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Jacqueline Monahan's Movie Reviews

Men in Black III (3D) | Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Jermaine Clement | Review

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  4_Chicks_Small Jacqueline Monahan

Jacqueline  Monahan

Las Vegas Round The Clock
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Jacqueline Monahan is an educator for the GEAR UP program at UNLV.
She is also an entertainment reporter for Lasvegasroundtheclock.com
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Men in Black III (3D) | Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Jermaine Clement | Review

It’s been ten years and the color scheme hasn’t changed one bit.

Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back, except that K has apparently been erased from the present.  It’s got something to do with chocolate milk and infamous alien bad guy Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement).  To properly subdue the facially-challenged, one-armed brute, and resurrect K’s very existence, J must go back in time to 1969, precisely at the time that the U.S. Moon Mission launch, Apollo 11, will take place.  There, he meets and teams up with young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to aid him in his quest to annihilate Boris before…well the threatened extinction of life on Earth, of course.

Fans of the franchise will appreciate the plot, special effects, humor, and pace of the film, helmed by Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Addams Family).  Fans of Will Smith will appreciate their man, still rockin’ the black suit, still full of smartass observations and deadpan pronouncements.  Not as deadpan as Tommy Lee Jones, though.  The older K has few words and even fewer facial expressions.  MIB Agency Head, Agent O, (Emma Thompson) seems to have some kind of a past with K; she’s the only woman to get any sort of human reaction from him.

As you would expect, J unveils all mysteries (including a big one about himself) saving the universe in the process.  How else could there be an MIB IV?  There will be, you know, and I suppose it could take place on some other planet, but then you wouldn’t have the juxtaposition of so many dozens of dissimilar aliens and ever-present homo-sapiens to play around with.

The 3D works here, especially if you’re afraid of heights.  Scenes taking place far above the ground are great reasons for sharp inhalations and exclamations.  CGI action is fast and furious, whether taking place on the moon, present day Earth, or 1969 Cape Canaveral (should have been referred to as Cape Kennedy at that time, but asking questions will only snarl the absurd events even further).

An Andy Warhol (Bill Hader) spoof is clever, cynical and fun all at once.  Jermaine Clement’s alien villain is as revolting to look at as they come, and Smith and Jones provide the straight-man wisecracks in rapid succession.  Josh Brolin is the best special effect, and he’s flesh and blood (and black suit).

Michael Stuhlberg as Griffin, an alien who can see all possible versions of the future provides comic relief late in the film and his character is good at predictions – sometimes, and under certain circumstances.

Memory-erasers in the form of neuralyzers, flash like mad throughout the length of the film, but they only make us remember why we like these characters, not forget.

That’s what good reunions do; they make you remember, and fondly.

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