Will Smith Month - Men in Black 3 (2012)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're officially at the end of Will Smith Month, which means it's time to review Men in Black 3, once again directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Newcomers this time include the likes of Jemaine Clement, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Nicole Sherzinger, Michael Chernus, Alice Eve, Bill Hader, Will Arnett, Keone Young, and Mike Colter. 

        Okay, so just like with Serleena in Men in Black II, out villain this time is an alien with a previous history with Agent K. The criminal is a Boglodite named Boris, but is cruelly nicknamed "Boris the Animal." After escaping from LunarMAX prison with help from his girlfriend Lily, which is on the Moon, Boris goes after Jeffrey, who is the son of one of Boris' fellow LunarMAX inmates Obidiah Price. Jeffrey apparently has a piece of technology that Boris wants in order to kill someone. 

       Meanwhile, Agents K and J investigate the crash of a spacecraft, and later head to MIB for Zed's memorial service, where we meet the new chief of MIB: Agent O. Now, I definitely like O, as she's both very humourous, but can also be a no-nonsense woman when she needs to be. Anyway, O then sends J and K to find the source of a food-related situation at a local Chinese restaurant run by a slug-like alien named Wu. K gets a call about the spacecraft from before, and after seeing an alien creature in Wu's kitchen, K immediately realizes that Boris is on Earth. After a shoot out with some of the aliens in the restaurant, K heads up to the roof, where he confronts Boris for the first time in forty years. J arrives, and Boris escapes. J, obviously concerned, suggests going after Boris, but K tells him to drop it. 

          Back at MIB, J reads up on some history between K and Boris. Apparently, in July of 1969, K apprehended Boris at Cape Canaveral, deployed a security system called the ArcNet, and prevented a mass Boglodite invasion of Earth, which led to the race dying out from starvation. O then tells J to take some time off, and J goes home. After a phone call between J and K, K disappears and no one but J knows about K at MIB. The next day, O reveals a different file regarding K and Boris, where Boris returned to his home planet, K died at Cape Canaveral, and was awarded posthumous commendations for his actions. J then shares of various times he spent working with K, and starts guzzling down a massive cup of chocolate milk. Putting two and two together, O realizes what's happened: Boris of 2012 went back in time to 1969 to kill the younger K, stopping the ArcNet from being deployed, and leading to Earth being attacked by the Boglodites in this new 2012. O sends J to find Jeffrey Price, who has his father's time devices,.one of which was given to Boris to travel to the past. 

           J and Jeffrey head to the top of the Chrysler building so that J can perform a Time Jump to 1969, where he plans to kill the 1969 version of Boris before his 2012 counterpart even shows up. Arriving in 1969, J goes to Coney Island, where Boris kills an alien named Roman the Fabulist. It's here where J meets the younger K, and after convincing him of what's going on, the two team up and follow a clue that Roman has on him when he died. The clue leads to a bowling alley run by a Parlaxian, only to find him dead by Boris. J and K then head to a place called The Factory, where an undercover MIB agent, Agent W, is working. And who is Agent W? Not kidding, it's Andy Warhol. Yep, the famous painter is an undercover MIB agent, who mentions that Boris' target is an Archanan named Griffin. Griffin mentions something about a watch that J has, that once belonged to J's father. I arrives, and Griffin mentions a gift he has for the humans, but is forced to flee just a Boris arrives. 

         After a shoot out with Boris, J and K go out for pie, where they try to work out Griffin's hint to where to find him next. After overhearing some upset Mets fans, J realizes that Griffin is waiting at Shea Stadium. Griffin prepares to give J and K a shield to save Earth from the Boglodites, but Boris nabs him first, and J and K go after him. After recovering Griffin from Boris, Griffin gives them the real ArcNet, and the three head back to MIB to find a way to Cape Canaveral, where K is meant to stick the ArcNet on the nose of the Apollo 11 rocket. 

        Meanwhile, 2012 Boris arrives and confronts his younger self, and the two team up to get to Cape Canaveral and kill K. Back at MIB, J, K, and Griffin take off on a set of jet packs to fly to Cape Canaveral in time to get the ArcNet onto Apollo 11 before it launches. The three ultimately convince a military Colonel of their intentions, and the Colonel agrees to help J and K, while Griffin leaves. J and K confront both 1969 Boris and 2012 Boris, with J defeating 2012 Boris, and K shooting off the left arm of 1969 Boris and deploying the ArcNet, restoring the original timeline. 

       1969 Boris ends up killing the Colonel, and goads K into arresting him and allowing history to repeat itself, but K decides to kill him instead. From the distance, J sees K comforting the Colonel's young son, James, and he realizes three things: the Colonel that helped them was J's father, K had been looking after J since J was a child, and the younger J being there is why the time fracture didn't alter J's memory. Returning to 2012, J reunites with the older K, checks on some information about the timeline, and infers that he knows truth now and thanks him. The two agents then head out, and Griffin shows up and has a last minute word to the audience. 

           Okay, so I thoroughly enjoyed Men in Black 3 when it came out. The idea of introducing time travel to this franchise is actually a natural progression in terms of the various concepts we've seen in these movies. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are both great once again as K and J, and I have to admit, casting Josh Brolin as the younger version of K was a stroke of genius. I also liked Emma Thompson as O, with Alice Eve as her 1969 counterpart. Jemaine Clement as Boris was a terrific villain, and I feel his motivation was definitely understandable and realistic. 

        As for the rest of the cast, my personal favorites were Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, Keone Young as Wu, and Bill Hader as Andy Warhol. Will Arnett as Agent AA was fun, Nicole Sherzinger as Lily, who was only in the intro, was great as well, but I will admit I would have liked more scenes with her. The only one that annoyed me was Michael Chernus as Jeffrey, who came off as some slacker pothead. Honestly, his role in Spider-Man: Homecoming was better than this. 

         I would also like to add that the movie really captured the overall feel of the year 1969, with the costumes, the set design for MIB headquarters in 1969, and the way characters of the time period talked. On top of that, seeing some of the unique weapons and vehicles that were used by MIB in 1969 was really cool. Once again, the alien designs by Rick Baker were really good, and we're really cool to see in the movie. 

       Unfortunately, the end credits song isn't performed by Will Smith. Instead, we have a sone performed by rapper Pitbull, and it definitely doesn't work. Other than that, this is definitely a fun movie. I'm going to give Men in Black 3 a rating of 4.75/5. 

         Thanks for tuning in for Will Smith Month. I definitely enjoyed getting to revisit the career of one of my favorite actors out there. Now, for those who are wondering, I do plan on reviewing the film Men in Black: International at some point. I didn't want to review it here because it doesn't feature Will Smith, but I do plan to review it to finish out the Men in Black franchise. 

        This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.