Men In Black 3 - Movie Review

The dynamic duo of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones is back in "Men in Black 3" for another turn at protecting the Earth from alien invaders. This time around they will have to go back in time to keep the future of the planet from coming to an end...and that's just the beginning!

From the beginning of this third installment in the highly successful franchise, we find agents J (Smith) and K (Jones) still doing what they do best which includes using the latest high tech gadgets and guns to keep an alien population hidden from the general population of Earth.

Meanwhile Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), an old enemy of K's, has escaped from a moon based prison and has traveled back in time to keep a younger K (Josh Brolin) from stopping his own younger self and his plan to bring an alien army down to wipe out the entire planet. After K disappears, agent J ends up following Boris back to the 1960's so he can put everything back the way it was.

There has always been an emphasis on outlandish special effects and non stop humor in the Men In Black series and this version has no shortage of either. One of the cool things to see is the back dated MIB technology that is being used by the 1960's version of the organization including a neuralizer (memory eraser, as seen below) that would never fit in to any of the agents' suit jacket pockets.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld keeps the pacing of the movie very fast paced which helps to keep the story moving along and prevents the audience from having a chance to dwell on some major plot holes especially when dealing with the always difficult subject of time travel. I would say there were just as many cringe worthy moments as there was ooh and aah moments with some really bad jokes and overly cheesy alien characters mixed in with all the cool stuff.

The main thing that surprised me about "Men In Black 3" was how even when you brush aside the cheesy humor, flashy special effects, and outrageous aliens, there is actually a very heartfelt story about life, loss, and family that provides a solid payoff at its ending for what could have been a much more forgettable summer popcorn movie.