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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