Movie Review of Men in Black III (2012)

I loved the original Men in Black.  It is, and remains, a classic movie.  Men in Black II burst the bubble for me. It felt a little tired, rehashing the same ideas.

But Men in Black III turned out to be the best of the series so far!

At first, I thought we were back in the same old groove.  Boris the Animal is a psychopathic alien, who escapes from prison.  It's up to Agents J and K to deal with him.  It felt a little like every other Men in Black plot. But then everything turned on its head.

For a start, the series found its heart. In amongst the brilliant special effects and fantastic comedy one-liners, there were moments of real poignancy.  These included one scene, close to the end, which elicited a gasp and a resounding 'awww' from me.

Best of all, there's time travel.  I love time travel!  Men in Black is great at exploring space, at least insofar as the denizens thereof visit our planet, but this is the first time that it's looked at time as well.

The upshot is a much deeper, richer movie; never so profound as to lose its younger audience, but with implications which will have you considering aspects long after the theater lights are up.

It's great family fun, which acts as a stand-alone movie too.  You don't have to have seen either of those which went before to enjoy this film.  I recommend it to all as a wonderful stocking-filler this Christmas.

Agent J (Will Smith) was recruited into the fabled Men in Black secret government agency.

Their job is to police the planet for alien invaders; or act as the Earth's diplomatic envoys for the more friendly extra-terrestrial visitors.  (One of my favorite background details is how the MIB headquarters doubles as a kind of space airport, complete with passport checks and customs for inter-stellar tourism.)

His partner is the surly Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who hasn't been known to crack a smile throughout all three movies.  This takes a tremendous lack of a sense of humor, given how hilarious Agent J's wisecracks can be.

A stand-out one-liner from Men in Black III is Agent J's accusation, "That is NOT the lie you told me when you recruited me!"  Ok, I guess it was funnier in context.

Wearing smart black suits and sunglasses, the agents also have to ensure that Earth's human population remains none the wiser about aliens in their midst.  Using a special ray-gun, Agent J erases memories of some undeniably otherworldly sightings. 

Usually he does it with a few words of wisdom and nice, friendly homilies.  Just so that they have something sweet to muse upon, even if they have no idea why.

But most of all its about the aliens; the special effects and the aliens.  Men in Black was a series that was meant to be in 3D; and that is the best way to watch it.

The Bechdel Test requires there to be two or more named women.  There were two. 

Agent O is the head of department, so hurray for women there.  She's brilliantly played by Emma Thompson (in the present day) and Alice Eve (in the past). 

There was also Lily, the girlfriend of Boris the Animal.  I did spot two other female characters.  A screaming bar-maid and a hippy chick at Coney Island.  The latter, at least, did speak.  I don't recall either having names.

But none of them even met, let alone had a conversation.  That is the second requirement of the Bechdel Test failed.  Which means that we can't even progress to the third and final part - that their conversation was about something other than men.

Men in Black III only barely scraped a one out of three mark here.  It could definitely have done better.