Men in Black 3 (3D)
The theatre sure wasn’t packed for the 8 p.m. show on Saturday and it became quite clear, as the film unfolded, that the folks who weren’t there were the smart ones.
I’ve been a big fan of the MIB franchise so I was happy to be seeing this new one, however; it wasn’t long into the show before I realized that this wasn’t very funny and it was fairly one-dimensional even for a film about time travel and aliens.
With the 1969 arrest and incarceration of Boris, The Animal (an ugly and equally evil alien), in a specially built lunar prison, all seems quiet.
However, his prison break sets in motion a chain of events which will change the lives of the Men in Black, notably Agent K and Agent J.
Agent J (Will Smith) travels back in time to save Agent K and changes history while finding answers to his own past.
Will Smith as Agent J looks older than his 44 years and less in shape than we are used to seeing him. Tommy Lee Jones, now 64, is Agent K and has been in all the Men in Black movies and many others, including No Country For Old Men. Josh Brolin plays Agent K as a young man, and he too was in No Country for Old Men and did a stellar job as George Bush in W.
New to the series were Emma Thompson as Agent Q, the head of the team, Michael Stuhbarge as the alien, Griffin and who I thought was excellent and Jemaine Clement who wins the best make up award as Boris the Animal. This role as the uber- evil Boris is a big departure for Clement.
This show just did not have the flow, the comedy (although the bowling scene was funny) or the deft repartee that the former Men In Black shows had and though it was blessedly short, it is not a must see.
Men In Black may do well in the long haul, but it cost $230 million to make and grossed $55 million on its first weekend—somewhat weak as movies go.
Not a lot of great lines, but my own personal favourite was: “I was an agent for three years before I realized that all models were aliens.”
You have to like that one.
Better summer movies are bound to impress us more, so save your money on this one and hope that better shows are on their way.
I give this two reels is that’s all it deserves.