This movie is in some ways a “we’re sorry for MIB2”. This new MIB movie is everything we loved
about the first movie in terms of tone and humor. Gone are the hundreds of product placements shots and lame animal
jokes. We’re back to the focus of the
partnership between Agents K and J.
Plus, you can throw in some interesting time travel and alt-timeline
elements that I found very fun to watch and unfold. The movie certainly pulled back from the silliness of the second
movie and that’s a good thing. The
movie is very fun this time around with some serious elements thrown in at the
end.
This time around they added the wrinkle of time travel to the
world of MIB. Despite some missteps
with time travel plot holes; they do a really good job with the time
elements.
Some bad things happen to Agent K and he is wiped from the
timeline. J is the only one to discover
this and has to change it or literally the entire world will be wiped out. J has to convince young K he is from the
future.
The movie is a direct sequel to the first movie and almost
completely ignores the second movie altogether. Watching MIB3 will help you admire the first movie even more,
especially K’s involvement with J’s recruitment. It all comes back around to their first meeting in the first
movie with this story and this movie gives that meeting a whole different spin
after watching this new movie.
Boris
the Animal is the main villain this time around. (Actually, there are two Boris-es.) Jemaine (Conchords) Clement
plays Boris fairly well and is clearly a throwback to Vincent D'Onofrio’s Edgar character. Boris is just as disgusting as Edgar because
he has mini-bug parts of himself that detach and kill people. I just wish there was more of him in the
story. I think there are a lot of
scenes on the cutting room floor. And,
that’s only a minor gripe.
The main focus of the movie is squarely on the relationship
between J and K. I love the notion that
friendships can last and begin through different time periods. The young K, played masterfully by Josh
Brolin, really does bond with J even on a different level than the one from the
present. It is the interaction between
Brolin and Smith that make this movie shine.
Much of the praise has to go to the director Barry Sonnenfeld. Where as he screwed up the second movie,
Barry shows restraint without making the movie feel boring this time
around. Because it isn’t as goofy and
flashy, I think the movie won’t be a box office hit like the first two
movies. Plus, the budget for this movie
went out of control with some saying it is as high as 300 million dollars.
There are some funny Sonnenfeld moments throughout. Yet, there are some nice emotional scenes
sprinkled in here and there that makes this more than a silly summer action
movie.
On the negative side, Danny Elfman’s score is rather boring
and bland. I truly hated the lazy rock
version of the MIB theme at the beginning and it takes me out of the
movie. Elfman is really phoning it in
for this one. He knows how to make some
good scores like the Spiderman series, but he recently doesn’t seem to care as
much. And, don’t get me started with
the Pitbull song, which is down right shitty.
Notes
-They really went out of their way not to have many of the
silly side characters from the second movie.
-The talking wall art character from the trailer is not in the
movie. Can we say deleted scene?
End of Part 1…
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