'MEN IN BLACK 3'

'MEN IN BLACK 3' (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Etan Cohen
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Actors: Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Jermaine Clement, Alice Eve, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma Thompson, David Rasche

After ten years in between the last "Men In Black" and "Men In Black 3" you would think the new movie would be trumped by all the other movies dealing with aliens in the last few years. Besides the wonderful "Super 8" in the last few years alien movies have mostly stunk and have not captured the magic of the original "MIB". I think the distance makes the heart grow fonder for the great relationship between our friends Agent K and Agent J is still a strong point in "MIB 3". I also missed the chemsistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones who have an unusual but successful and funny rapport with each other.

This time "Men In Black 3" takes Tommy Lee Jones out of the equation when the plot goes back 40 years when Agent K was a young agent. That might sound like failure but happily Josh Brolin plays the young Agent K and Brolin is fantastic here perfectly capturing the inflection of voice and mannerisms of Jones.It is not just a case of mimicking Jones, Brolin gives us much more as he fleshes out the depth and emotions of the character and it is a major plus for the movie.

The movie's plot takes us back 40 years because an alien baddie who Agent K imprisoned and who lost his arm thanks to Agent K goes back in time to try to assassinate K. Agent J goes back in time to try to stop it all and Will Smith is again dependable here. The bad alien is played by Jermaine Clement from HBO's "Flight of the Concords" and Clement is very funny and fantastic here. Part of the strength of the movie is because his bad alien is a strong and evil presence but also has some funny lines. There is some good writing and one liners and the movie buzzes along with decent special effects and some cool aliens.

This is a major improvement on "Men In Black 2" and at some points I think it is as good as the first one but of course it is not because the first one was all new and fresh. We have seen some of the same stuff we see in the other movies but there is a lot of funny stuff here mixed with the occasional dead spot. Brolin and Clement steal the movie with great performances and compensate for some of the same old schtick. A funny thing happened at the end of this movie that hooked me and sold me on this being worthwhile. There is a surprise ending that is emotional and I had a lump in my throat for I knew that the actors and writer Etan Cohen made us remember we really like these characters. I just hope we don't get a "Men In Black 4", it would ruin the series I think.