The Men in Black are back!
It’s been ten years since the last installment of the “MIB” series was released. Not much has changed; there are still aliens on Earth. Some are nice, some are not. One particular alien, Boris (Jemaine Clement), is so nasty, there was a special prison built on the Moon to hold him!! Boris (or Boris the Animal, as some call him) is a real piece of work. He has this little alien that lives in his hand that shoots deadly spikes at his victims, he has no eyeballs, only black tubes in his eye sockets, and a weird, creepy laugh. Oh, and he has a vendetta against Agent K, because Agent K is the reason Boris only has one arm.
After Boris’s girlfriend (Nicole Scherzinger) helps him break out of the Moon prison, he takes a ship back to Earth and finds Jeffrey Price (Michael Chernus), who somehow has in his possession a time travel device. The next day, Agent J (Will Smith) wakes up and suddenly craves chocolate milk. Then at work, he is told that Agent K has been dead for almost 40 years. Say what?? They just busted up a few aliens together the night before!! Well, Agent J craves chocolate milk because there was a rip in the space-time continuum, and he is the only one who remembers Agent K.
Turns out, Boris took Jeffrey’s time-travel device and went back to 1969, when Agent K causes him to lose an arm, and subsequently captured him. Agent J pays Jeffrey a visit to use his other time-travel device to go back in time and save Agent K. In order for the time-travel to occur, Agent J needs to jump off a really tall building. Hmmm, a really tall building in NYC, any guesses which one he uses?? The time-travel sequence is very cool to watch, and then Agent J is in 1969, where he meets 60’s-era Agent K (Josh Brolin, who did a fantastic job portraying a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’s Agent K. It was uncanny how much like him he was!!)
During their adventures, they encounter an alien named Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), who lives on several planes and dimensions at once. Basically, when confronted with a situation, he can tell you all about the possibilities and the outcomes. It’s pretty neat. He also has something that they need, and he helps them on their journey.
Will Smith’s return to the big screen (his last movie, “Seven Pounds”, was almost four years ago) does not disappoint. It always seems to me that he really likes playing this character. Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K was his usual crotchety self, and it was really fun seeing how different Agent K was back in the 60s. (Agent J kept asking 60’s-Agent K “What happened to you??”. Just wait until you see!!)
Rumor has it that two big-name pop stars make cameos as aliens. I think I noticed one but not any others. So keep your eyes peeled and let me know what I may have missed!! Also, there was no scene after the credits, so it’s not necessary to stay after the fun tune “Back in Time” by Pitbull ends.
Overall, a fun family flick. Great performances all around, with comedy, sci-fi, and a bit of action. And of course, I always love movies involving time-travel!!
