does have an interesting story that keeps your attention, and the focus mostly stays on this plot rather than on the clunky jokes. That's why the first half had me nervous. There were lots of the typical throwaway gags that had the potential to mar the entire film before it picked up. The first thing that impressed me was Josh Brolin, who stars alongside Smith for much of the film as the young version of Tommy Lee Jones. So, Brolin is basically just doing a Tommy Lee Jones impersonation the whole movie, but it's so spot-on, you tend to forget which actor is who and accept the existence of the character, which takes a lot considering the premise. Simply using a different, convincing actor to play the young character is a very old-fashioned approach that is refreshing alongside the very modern and low-brow CGI aliens that otherwise dominate the film. One of these, by the way, is the villain who is played by former Flight of the Conchords band member Jemaine Clement, who is so unrecognizable it could have been anyone. The other thing that made an impression on me was the devotion to the logics of time travel on display, again refreshing after the sci-fi elements of the other movies existing solely for bodily function jokes. The events in this movie are genuinely interesting, thought-provoking, and ultimately movie-redeeming. The finale is deeper than the movie possibly deserves, but makes it all mean something.

It isn't often that any of the several summer comedy and action movies thrown at us each year are this enjoyable. I am one of the people who walked in with low expectations and came out surprised. It is therefore likely that people with high expectations will also enjoy themselves. Fans of Will Smith and the previous movies and the kind of comedy associated with them have no reason to skip out, and the rest of us could do worse as well.

7/10