Men in Black III

Ever since the 1995 Michael Bay film, "Bad Boys," Will Smith has gotten a good reputation as one of Hollywood's top notch action stars. Being in films like "Independence Day," "Hancock," "I Am Legend," "Enemy of State," and even other roles like in "The Pursuit of Happiness," "Shark Tale," and "Hitch." But with every good actor, there comes bad films in his career like "Wild Wild West," "Made in America" "Bad Boys II," "Seven Pounds." Today, Will Smith is an amazing action star, and everyone knows that. But even after "Bad Boys" and "ID4," the true film to get Will Smith's action stardom on the role, was "Men in Black".

Based on the Malibu comic series of the same name, "Men in Black" was a sci-fi action film that was, and still is, considered one of the staples of the late 90's. The film was about a man named James, played by Will Smith, who goes from a rookie-cop to a new member of an organazation, dubbed 'The Men in Black', as Agent J, thanks to the help of Agent K, played by Tommy Lee Jones. What's the Men in Black? It's an FBI-esque organization that tracks down certain alien life forms that have come to Earth and are causing mayhem. When Edgar the Bug, a ruthless alien cockroach that takes human skin and disguises itself, played by Vincent D'Onofrio, comes to Earth, it's up to J and K to find him and take him down. What the film accomplished was create a very unique universe, showing the vast majority of science fiction in more ways than one. It hase great humor, great performances, great story, brilliant direction from Barry Sonnenfeld, excellent production value from Steven Speilberg, and really does allow a lot of creativity. The way members of the Men in Black are, shows that finding aliens is like an everyday site. For what it is now, it's a classic, and the TRUE film to show Will Smith in action.

It's sequel, "Men in Black II," can be summed up with one word. LAZY. I was simply underwhelemed by almost every aspect of the film. Action? Alright, at best. Acting? Same as the last. Aliens?...Just uncreative. The aliens in the film made it look cheap, and it just let itself suffer to typical jokes, that are outdated, even for the film's release. When I think "Men in Black," I don't want to see or hear a Michael Jackson joke in it...in fact, I NEVER want to see or hear Michael Jackson jokes. I still respect that man even today. Plus, how did we go from an alien bug, that wears people's skin to disguise itself, to a friggin Elvira cosplayer?! Tommy Lee Jones' character is also brought back to the series, even after his story was done in the first film, and J got a new partner. And you might think this was all done by new people of the production crew, but no! The film was made by the exact same people! Overall, "Men in Black II" was disappointing.

Now, after ten years, we finally get another sequel, but before we talk about that, let me talk about another film sequel, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Why, you may ask? Well, it's because I've hear pre-criticism from a few people, that "MIB3" was going to suck, because it's script by Ethan Cohen was going to be re-written by the same people who wrote "Crystal Skull". Personally, I didn't find "Crystal Skull" as bad as everyone says it was. Sure, it had some flaws, but at least it wasn't as annoying as "Temple of Doom" was. Now, I know you're all going to hate on me for saying something like that, but think about it. Would you actually consider suffering through scenes with Willy and Short Round rather than Shia LaBouf? Because, I honestly didn't think Shia wasn't that bad in "Crystal Skull". However, after a while, Cohen's script was kept as it was.

Now, let's finally talk about "Men in Black 3". AMAZING! A much better sequel than "Men in Black II"! But was it better than the original? No, but it's just as good.

"Men in Black 3" continues with the works of Agents J and K, when they come across Boris the Animal. Boris is a deadly alien that has paramites living in his hand, who brakes out of Lunar Max, which is moon prison, and steals a time-travel device to go back in time and kill K. Why does he want to do this? Because when K first encountered Boris, he shot his arm off, and activated a barrier that keeps the Earth protected from alien armies invading. When K then becomes erased from history, J is the only one who remembers him, and decides to go back in time and stop Boris from killing K, so the barrier can be activated. This film is, like I said, what the second film should have been. It dives into more about K's past, literally, showing more expansion on the "MIB universe," it shows some brilliant effects, and writting.

First off, let's get all the bad stuff out of the way first. Let's start with some of the cameos in the film, which a couple of them made me go "Well, that was pointless." A good example is Will Arnett, who plays Agent J's partner, after the time paradox has started. He shows up, is a bit annoying, then never shows up again. There's a lot of moments that made me either question it or be mad about. In fact, the movie has Bill Hader in it, as Andy Warhol, who happens to be a MIB agent, W. Why didn't they use more of that, I would have loved to see more of that idea work. Plus, I love Bill Hader, he's a great actor and comedian. His work on SNL and even most of his films are pretty good. It really does bug me, but maybe Hader will have another film he'll be used well in, in the future. Nicole Scherzinger is also in the film, and plays Boris the Animal's girlfriend, and helps him break out of prison. She appears in the beginning of the film, like she'll be a big part in the movie, but they just kill her off after Boris escapes. Just shows how pointless she was. Another thing that bugged me in the film, was that in the first ten to fifteen minutes were a bit off to me. One was because they didn't have that good enough humor, and two (this is a big one) was that they wrote Rip Torn out of the movie! I was so mad about that, because he was one of my favorite characters in the previous two movies.

Well now that we've taken care of the bad stuff, let's focus on everything else in the film. First off, Tommy Lee Jones is obvioulsy awesome. Despite not being in it that much, he still gives it what he can. Emma Thompson was alright, and was used a good amount, and we learna  bit more about her and K's past before J joined in. Will Smith does a great job, reprising his role as Agent J, and surprisingly tones down the character, making him feel more sensible about his actions. This film also goes into depth on both J and K's backstory. It's obvious that while in the past, J starts to learn a little bit more about K and why he's like this. J addresses that he's never really known his father that well, and even admits a little that K's acted as a father figure to him. And let me say, the film's ending I got really choked up. It looked to be a cheesy ending, but this film was successfully well made, that it felt so sad. Boris the Animal, played by Jemaine Clement, was okay at best. He was enjoyable on some parts, but didn't do that much. The problem I saw with the performance, is that he was trying to be like Vincent D'Onofrio in the first film, but the problem is that he's not D'Onofrio. At least he was a much more interesting and creative villain than the last movie's. But the performance that stole the whole movie was Josh Brolin as the younger Agent K. I was literally hooked by this man's performance, and it really showed much passion in the role he was in. He was so in-character I actually did think this guy was a younger Tommy Lee Jones. This performance alone should give Josh Brolin an Oscar, for what he did in this film.

The action scenes and effects were simply fantastic. A big improvement from the second film, and I might have to say, are up to parr with the original. From the fight scene in the chinese resturant, to the climactic battle with Boris the Animal, they were all great. Another big thing was the 3D, which I have to say are spectacular. I could even say it's better than the 3D in "The Avengers". But is this film better than "The Avengers?" Yeah, I would have to say, because even though "The Avengers" was an amazing film, "Men in Black III" is just something I have more nostalgia for. Plus, as sad as Agent Coulsen's death was, the last twenty minutes of "Men in Black III" was just more heartbreaking. Yeah, hate to say it, but I like this movie more than "The Avengers."

Overall, "Men in Black III" is a very billiant sequel that surpasses all expectations. It's fun, in-depth, has brilliant performances, and is also very emotional. Despite all the complaints I had with it, it redeems itself with much more than expected. If you got anytime on your hands, and you want to see a film with a nostalgia factor to it or something that ISN'T "The Avengers," I HIGHLY recommend this.

Rating: 10/10