Film Review: Men In Black III

'Here come the Men In Black'... humming through our office as film-lover, Jenny Harding, went to check out the latest instalment of the series.

It has been 14 years since the first Men in Black. Even though I don’t remember when it came out (being only 4) I do remember watching it for the first time and instantly liking it. It was fresh and exciting, and set its own class in the sci-fi genre.

The plot, of course, is the same as the other MiB films: aliens and saving the world with badass suites on and dark glasses.

Our main man, Agent J (Will Smith) is now a senior agent in the field. No more rookie mistakes here, no siree. And Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is still his mentor and partner.

MiB requires a good ‘badguy’, one that will creep the hell out of you and will stay in your mind forever (the cockroach guy in the first film *shudder*). MiB III doesn’t disappoint with the gruesome character of Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), a frankly ugly alien specimen who was put away by K many years ago and is thirsty for his blood.

The thing I enjoyed most about this film, was the character development of K. Since the audience never got to fully see what he was like in his younger years, MiB III answers some questions.

Also, the concept of time travel is always very risky and could show some major concept bending. There is a scene where someone’s past self, meets his future self, which of course can’t possibly work. But, it’s a film, so getting into a debate about time theories is silly.

The directors also seem to have missed out on some key elements in K’s life, which I won’t spoil, which was a bit disappointing.

But I do like how they sneakily included some flashback elements from the other two films, see if you can spot them if you go see it.

The ending though, is a big slap to your face. While I was watching, I thought for certain, a main character was going to die, but instead we got something even more revealing, which again I won’t spoil.

So, all in all, if you’re a fan of the original MiB, you’ll enjoy this instalment. It follows the foundation its predecessor set by being slick with its humour and generally being a good time at the movies, which is definitely what MiB is all about.