Today's Review: Men In Black 3

I certainly enjoyed the first Men In Black many years ago. I also watched the second one once, but I don't remember much about it except that it kinda sucked. I wasn't sure what to expect from this third instalment ten years later, but it was certainly better than I thought.

We rejoin agents K and J (Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith) as they're still working hard at their job, keeping alien scum from destroying our planet. Trouble is, Boris (Jemaine Clement) an enemy from K's past has just broken out of prison, and is intent on getting revenge, even going as far as to go back in time to eliminate him. J wakes up in this altered future, and finds himself travelling back in time to 1969 to stop a young agent K (Josh Brolin) from meeting his demise.

Yeah, time travel. Everyone loves a bit of time travel. But Men In Black 3 doesn't really explain the mechanics and branching timelines and such, it just uses it as an excuse to show us a bunch of 60s people doing 60s things, including a retro MIB headquarters. There are some funky new gadgets too, which you'd expect from a Men In Black movie. There's also an excuse to weave the plot into historical events, and the final scenes in particular do this very well.

Probably the best thing about this movie, though, is the performances. Josh Brolin does a great job taking on K's role, but Jemaine Clement knocks it out of the park by playing a truly menacing villain. Boris ain't no cockroach, sugar water drinking weirdo, he's an evil, unrelenting killing machine, and when I found out he was played by goofy Jemaine I was pleasantly surprised.

So yes, I enjoyed Men In Black 3. It's not without its faults though, some set pieces and characters seemed too tacked on, and perhaps not enough of the plot was as fleshed out as it should be. But I certainly enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the second movie. Here we have some great performances, some nice action sequences, all wrapped up in a wibbly wobbly timey wimey bow.

My rating: 4/5