Men in Black 3

The Men in Black series is one that I grew up with. It is a series that I watched numerous time as kid and usually loved it even though the second one wasn't very good. I was pretty excited for Part 3. Going into to it, I thought that maybe it was just a money grab with a useless idea but I had still hope for it due to the cast and the interesting time travel idea. After watching it, I was pretty much was right on the money with this. The movie is pretty useless to the series and a way to cash in but it does has some good moments and is decent all the way around. I would call it an "ok" movie that hopefully will be the last one in the series.

To back up, Men in Black 3 is a confusing story of an escaped prisoner named Boris who wants to go back in time and kill Agent K due to something that happened in the past. Agent J must go back in time to stop Boris and also meet the old Agent K. It is very hard to follow this and I wished it was simpler and different but it is what it is.

What helps the film the most is the acting. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back and good as usual but what is good here is the new supporting cast. Josh Brolin does a pretty good job as young Agent K, Emma Thompson does well and even Jemaine Clement puts together a wired but fun performance as Boris. Because of them, the film is somewhat interesting and this gets the film going in the right direction. The ending is also pretty interesting. It is an ending that I hated in one way and also kind of enjoyed. It is an ending that is short and could have been developed more but it does offers closure to something in a nice touching way.

Looking back at this series, all the other movies had some nice action. With Men in Black 3, there is some action but there are too many character set-up moments and not enough action. Instead of action, we have have to deal with the plot which is not that great. The plot does have some interesting elements including some very cool 1960's nostalgia scenes, an interesting ending and a couple of funny scenes but for the most part it is just not very interesting. There are also some bad characters which add nothing to the movie or the series. The best thing about the plot is that there are some new weapons and some transporting of objects but all of this is really in just one scene and doesn't add enough to the plot.

In the end, I don't believe that this movie adds much to the Men in Black series. It lacks action and the plot could have a lot been better but on the other hand it does have some new actors, a couple of cool 1960's scene and a nice ending. Men in Black 3 is not great and there is not much here it does anchor the first two films and is kind of interesting but I think it is time for an end to this series.

3/5