Of all the tropes and sub-genres of sci-fi, the two most popular have to be aliens/space travel and time travel. The return of the Men in Black covers both of these. Naturally, being MIB there are aliens (and conspiracy theories) but this time J and K are involved in a touch of temporal tourism, or at least J is as he goes back to 1969 to save the planet when a vicious alien escapes from the Moon’s maximum security prison to seek revenge on the person who put him there, and the rest of the planet as well, for good measure.
Reviving MIB is something of a trip back to the future, especially after the critical drubbing MIB2 got. One place it is successful is in establishing the back stories of J and K, but in a subtle way that fits in perfectly with the story that is unfolding. This latest edition also works because there is another despicable alien to match Vincent D’onofrio’s Edgar, in the form of Boris the Animal (insert your own London mayoral joke here), played with surprising menace by Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. Admittedly he is hidden under lots of latex and CG enhancement, courtesy of Rick Baker, and does at times sound like Tim Curry.
The other surprise is how well Josh Brolin is able to do a young Tommy Lee Jones (as K): the voice and mannerisms are all there, and (apart from knowing it is a different actor) it is totally convincing. Same can’t be said for Alice Eve playing a young Emma Thompson as Agent O, who is now in charge of MIB after the death of Z. As for Will Smith, he’s Will Smith the comedian that we loved in the original MIB, and it is pretty much his movie. There are a couple of gags he delivers, when he is back in 1969, that are funny before the delivery of the punchline because you know what it is going to be, and would have actually been better, because of the anticipation, if the punchline wasn’t delivered with a look rather than verbally. It was almost as if they had to be added for the slower members of the audience. Screenwriter David Koepp is best known for his blockbuster dramas such as Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Carlito’s Way, rather than for his comedy, but he did also pen Spider-Man, Zathura and Ghost Town, so he is more than capable of scribing some quips and sardonic humour, which Smith can enhance with his delivery.
While it lacks the freshness of the original, mostly due to the discovery of Jones’ deadpan comic timing, and revelations of famous people as aliens, it does deliver a good balance of humour, pathos and rollicking action. You would have to be very curmudgeonly or cynical not to be entertained by this.
