Men In Black are back. 15 years after the first (and best) film in the series Hollywood tries to squeeze some more dollars from the same idea.Sequels are never easy to do. You need both to ensure continuity and bring back what the audiences love in the original and invent so that the repetition does not bring exhaustion and disappointment. Best examples of success like The Godfather or Star Wars were complex stories spreading over generations, developing memorable characters and bringing to screen new emotions and passions in each one of the new installments, even if they not all were as best as the initial films. Well, MIB is no Godfather or Star Wars, neither is Barry Sonnenfeld a Scorsese or George Lucas. Men In Black III has more downs than ups.
The good news first? Well, it’s available (also) on 3D. Don’t forget to order 3D tickets as I did, as many of the screenings are banal 2D. Hint – the tickets on 3D are even more expensive that usual. Two new actors join the team – Josh Brolin doing a fine job as a young version of Tommy Lee Jones‘ character (yes, good guess, there is some time travel involved) and Emma Thompson who is always lovely to see, even when she has a too thin part as here. The less than good news? Well, there are no surprises, no new jokes to remember, no ideas that make the film really different or funnier or scarier than the previous series. The retro parts are very much the same we have seen in scores of other films since Back to the Future, the bad guy has bad teeth, and the story has holes as big as the cosmic warps with a touch of melodrama that does not add really anything good.
(video source SonyPictures)
Is it worth paying the ticket to see the film in theaters? Well, maybe yes, if you are in ‘just’ for entertainment and you are ready to accept conventions and to put logic to rest for a couple of hours, than you have chances to enjoy the film. If you are a MIB aficionado you will go and see it anyway, so I can just wish you to have fun!