Men In Black 3 Review: Remember When Will Smith Was King

Do you remember when Will Smith was king of the box office? Men In Black 3 serves as a good reminder of why a string of box office hits earned Will Smith the title of “Mr. Fourth of July.” With Men In Black 3, Will Smith might earn a new title as “Mr. Memorial Day Weekend.”Men In Black 3 is a funny, entertaining romp that is perhaps the best Men In Black yet. It recaptures the magic of the first film, and it avoids the doldrums of Men In Black 2. When I first heard of the time travel plot, I was a little skeptical, because time travel is one of those things that can often turn a film into a confusing mish-mash. However, Men In Black 3’s plot comes together rather nicely.As would be expected, Will Smith is the star of the show.  Will Smith might have been away from the summer box office for four years, but you wouldn’t know it. He commands the screen as Agent J and pulls the audience along with him to make an unbelievable world believable. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the Agent K that fans of the franchise have come to expect. The biggest surprise of the movie though might be how effectively Josh Brolin plays a young Agent K. It’s probably the best performance I’ve ever seen of an actor mimicking the mannerisms of another actor.The movie kicks off by introducing a villain called Boris the Animal, who sort of reminded me of Lobo from DC Comics. Boris the Animal travels back in time and changes history, so that Agent K is no longer among the living and aliens are invading the earth. Agent J travels back in time to put things right.While the movie introduces the quirky looking aliens that you would expect, it doesn’t get bogged down in becoming just an alien freak show. Boris the Animal poses a very brutal and dangerous threat. In addition to the central plot of stopping Boris, there is also secondary plot of explaining how Agent K got the way he is. Without spoiling the ending of the movie, there is an emotional payoff at the end that answers the question.