Movie Review: ‘Men in Black 3’

All in all, it looks good, it has good concepts, and it should have killed as a comedic film.
Movie Review: ‘Men in Black 3’
Keone Young (L) and Tommy Lee Jones holding Spiky Bulba in the sci-fi action-comedy 'Men In Black 3.' (Wilson Web/ Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc)
Mark Jackson
5/26/2012
Updated:
9/29/2015
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MIB1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-242772" title="Tommy Lee Jones" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MIB1-676x450.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="392"/></a>

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MIB3.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-242773" title="Will Smith;Josh Brolin" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MIB3-676x450.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="392"/></a>

Again, the best thing about a MIB film is normally the odd-couple chemistry of Smith the clown and Jones the straight man. The original had novelty, plus great situations like deadpan-meister Jones saying to an alien bug in full-threat display, “Put up your arms and all your flippers.”

Here, even the effusiveness of Smith and the taciturn stoicism of Jones have gone a tad stale. Not to mention other script clunkers such as: “You’re going to be late for your meeting with the Viagrans. They have a revolutionary new pill.”

To list some of the good things, while 3-D is rapidly becoming less and less interesting due to the way it skyrockets ticket prices, the 3-D effects are good here. There’s also the funny concept of Chinese restaurants secretly substituting alien fish species on the menu.

The best thing about the movie, however, is Josh Brolin playing a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones. Physically, they’re dead ringers for each other, and Brolin clearly had an actor’s dream experience of studying and interpreting Tommy Lee.

All in all, it looks good, it has good concepts, and it should have killed as a comedic film. One waits for the payoff. And waits. Boris is fairly gross. The rest of it is fairly boring.

[etRating value=“ 3”]

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to the world’s number-one storytelling vehicle—film, he enjoys martial arts, weightlifting, Harley-Davidsons, vision questing, rock-climbing, qigong, oil painting, and human rights activism. Mark earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by a classical theater training, and has 20 years’ experience as a New York professional actor, working in theater, commercials, and television daytime dramas. He recently narrated the Epoch Times audiobook “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which is available on iTunes and Audible. Mr. Jackson is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
Related Topics