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Friday, May 25, 2012

Men in Black 3 (2012)



Since production began on Men in Black 3 back in 2010, the buzz around this project was far more negative than positive. First and foremost, we all knew that it was nothing more than a very calculated attempt to bank on another popular series by pushing a new installment out into theaters ten years later. From a plot perspective, there is no reason for this film to exist. Second, the film didn’t even have a second or third act until well into production; something director Barry Sonnenfeld has confirmed. There was also the great “Will Smith’s gigantic freaking trailer” controversy, and when Pitbull’s theme song was released the Internet let out a collective gag. Despite a promising cast and an interesting premise, Men in Black 3 seemed like it was doomed to fail.

What people like me failed to account for was the inherent charm of the series; specifically the always engaging chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in the lead roles. A lot of people dislike Men in Black 2, but I remained a fan just because the universe of these films is so delightfully strange that I can’t help but become engrossed by it. Men in Black 3 doesn’t always have the same magic found in the series’ earlier installments, but it’s able to take its not inconsiderable ingredients and turn it into a worthy third chapter. It may be slight and unnecessary, but there are enough moments of inspired wackiness to keep it afloat.


The biggest wrinkle in Men in Black 3 is that Agent K (Jones) mysteriously disappears in the film’s first act. In fact, Agent J (Smith) learns that K was apparently killed off during the Moon Launch in 1969. This is a series of events caused by the evil alien Boris (an effectively icky Jemaine Clement), and J is forced to go back to the ’60s to find K (played as a younger man by Josh Brolin) and save his life along with the entire planet. Crucial in all of this is a strange, shy alien named Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg of A Serious Man and Boardwalk Empire) who can see how the future may play out. He's not accurate 100 percent of the time, but he’s certainly helpful.

One of the smartest things Men in Black 3 does is attempt to explore the histories of these characters rather than just coasting on their chemistry. (As much as I enjoyed MIB2, I will admit that it was guilty of this.) Brolin proves to be an impeccable Jones impersonator, but he gets more right than just the speech and physicality. His K feels like the same character as Jones’ K in every respect, with the exception that maybe he seems like a slightly happier fellow. The film isn’t always successful at this character development. In particular, a romance between K and their new boss agent O (Emma Thompson in present day/Alice Eve in the ’60s) isn’t given much room to grow, and some late stuff involving J’s past—while somewhat effective on an emotional level—is built entirely on coincidence.

As much fun as it is to see the back-and-forth between J and K, it’s all familiar territory. What elevates Men in Black 3 are a couple of terrific supporting performances from Clement and Stuhlbarg, and they are a dose of new blood in a project that desperately needs it. In particular, Clement’s Boris is one of the more vile villains the series has had, and that’s saying something. He doesn’t simply have the requisite gross-out physical features, but he’s also a surprisingly ruthless and violent nemesis. Seeing him onscreen can be a genuinely frightening experience, and that’s strange coming from a franchise that’s usually on the easy-breezy side. Meanwhile, Stuhlbarg proves quite adept at playing a small, peaceful and rather funny character. A Serious Man may have technically been a “comedy,” but this is the first time I’ve seen him in a wholly comic role.

Stuhlbarg is actually the funniest part of the movie, which is great for him but not so great for everything else. If there’s one thing that plagues Men in Black 3, it’s that it’s just not as funny as its predecessors. It does plenty of things right, but long stretches of time will go by without a genuine laugh. (There may be the occasional smirk/nod of appreciation, but that’s as far as it goes.) The film luckily doesn’t spend too much time going for fish-out-of-time humor, but when it does it usually falls with a thud. The lone exception is an early scene where Smith has to go up against a couple of racist ’60s cops. Past that, it’s just a bunch of business about not understanding what “pimp slapping the shiznit out of you” means. Which, ya know, isn’t so clever.

Men in Black 3 is also regrettably straightforward, with too few opportunities to wholly immerse ourselves in the quirks of this universe. Frank the Pug never appears, and the famous “worm” aliens show up only twice, and both moments are not only brief, but they feel like they were thrown in at the last second as fan service. In the first two films, there was a constant sense of discovery that this installment never quite achieves. If someone were to make this the first Men in Black film they see, they probably wouldn’t get what all the fuss was about. For fans, this film does plenty right without making the catastrophic misstep I kept anticipating. This is familiar territory, but it’s delightful territory nonetheless.

Grade: B

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