Why Men in Black 3 sucked for me

Originally posted on my school's blog:
 http://theobservernews.blogspot.com/2012/06/aliens-should-stay-in-space-for-men-in.html


What can be said about Men in Black 3? The phrase “third time’s the charm” definitely does not come to mind. This summer is filled with part three movies and remakes, but this one is as predictable as it gets. Yes, this time around it’s a time travel comedy, but just like back to the future, it should’ve ended after the second installment.  There’s a reason why it was so hyped up (with rapper Pitbull writing the song “Back in time”). Looks like Will Smith should look into going back in time from stopping himself from signing onto this movie in the first place.

 After about 14 years in their partnership, Agent J (Smith) feels that Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is too unemotional and closed off. Then, an Alien (nicknamed Boris the animal) that K fought and arrested back in the 60s breaks out of the moon prison where he was held to travel back in time to kill him so is isn’t arrested and can take over the world. Agent J manages to go back in time using the sources at his job to stop the killing from happening, but not without confusing audience as to how they get from one point in time to another. In the end, he discovers why K is so bitter and the real reason he was recruited into Men in Black in the first place. The phrase ‘with death comes death’, is a pretty obvious hint to audiences and a bit of lazy writing from Hollywood.

  It wasn’t all bad for this MIB fan. There were a few giggles here and there because with the time travel plot, there aren’t many jokes so some can been seen coming a mile away.  There was one genuinely cute alien (to replace the talking pug from the first two) named Griffin (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) who can see different timelines for the future, and is always saying that a single action can change the course of everything. That kind of parallels the confusing plot scenes between Agent J going to the 60s, meeting Andy Warhol and almost interfering with the Apollo launch in 1969. Griffin helps Agent J and a younger Agent K hunt down Boris the animal while offering insight as to why Agent K is so grumpy in the future.

 Sure it beat out Marvel’s Avengers on Memorial Day weekend at number one with 69.3 million, and was number one again about two weeks later, but critics (and some visibly upset and confused moviegoers) were disappointed at the sloppiness of the script and lack of actually funny jokes.

 It was just like the producers said, “we should make everything look, more vintage, but modern, because it’s the 60s.” The weapons might as well have said Made in China in bold, it fails miserably in comparison to the original in humor, script, weapons and originality. It was a needless plug in the franchise, and you can almost tell the actors are relying on the name itself for the paycheck. Just because a movie is released in the summer doesn’t mean that it’s destined for blockbuster records. The money is honestly better spent watching Kristen Stewart’s feign emotions in a non-twilight related role.