MEN IN BLACK 3 in 3D (PG)
Where General release
When Now showing
SOMETIMES you just want to watch three dimensional aliens being blown to smithereens. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. And the minute you stop worrying about the films you should be liking as opposed to the films that you actually like is exactly when you can start enjoying movies like Men in Black.
Barry Sonnenfeld’s MIB3 picks up exactly where its predecessor left us: Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is still grumpy and old, and Agent J (Will Smith) is still full of quips about Agent K being grumpy and old. However, when K’s old foe, Boris the Animal (an unrecognisable Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords), busts out of an alien jail on the moon – thanks to the efforts of one of the Pussycat Dolls, no less – things are not so fancy free.
Boris decides the only way to get revenge is to go back in time and kill the younger Agent K (Josh Brolin) before he has a chance to imprison him back in 1969. Agent J must go back in time to prevent K’s death, figure out what in his past has made K so damn grumpy, and while he’s at it, make as many “Civil Rights hasn’t happened yet!?” jokes as he possibly can. Oh, and protect planet Earth from an alien invasion, led by Boris. And yes, 106 minutes is enough time to do all these things.
MIB3 may rely on old gags, but the reason they’ve worked since 1997 is because they are genuinely funny. Will Smith is still as suitable-for-children sassy as always (although the real supernatural mystery of the film is how Smith hasn’t seemed to age in 15 years) and Brolin does a killer Tommy Lee Jones impersonation.
Although the time travel aspect of the film seems silly, it works surprisingly well. The inclusion of historical figures, including Andy Warhol, makes you feel like you’re in on a private joke, and the detail in making the ’60s-era aliens look like extras from Star Trek is a nice camp touch. MIB3 isn’t reinventing cinema, but you’ve got to remember that they did win an Academy Award for Best Make-up – and it shows.
