Men in Black III

It has seriously been fifteen years since the first Men in Black film was released, and ten years since the second one.

Seriously?

Seriously.

I watched the third instalment yesterday, and I have to say I loved it, even to the point that it's my favourite of the three. I'm always happy to see a comedy film which doesn't rely on gross-out humour or slapstick, and which is backed up by a good plot. The story had a few holes here and there, but they were easy to forgive in light of how entertaining the whole thing was, start to finish.

Naturally, the story was helped along by the excellent characters. There was a notable lack of plot-induced stupidity in the lead characters - none of them inspired moments where I thought to myself, "No, you idiot, you should obviously...!" (The minor characters were a different story - but then again, without their mistakes, there would be no plot.) Intelligent characters catch on very quickly, as they should, and authority figures don't unnecessarily get in the way of the heroes beyond the demands of their duty. The cast was believable, aliens and all.

Will Smith played an older, more experienced but still smart-mouthed Agent J to perfection. Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as the stoic Agent K - there are a couple of brilliant scenes where J despairs over K's apparent lack of emotion, even as Jones is able to convey that K is indeed affected. Together, it is easy to believe that the two agents had been partners for fourteen years - J's ribbing of K's faults is good-natured, they cover each other during battle almost seamlessly, and their determination to keep each other safe is heartwarming.

I should mention that Josh Brolin is utterly, utterly brilliant as the younger Agent K. His performance is spot-on. The bad guy, Boris, was also great. He reached a level of sheer repulsiveness which even the villain from the first film didn't achieve. (Incidentally, Boris is played by Jermaine Clement, from Flight of the Conchords. I didn't even recognise him!)

The film kept many of the staples of the series - sly jokes about disguised aliens, shiny technology, good old-fashioned detective work, pie - and built a clever story which forces you to rethink what you may have assumed earlier in the film. It was by turns exciting, suspenseful, intelligent, funny and yet full of heart. I'll be getting this one on DVD.