WILL SMITH IS BACK

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Published on Saturday, 26 May 2012 04:45

In my day, sequels propelled the original story further along but for modern Hollywood the sequel has long been just a quick buck, rehashing the original story again and again killing all originality along the way. This, gladly isn't true for MIB3, which nicely continues the relationship of these unlikely partners along as they battle each other's personalities and alien threats made to the Earth. The problem is that all is let down by a thin script, fraught with mistakes and lack of any excitement. Written by Etan Cohen, the story has a lot of the Back to the Future time twisting clichés but it never elicits the excitement it thinks it is.

Will Smith's agent J must journey back into time to save Tommy Lee Jones' agent K and thereby saving the world from an all out alien invasion. Josh Brolin carries the film with his spot on, Oscar™ worthy performance of a young Tommy Lee Jones and Emma Thompson gives a nice turn as the love interest and new head of the secret agency. Michael Stuhlbard's great portrayal of Griffin is also worth mentioning but it all just never quite comes together.

The blame for this can't entirely, although it comes close, on Cohen script but also on Sonnenfeld who's action sequences and chase scenes seemed like a paint by numbers without a lot of enthusiasm or originality.

The creatures are sufficient but nothing that'll blow the viewer away and a plot line that I can't discuss because it'll spoil the movie. Suffice to say it contradicts itself and makes no sense in movie reality or in the real world.

I'm not saying I disliked MIB3, far from it. If you're a huge fan of the series and have been jones'ing for the return of these characters to hit the big screen again than by all means, see it and enjoy it, for Josh Brolin's performance alone. But, if like me you're not a huge fan or you've been on the fence about seeing it then I'd personally give it a miss. MIB3 just doesn't invade upon excitement enough to warrant the time travel to the theater to see it. A missed shot.

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sci-fi action violence and brief suggestive content.

Running time: 103 minutes