It’s been 15 years since the first movie, 10 years since the lacklustre sequel and 11 years since the end of its kick-ass cartoon series. Men In Black (MIB) is back this year with its third installation, but will youths who don’t have the nostalgia factor even care?

As the movie premise goes, the formidable duo Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) have been cleaning Earth’s streets from alien scum and protecting the human race from invasions, alien diseases and the like.

One of these casualties is Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement).  Freed from a fortified prison on the moon built especially for him after his arrest by K, his shame at being defeated coupled with the loss of his arm, have steadily fueled his hatred for K over the past 40 years. Taking a leaf from Shrek Forever After’s Rumpelstiltskin character or Dr Evil in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Boris returns to the past to kill K and ensure his Boglodite race will eradicate our planet. J, the only person who still remembers K, must retrace the Animal’s footsteps back to the 1960s to find and stop him.

But here’s the main problem with MIB3: the entire plot’s already revealed in the trailer. With the key milestones in the film being played out on the small screens, it literally leaves nothing to the audience’s imagination. That said, the plot has never been of much prominence throughout the Men In Black series, except to carry the film through.

To redeem itself, the trailer also does sell the movie on its most loved asset – the lesser-known but real star of the show,  Josh Brolin, 44, playing 29-year-old Agent K. MIB3 could have easily been touted as Will Smith in a Black Suit, but Agent K in his mid-30s stood his ground. Aside from the youthful looks and higher pitched voice, Brolin’s uncanny resemblance and impersonation of the somber senior agent makes your overpriced ticket stub worth the money. The embodiment of a younger Tommy Lee Jones, Brolin convinces you that he is the younger Agent K. Just close your eyes during the movie and listen to his striking and characteristically curt replies (J, “We are running out of time, we are running out of clues, and there is an invasion coming. So really, we need to go right now.” K, “Alright.”), a la Agent K.

With too much of a good thing, that is, Brolin in the picture, and the leap into the past, this sequel offers little screen time for and chemistry between the older K and J. Their only interaction with each other consists of timely criticisms from K involving “slick” and “son”, as well as J wringing himself dry for ghetto comebacks (J, “I’m gonna have no problem pimp slapping the shizznit out of Andy Warhol). As with the earlier Men In Black movies, the humour which comes with J’s distraction tactics (trash talking) against and the classic cliché where a man from the future struggles with old techonology brings dry laughs, but is nothing spectacular.

What pays off, though, is the recreation of the 1960s, with old-style carnivals brought to life and brightly coloured retro home décor, men stuffed in tailored suits accompanied by women with beehive hair. Agent J’s various encounters and obstacles (dealing with the oversized fish in a Chinese restaurant and protecting the Arcadian, Griffin) in MIB 3 are a pleasure to watch, and makes up for the less than spectacular alien fights and cheap laughs (J, “I call guys ‘K’ and girls ‘O’ so when I see couples around, I go ‘okay’.”) in Men In Black 2, while spotting celebrities who are literally not from “Earth” such as mother monster herself, Lady Gaga, makes for great fun. This is also the first time the talking pug, Frank, is absent in the movie series.

It is said that with every Hollywood sequel, the movie loses its value. No surprises here. You’d expect more from director Barry Sonnenfeld’s return to the camera and Will Smith’s blockbuster comeback after his hiatus from 2008’s Hancock. To be fair, Smith sounds like he’s at the top of his game and looks comfortable being back in the “only suit you’ll ever wear”, oozing charm and dominating the screen time. Kudos to Smith for bringing back the familiar cocky, young gun J we know and love.

Movie: Men In Black 3

Rating: 2/5
Opens: May 24
Duration: 106 mins
Language: English
Age Rating: PG13
Genre: Action

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin