Men In Black III Review

So taking advantage of Orange Wednesdays here in Britain (2 for 1 cinema tickets on Wednesday only) I have been to the cinema quite frequently, which means that for you, there is a break from all the intense gamer and geek speak, and I can write the odd review here and there of the films I’ve managed to see. This week, that film was Men In Black III, which I personally thought was the best Men In Black film there has been so far, definitely rivalling the original film from 14 years ago, if not beating it hands down.

I’m going to try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but I’m sorry in advance if I let anything slip!

Firstly, the plot for this film was very imaginative and brilliantly executed. Time travel is a difficult topic to cover, as, despite us suspending disbelief that time travel can actually happen, we still want it to appear realistic and conform to some kind of conventions or rules that we impose to keep it from being completely illogical. MIB III manages to conform to these rules and the plot is actually fairly watertight as far as time travel goes. This is probably because the plot does not try to overachieve. The writers kept the time travelling element simple and thus there weren’t any gaping plot-holes.

The time travel element was really limited to incorporating a brilliant feel of 1969. The costumes, vehicles and characters were all very recognisable as being of another generation, and although I can’t possibly know what is was really like, I definitely felt like they had captured a true sense of the era. What I did particularly like though was the inclusion of historical events and characters. Much of the film is, as might be expected considering it is a space movie, is centred around the Apollo 11 Moon Mission, with allusions to it, and much of the action centred at Cape Canaveral. Furthermore, famous 60s figures like Andy Warhol make an appearance (spoiler!) and it is revealed that he was really a Man in Black, undercover to spy on aliens.

It was this cleverly subtlety to the film that I really enjoyed. The film was cleverly balanced between an interesting plot, good, well done action sequences, and laughs. These laughs though were not forced upon the audience, and I think this showed than the franchise had recovered itself from Men In Black II, which relied too heavily on whimsical characters like the talking pug, and the stick aliens and their funny voices. In Men In Black III, the jokes are far more subtle, and many are even completely missable, as they are tied into the background of the scenes, rather than explicitly said. For instance, we see reference to Lady Gaga as an alien, and a poster for a freak show, which includes aliens from the past movies. This subtlety shows that the franchise has grown up a bit. With the first film being released 14 years ago in 1998, the fans, like me, who have really grown up with the series are rewarded with a film that is a bit more mature, but will still appeal to younger fans, and newcomers alike.

Obviously, the comedy was not always subtle, and there was plenty of action to keep others interested. The film had some impressive action sequences, like the escape from the prison, the shootout in the Chinese restaurant and the chase on the mono-wheeled motorbikes. This style of action has come to be expected from a Men In Black film, and harkens back to the great fights of the other two films. The action kept the sci-fi side of the film going, as we got to see more ridiculous space guns, and lots of aliens turn into a shower of goo when they exploded. Apparently though, this film was one of the most expensive films made, and I can’t really understand why it cost so much more than the other MIB films, as it seemed to follow the same sort of course with its actions sequences, which are the scenes I would presume cost the most to make.

Although the comedy, feel, plot and action were all well done, and expected, I think it was really the quality of the acting that stole the show in Men In Black III. Will Smith, was good, but seeing as his character J, is basically Will Smith in a suit, that isn’t hard for him. It is understandable why he is one of Hollywoods go-to actors, but he wasn’t anything special. Instead, he was really usurped by Josh Brolin, who was absolutely phenomenal in his rendition of a young Tommy Lee Jones. His impression was flawless. He nailed the accent, the swagger and the intonation of Tommy Lee Jones, but also injected a flair of youth and humour to an otherwise stern character, thus making the character his own, rather than just a copy. However, even a copy would have been fantastic, as his skill really shows as he truly embodied K.

Jermaine Clement also made a fantastic baddy for the film with his character Boris The Animal. It was almost difficult to tell the Flight of the Conchords actor was under the grotesque make up, but he was vaguely recognisable. His performance was sinister, as it should be for a world consuming alien, but also full of a sense of humour, meaning he wasn’t entirely terrifying. I did however think that, for a PG rated film, he was quite a disturbing alien, as he had an Alien-esque ‘facehugger’ creature that came out of an opening in the palm of his hand. This was quite difficult to look at properly and grossed me out a little bit, so I’m wondering how younger members of the audience may have reacted to it…

The only negative I have to this film is that it was very slow to start. The first half an hour or so was not particularly good, or anything particularly special. It just felt like another Men In Black film but where they weren’t trying to hard. There was a sense that we were just waiting for the film to really begin with the time travel, as this is what we had come for, and the slow build up was just to establish some kind of reason for it. It wasn’t an awful half an hour, but compared to the rest of the film it was particularly weak. So, if you are going to see it, just remember, it gets better!

Overall, I thought Men In Black III was a very strong, very entertaining way of spending an afternoon. It was well made, well executed and everything I wanted from a Men In Black film, but with a sense of a more mature target audience. It didn’t try too hard, which made it more enjoyable, rather than being forced to laugh or forced to enjoy certain aspects. It was this that made me prefer it to the other two films, but this may now be due to having grown up a bit since originally watching the last two films, and seeing that as a bit immature in comparison to this. Many will disagree with me, and I won’t fight them, it is just a personal opinion.

In conclusion, I am going to give Men In Black III an 8/10.

Related articles

• Men In Black 3 – Review (moviegeekblog.com)
• Men in Black III Review (brettsiegelblog.wordpress.com)
• Cinema & Film: Film Review: Men In Black 3 (coventrytelegraph.net)
• Men in Black III (fogsmoviereviews.com)