Men in Black III
During the first 15-20 minutes or so of “Men in Black 3,” this film was just awful. I’m not just talking about run-of-the-mill “Twilight”/Michael Bay bad, but rather soul-crushing, hope-fading lousy. What happened to the ridiculously clever comedy, and chemistry, that Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and director Barry Sonnenfeld cultivated 15 years ago?
All that being said, I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed by the third film in this sci-fi comedy franchise, but only because, I wasn’t expecting much. Having Josh Brolin as a younger Agent K when Agent J (Smith) goes back in time was an inspired touch, and Brolin brings out the best Smith has to offer in this threequel (Jones, sadly, just looks tired of doing this role), but otherwise, the film is an unfortunate stain on a genuinely great original film. (The less we remember 2002’s “Men in Black II,” the better.)
I really don’t want to spend too much time discussing this movie because, it just hurts to think about. Plus, it’s not really worth the effort. The reasons for sending J back to 1969 are flimsy at best, not to mention lifted from the “Back to the Future” trilogy. (Really, executive producer Steven Spielberg? Was there so little imagination brought to expanding this once beautifully-witty universe?) And the villain, who is kind of like the Romulan in J.J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” reboot (Time travel for revenge? Been there.), is a far cry from the ingenious bug played by Vincent D’Onofrio in the first film; of course, he’s more memorable than whoever the bad guy was in the second film. (That I can’t even REMEMBER that one says it all.) I will say, mad props to the always-inventive Rick Baker for his makeup work, and we do get some interesting character insights, but damn– where’s a neuralizer when you need one?
