Movie Review: Men in Black 3

The Men in Black are back and if you are worried about MIB 3, just knowing that it’s better than MIB 2 should ease your mind. The movie is far from perfect (it would take an alien to jump over some of those potholes) but it’s a lot of fun and that is the basis of a great summer movie!

An almost unrecognizable Jemaine Clement (star of HBO’s quirky Flight of the Conchords) is Boris the Animal a criminal, locked up on the moon, with an axe to grind against Agent K. Boris only has one arm and it seems that 40 years ago, Agent K was responsible for him losing it. Boris wants to travel back in time to the day before the unfortunate amputation and kill K.

At first, his plan seems to work. Agent J wakes up to a world without Agent K. With some help from Agent O (Emma Thompson) goes back a day earlier in time to stop Boris. In the process, he meets the young Agent K (played by Josh Brolin). This K isn’t the reticent, unfeeling K that J knows from the present. This guy has emotion. This guy has feeling.

Brolin’s Tommy Lee Jones impression is the best thing about MIB 3. It is so spot-on that you think he’s lip synching. Will Smith is back to playing the wise-cracking Agent J. The movie is fun and enjoyable. It even tugs at your heart toward the end. I missed Zed (Rip Torn) who is now dead and Frank (the dog), he could have at least had a cameo!

The problem I had was that as we left, we had a lot of questions that revealed a lot of major plot holes. This is definitely a movie that you can’t really think about because if you do, you’ll find yourself saying, “Hey, wait a minute…” at several junctures (especially at the end).

Men in Black 3 is a light, fun movie. However, if you go, check your brain at the door, you won’t need it.