Men In Black 3

Right, hands up anyone who can remember anything about Men In Black 2, or even what year it was released in. Well it was ten years ago that Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) were getting up to, err, stuff, and as Hollywood's original ideas well has been running dry for a while now it's time for more alien based shenanigans involving men in dark glasses and smartly pressed suits. The way audiences are these days director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg could just have recycled the same plot and gags from the previous two movies and this would still have made gazillions at the box office, so it's hats off to them that they've actually put a bit of thought into the screenplay in respect of the history of the characters and the MIB universe. We start off with a bang as Boris The Animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from a maximum security prison on the moon (the actual breakout is surprisingly brutal) with the intention of travelling back in time to 1969 in order to kill K, his arresting Agent. When J suddenly finds himself in a world where no-one has heard of K, he suspects that Boris has somehow achieved his mission and therefore decides to travel back in time himself in order to save K's life. Basically from there you have the usual scenes you'd expect from a MIB story, but the ten year break between films has actually been a blessing as though nothing here (the aliens, the wisecracks) really feels all that original, it doesn't feel particularly stale either. The time traveller out of his element is an old film and TV staple, but the script doesn't try to make too many gags on this front and the film is all the better for it. What's most impressive about the film was that shooting began before the script was even half-finished. However main writer Etan Cohen (not a typo, this is a different, unrelated Cohen) with aid from David Koepp and Jeff Nathanson (helping to put the memory of Crystal Skull to bed) have taken their time to unknot the twists of the time travelling skeleton and leave meat on the bone that is as far away from anachronisms and continuity errors as best they can. I suppose it's also fairly impressive that Sonnenfeld himself got the gig after alleged conflicts on the set of MIB 2, lawsuits regarding payments and the fact his last film was the risible RV in 2006. Acting wise Smith does his usual goofy / confused / smarmy combo, but it's Josh Brolin who takes the plaudits with his performance as the young K, complete with spot on tonal impression of Lee Jones. Clement is also good value, though he's lost under a ton of make up (On that front see if you can spot a brief cameo from special effects guru Rick Baker as well). On the negative side this isn't as funny as it thinks it is (a number of one-liners fall flat) and the brief commentary on racial attitudes in the 1960's is shoe horned in and sticks out like a sore thumb. Overall though this is a lot better than what you might expect, especially in it's final scene which is not only thrilling, but which also ends on a surprisingly moving note.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Unexpected fun, but I'm not sure we need a fourth part. Hang on a sec, this made $624M at the box office. Fourth film green lit and coming your way.....Rating: 7/10.