Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Men in Black 3’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

There comes a point in the history of every great film franchise, where the saga begins to slide into decline. It could be due to the fact that the treasure trove of creative ideas that once sustained its stories are beginning to run out, or it could be related to fatigue from audiences everywhere. But one way or another, that darkest day arrives where the magic comes to an end and the series begins to change for the worse and what’s equally more incredible, is that you can pretty much pinpoint the moment when this unfortunate slide begins.
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Which quite frankly, makes the movie related to said decline incredibly tough to watch in subsequent viewings because you can see all the glaring holes that turned audiences away from a franchise they once happily embraced, and in 2012, that dark moment arrived for the Men in Black franchise. For after enjoying two incredible and awe-inspiring adventures with Kay and Jay, the third film in their wacky adventures more or less started a downward trend for the saga and while that should not have been the case, since both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones returned for Men in Black 3, the end result is indeed a shaky one and it’s surprisingly easy to pinpoint what went wrong.

For starters, this is a movie that offers nothing new storytelling wise. In fact, it feels stagnant in many ways, thanks to the fact that once again, it recycles one big notion that the franchise loves to rely upon; saving the Earth from a grave alien threat. Granted, the adding of a revenge twist definitely helps keeps the nature of this threat interesting, as does the whole element of Kay’s life hanging in the balance, but the fact of the matter is, it’s the same old, same old from this franchise. There’s no growth to be found here, for either the characters or the story and sadly, the problems with this film don’t end with its slow and unengaging plot.

Because in reality, the biggest issue here, is the sheer fact that the magic present in the other two films, just isn’t present here. No longer do you stare in awe at the screen and enjoy incredible wonders, because you’ve seen everything here before, and by having the aliens become commonplace, you’re just watching another sci-fi flick, and that’s compounded further by the time travel twist since that’s something we’ve seen a jillion times before as well. And while the finale is pretty big in its own right, and there’s some heartwarming moments to be found, in the end, this motion picture just doesn’t feel special and that makes it forgettable in its own right.

Which really is a shame when all is said and done, because Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin and everyone else in this movie really do provide some meaningful and strong performances, but they are lost in a sea of the familiar and while this movie did great business at the box office, it’s obvious that it didn’t resonate with audiences. For the buzz and the joy, simply weren’t there and the fact that Sony didn’t properly announce a sequel until years later, speaks volumes to how this franchise lost its way and sadly, even a new chapter would not be enough to save this saga from the damage and the fallout that this motion picture brought about. 

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