Men in Black III Review
Review by IGN (5.0/10 – Mediocre)
Men in Black really holds up. I recently re-watched the first two films in this series in anticipation of Men in Black III and was very happy to see that the original film is just as funny and fun as I remembered it. The chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones is terrific, the film’s sense of humor is appealingly quirky and they do some very clever things with the “aliens among us” premise. …But then they made the sequels.
Yes, sad to say, but Men in Black III is another lackluster installment in this series, after the terribly disappointing Men in Black II. It’s been 10 years since the second film (and 15 since the first), which is a lifetime in Hollywood. I shared the hope of other fans that the MIB team would come back strong after this much time away, but unfortunately, this is one of those Big Summer Movies that feels entirely disposable and forgettable.
Review by Emanuel Levy
It’s good to see Will Smith’s Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K together again, even if the central idea of “Men In Black 3″ is not as fresh, ingenious, and entertaining as most fans would have liked it to be.
Many franchises face the same dilemma after the second installment: How to invigorate, or at least maintain the momentum of, a series that have captured the imagination of millions of viewers.
Always a high-concept series, “Men in Black 3″ doesn’t escape this problem entirely, and it’s a testament to the abundant charm of Will Smith, the cool yet grounded approach of Tommy Lee Jones, and the strong chemistry between the vastly different actors that the new chapter is sporadically funny, relying more than the previous chapters on visual gags, some good action set-pieces, and plenty of CGI.
Review by Coming Soon (7/10)
It seems almost too easy to dismiss a sequel in a franchise when it’s released so long after the previous installment, except there’s certainly something to be said about how the first two “Men In Black” movies epitomized the summers in which they were released while helping to build Will Smith’s cred with moviegoers. Revisiting the characters ten years later may be a fool’s errand since the nature of summer movies have changed since 2002, yet “Men in Black 3″ somehow offers just the right kind of nostalgia.
An escape from a maximum security prison on the moon is our introduction to the film’s main baddie, Jemaine Clement’s Boris the Animal, who has sworn to get revenge on Agent K for shooting off his arm. After fourteen years as partners, Will Smith’s J still doesn’t completely understand Tommy Lee Jones’ K and gets mad that he’s kept his connections to Boris’ past a secret from him.
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