Men in Black 3

I honestly couldn't think of a witty title for this post...ah well. I saw MIB3 recently, as it was on my list of things to see. I went with the girl I'm seeing right now, who is an awesome person and suggested that we see it in the first place, and we both greatly enjoyed it. I want to do one of my customary reviews, because why not, right? It's not as if a lot of people read my blog, but it's fun to do nonetheless, even if to get my own thoughts cleared up so I can explain them verbally to people later.

In any case, Men in Black 3. They don't shy away from the fact that Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) recruited Agent J (Will Smith) 14 years ago. In fact, 14 years ago in 'real life', it was 1998, and 1997 (which is what they were obviously going for) was the first year we ever saw Will Smith run down an alien to have him utter the words "N-Y-P-D. It means I will (k)nock your punk-ass down!". I love Will Smith, by the way. Indeed, MIB3 is the newest movie by Mr. Smith since 2008, when he last released both 'Seven Pounds' and 'Hancock'.

I went into this movie with fairly low expectations, because lets face it, MIB2 was absolute garbage. It was shameful, as far as movies go, and I don't know a single person who would say it was actually 'good'. I LOVE this series, and I wouldn't ever say that was a good movie (just like the Star Wars prequels, but hey). Having said that, this movie blew me away with how much it exceeded my expectations. I was readying myself for a 5 or 5.5 out of 10, and this movie is a solid 7.5 or 8/10. Will Smith reverted back to the playful, funny character he became famous for, and Tommy Lee Jones was solid again as the stoic, no humour, Agent K. The delight of the movie, though, was definitely Josh Brolin. As many have said, he absolutely nails the younger version of Agent K (as this movie involves time travel, where Agent J goes back and meets Agent K in 1969), via his delivery of dialogue and facial expressions. Even Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame is in this movie, as the bad guy (the aptly named Boris the Animal), and is near unrecognisable. There is also a character named Griffin, a being who can see all possible futures, all the time. It lends itself well to how the movie progresses, and provides some hilarious moments, too.

I don't really have much to say, I mean, the movie was simply solid. It had its funny moments, and after a slower-ish first half, the pacing picked up once the plot began to get underway. The events of the climax of the movie lead to a particularly poignant moment between Agent J and Agent K near the very end...it was a surprisingly soft touch for the kind of movie I expected it to be. Given how MIB1 ended, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it was still extremely nice to see.

All in all, a solid, fun movie, especially for people of my generation who were 6-7 years of age when the first installment was released. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

8/10