Men in Black III Review
By Tom Fugalli
"Black" to the Future
Coming 10 years after the second (and considerably worse) movie, Barry Sonnenfeld's "Men in Black III" is more of a new direction than a return to form. Agent J (Will Smith) must travel back in time to save Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) from the alien Boris the Animal, who has just gone back himself to kill the Young Agent K (Josh Brolin).
As with any story featuring time-travel, there are variables that don't add up. It seems a hole can't be created in space-time without creating an even larger one in the plot. But Hollywood physics has always been more about popcorn than protons.
Nobody notices that the present is different, and that K is no longer in it, except for J. The comic potential of the situation is briefly mined with a surprise alternative-universe K. Though parts are more silly than funny, such as J's sudden craving for chocolate milk.
The time-travel machine is a handheld gizmo, which is convenient. But you need to be falling from a great height for it to work, which is not. This does however provide one of the few justifications for the movie being in 3D, as J leaps from the Empire State Building to land in 1969.
Some predictable cultural differences are highlighted, including a stop in Andy Warhol's Factory. But an inspired Bill Hader as Andy Warhol makes it worth it.
As the Young Agent K, Josh Brolin does an uncanny impression of Tommy Lee Jones' mannerisms and intonations (maybe he started practicing on the set of "
No Country for Old Men"). This younger K is more outgoing, and by movie's end we'll find out why he became so emotionally closed.
Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), is a one-armed alien who shoots fangs from his hand. That sounds nasty, but he provides some comic relief as well. Whenever someone calls him Boris the Animal he objects: "Just Boris."
The alien Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg) adds a more thoughtful element than was in the previous "MIB" installments. He can see all possible futures happening at once, and is both mesmerized and horrified with this knowledge.
It's worth seeing "MIB3" for Josh Brolin alone, who wakes up the franchise, and the ending is surprisingly poignant. But if you're going to time-travel, you'd still be better off seeing the 1997 original.
