How to make it in ...

movieisaw:

Plot: In the third installment of this uneven series, J (Will Smith) has to go back in time to not only save K (Played by Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin) but also the world. 

Review: What can a good ending do to a film that is uneven?  The Men in Black series is a curious one because it should be more popular than it is. It’s a great idea (a buddy cop movie with aliens) but they have never gotten to their full potential. The first film was smart and charming with a great villain, a good story and a level of weirdness that many people didn’t expect.   Part two was a “best of” of the first film just bringing back everything that made the first one good, whether they fit in the story or not, while also managing to be boring as hell. This film gets the closes to fulfilling the promise of the first one but not before an uneasy start.  At the beginning, it seems like it’s just a Will Smith comedy show where he goes off on tangents of comedy bits that don’t really fit in anywhere and drag the movie down.  Smith is hilarious, and I love Smith but his humor comes from situations and quips, not from standing in front of the screen and ranting about things.  I think the director and Smith have yet to realize that we liked the original because it mixed action and comedy but stayed grounded.  They think we like it because of it’s a comedy.  This is apparent when Will Arnet plays an agent.  Aren’t these guys supposed to be the best of the best?  Wasn’t the main thing about the original that Smith was the only one who seemed to not be bitter and silent?  Watch the test scene again, it’s funny cause Smith is the only one who isn’t a solider taking orders. I was almost ready to write the movie off but once Smith goes back to the past, it picks up.  He meets up with Josh Brolin and they have the same great chemistry that Smith and Jones had. Another problem is the villain is boring and non-threatening.  Once again played by a comic, the villain never really gives off any threat which is sucks because he looks great thanks to Rick Baker’s makeup. There are funny jokes and some of the action scenes are quite well done. Plus the effects look great and there are call backs to the original but they seem more in the background than the main story.  Then the ending hits, and it’s full of emotions, jokes, and heart that it makes you almost forget about the problems of the first half.  I think if they do another one that’s what they really need to stick to.  You can erase our minds but don’t erase the heart. 

Trivia: Michael Bay expressed interest in directing.  How insane would that have been?