Men in Black III

Wow, who would have thought a film series that was left off with such a bad film ten years ago would have been able to redeem itself to the style and design of the first movie that came out 15 years ago?! Earlier this morning, at around 12 midnight I went to see the premiere of Men in Black III. I was very impressed by the direction and attention to character and detail in this one. As usual, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are a great match and it's nice to see them in the big screen together again. When we last saw the MIB, Agent J had restored K's memory and they both continued to fight to protect the Earth from the scum of the universe. The one dimensional character played by Lara Flynn Boyle was as forgetful a villain as ever. I honestly, found her to be annoying and not essential to the plot...mainly because there was no plot in the second film other than just telling the first film over again and playing it safe. Gone are those annoying worms (except for a few small scenes), gone is Frank the Pug (except for a portrait of him in J's apartment) and gone is Tony Shaloub and Rip Torn. You do however see a glimpse of Lady Gaga on one of the screens at MIB. It's pretty funny. And don't get me started on Andy Warhol! Great stuff! I had high expectations when coming to see this movie and I sure was not disappointed!

The plot takes place in the year 2012 and K and J are still working for the MIB. Sadly, Rip Torn's character is not in the film. But, as with most films that don't have the return of a recurring character, Zed has passed away so there is a nice little memorial service for the character. This, I have got to say is something that has been used a lot. When Roy Scheider's character from Jaw 2 was not seen again, his character's death was explained away in Jaws: The Revenge.. In the latest Indiana Jones flick, Sean Connery's character passed away, and in the movie Rip Torn's character has passed. Mind you, in reality, all of the actors were/are still alive but just did not want to be involved. Zed (Torn's character) has been replaced by the ever elegant and talented Emma Thompson, who did a superb job. Her role in the film very much reminds me of the way Judy Dench portrays in the Bond films. Something goes wrong at a detention colony on the moon. An alien has escaped and wants revenge on Agent K for something that has happened to him 40 years ago. It is up to J to fix the time line and set things right. TIME JUMP! It's quite original really and something that I had never expected to see in this series. Now, to be honest when I found out that Tommy Lee Jones' character was going to be replaced by Josh Brolin, I was a little disappointed. Yes, I know Jones has gotten older and all, but he is still Agent K. This story, however sets things right and the younger K, played by Brolin, is actually believable to be a younger version of Jones! Not only do you get to see Smith in the 60s, you also get a great back story of Tommy Lee Jones' character. I swear, out of all of the movies you learn more about Agent K than you do about J. But it works! The movie is action packed, entertaining and has a lot of great surprises along the way that brings back memories from the past two movies. I would have to say that if you only saw the first movie, you could just skip right to the third movie and not miss a thing! This harkens back to the original because it has just the right amount of humor, emotion (which was void in the second movie) and character development. It's entertaining for the kids and also for people who enjoy a good flick that is worth seeing over and over again. I am glad they waited this long to be honest. It paid off.