MIB III

[lynn]

Went to an advance screening of MIB III last night, and I'm glad I did. The first movie was good, and pretty new for its time, the second was ok... but they seem pretty childish now. For the first ten minutes I thought this was going to be the same (there are a couple of jarring notes in this bit), but then the plot kicked in. Based on the first two movies I probably wouldn't have bothered going to see this, but it was a real pleasure to watch without feeling discordant within the world they've created. Some of the joy of the first movie was watching the sass of Will Smith being put in this alien situation, and they've brought this back in this movie by sending him back in time. This is actually a quite modern, mature movie, while keeping the fun and humour of the original. They've scaled back on the big expensive cg things in favour of a character and plot-driven time-travel tale. Tommy Lee doesn't feature too much, but Josh Brolin as his youthful self does a fantastic job, so the buddy cop thing is still strong. They've got a delightful sidekick and a nicely creepy villain. But I was just really happy that they've toned it down from the escalation of cg route that could have gone down and made an adult move rather than another kids film. It's a good sci-fi story, in essence, well written and well acted, which I think is a clever move at a time when it would have had to compete with things like the Avengers, it's gone down a different route to carve a great little niche for itself.
Also I saw the trailer for Total Recall at the beginning, no sign of a three boobed prostitute but it did look interesting all the same.

[Gilberto]

Good to hear; I'll watch it.

As for Total Recall, the 3 breasted prostitute is a dealbreaker. Until I know for sure, I can't commit to watching that movie. It's a pretty simple demand, Hollywood.

[wilson]

I can't wait until we're all sick of Will Smith and his children and quit casting them. I know it's petty and silly...I don't care. I don't like him or the nepotism surrounding his kids.

Also, I too am awaiting news of the 3 boobs. I cannot commit to Total Recall until then.

[lynn]

I like Will Smith, he's looking a little old in this movie so I was glad he didn't have the epic footchase from the first movie in here again. But I agree about his kids. Something a little off about it. Most celebrities try their hardest to keep their kids out of the limelight for their own good. It was cute when the little dude was in that film clip, but now...

[lynn]

And here's another reason to watch MIB III Rick Baker's practical effects. I didn't notice it when I was watching the movie, probably I'm a bit young for it, but in this interview he says they did a lot of homage to retro aliens in the section when they go back in time. And I know how you guys love your practical effects over cg, that's something I've liked about the MIB series.

www.aintitcool.com/node/55981

[wilson]

I give Will Smith a nod for making Legend as interesting as it was. He and his acting skills (ahem) managed to keep me interested for the first 1/3 of the movie, without another person anywhere around. I do have to give him that. Unfortunately, silly CG monsters undid all of his efforts.

I don't like his consistent smugness/wink and nod to the camera. When I was 12, I bet I would have enjoyed him and the fact that he's always the same guy...much in the manner that I liked Stallone or Arnold. I'm not 12, though...at least not physically.

[lynn]

Hold up, I didn't mean to start a dissin' on Will Smith thread. The man has his merits, one of which is being very watchable. He's also good at delivering sassing dialogue, both of which make this film the enjoyable time it was for me. I'm reading that it's getting really poor reviews though. Maybe I enjoyed it more because I got to see it for free? And I went in with such low expectations.

[Gilberto]

I went to see this last night and I thought it was pretty good. I've never been a big fan of the MIB movies, but I thought this one was the best of them. It's a good story and Josh Brolin is great as young K. Will Smith is better in the movie than he seems in the commercials too.

I really liked the story aside from one major complaint (SPOILER ALERT)...

When K is killed in the past and prevented from deploying the arcnet, why didn't the blogon (or whatever)invasion happen right then? Why does it happen 40 years later, conveniently in J's present? This is something all the MIB movies do, which is to have a smaller story but introduce an element of unnecessary global disaster that has nothing to do with the story but gives the movie the illusion of scope. The story would have worked a lot better if J had gone back in time to help K and inadvertently prevented him from deploying the arcnet, thus forcing him to redeem this mistake and stop the invasion. With that one tweek all the other events of the movie could have happened exactly the same and made a lot more sense.

On a lesser note I also didn't think that the events of the story properly explained why K becomes a taciturn, emotionally shutdown zombie for the next 40 years. I'm sure in MIB he sees lots of people get killed all the time. I thought it would be a lot cooler if J got killed and witnessing that made K removed and emotionally withdrawn in future dealings with him. Knowing how his dad died would have helped J in dealing with his absence instead of treating it like some big weird dark secret.

But whatever. All things considered, I thought it was a pretty good movie. I certainly think if you enjoyed the other two movies you should enjoy this one.

[lynn]

I agree with those two points. I think the invasion came later because it took that time to get there from whatever world they were from. I thought the stuff in the past is my favourite bit, it was written by a different writer. But yes, I though J was going to get killed. And they didn't really explain why he didn't ever get it on with the ridiculously named O.
But plot holes aside I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[drivebyluna]

Yeah I also thought J was going to die. I understand why they didn't because it would leave out the possibility of more sequels but it would've made more sense to me.

[lynn]

Well I was thinking about it last night and because they killed off both of the incarnations of the baddie when they went to the past they should have started a new timeline where the young baddie never got sent to prison (that prison shouldn't exist since they said they built it for him) so he never broke out and never came to earth to go back in time so that J never has to go back in time in the future of that particular timeline... right? So he can survive in that timeline, and really he should have died and then we go back to the future and find that he's alive in that timeline because he sacrificed himself from a different timeline and really he wouldn't have a future to go back to because in his own timeline it's all already happened... or something....

[Gilberto]

Yeah, it's a total paradox. With the time travel aspect they could have done anything as far as J dying. For me it would have worked better for young K to think J had died when he really made it back. That way old K has spent their whole partnership being distant because he was dreading this inevitable outcome that turned out to be untrue. It would have been an interesting lesson in how we let what we think is inevitable feed our fears when we actually live in a world where anything is possible and nothing is necessarily inevitable. Plus you could have a dramatic "death" scene for J but leave him alive so you don't risk compromising the box office. That's the biggest reason they wouldn't do it. A sequel can undo anything, but a sad ending hurts the grosses.

[wilson]

The "sassing dialogue" is specifically why I don't like him. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[lynn]

Well don't watch the movie then, good lord. Brolin is good in it though, just sayin'.

[drivebyluna]

I agree. Loved Brolin in this.