“Men in Black 3” is the best film in the trilogy! Highly recommended!
© 2012 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Hemisphere – Culver Picture Partners I, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Men in Black 3
DURATION: 106 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Audio: English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English – Audio Description Track, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish
COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action Violence and Brief Suggestive Content)
RELEASE DATE: November 30, 2012
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by Etan Cohen
Based on the Malibu Comic by Lowel Cunningham
Produced by Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes
Executive Producer: G. Mac Brown, Steven Spielberg
Co-Producer: Joyce Cox
Associate Producer: Paul A. Levin
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography by Bill Pope
Edited by Don Zimmerman
Casting by Ellen Chenoweth
Production Design by Bo Welch
Art Direction by Kasra Farahani, Luke Freeborn, W. Steven Graham, Kevin Ishioka, Maya Shimoguchi, Chris Shriver
Set Decoration by Susan Bode
Costume Design by Mary E. Vogt
Starring:
Will Smith as Agent J
Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K
Josh Brolin as Young Agent K
Jemaine Clement as Boris the animal
Emma Thompson as Agent O
Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin
Mike Colter as Colonel
Nicole Scherzinger as Boris’s Girlfriend
Michael Chernus as Jeffrey Price
David Rsche as Agent X
Alice Eve as Young Agent O
Keone Youngas Mr. Wu
Bill Hader as Mr. Wu
In Men in Black 3, Agents J [Will Smith] and K [Tommy Lee Jones] are back… in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him – secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K [Josh Brolin] to save his partner, the agency and the future of humankind.
Back in 1997, filmmaker Barry Sonnefeld (“Get Shorty”, “Wild Wild West”, “Pushing Daisies”, “The Addams Family”) would directed the sci-fi film “Men in Black”.
Based on the comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics, the film which was budgeted at $90 million, would become a great success earning over $589 million.
The sequel “Men in Black II”, despite poor reviews from film critics, which was budgeted at $140 million, would go on to earn $441 million in the box office and become a commercial success.
And a decade later, Sonnefeld would return to direct the third film in the movie series and feature a screenplay written by Etan Cohen (“Tropic Thunder”, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”). And reprising their roles as Agent J (Will Smith, “Independence Day”, “I, robot”, “The Pursuit of Happyness”) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones, “No Country for Old Men”, “The Fugitive”).
The film would receive fantastic reviews from film critics and budgeted at $215 million, “Men in Black 3” would earn over $624 million in the box office.
And now “Men in Black 3” will be released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and on DVD.
“Men in Black 3” begins with a woman named Lily (portrayed by Nicole Scherzinger) is bringing a cake to the high security prison on the moon to her boyfriend, Boris the Animal (portrayed by Jemaine Clement). Boris is the last member of the Boglodite race and back in 1969, he was put in prison thanks to Agent K (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones) and lost his arm during the exchange.
As Lily delivers the cake, inside is an alien spider that is able to shoot out spikes and manages to kill the security guards inside the prison and using its blades to free Boris. While nearly every security officer in the prison is killed by Boris, he escapes the prison and heads to Earth.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Agent K has learned that Boris has escaped and is demeanor becomes too serious that his partner Agent J (portrayed by Will Smith) is feeling upset that his partner is not talking to him. K warns J that anything that relates to Boris, for him not to get involved.
Boris has now arrived to Earth and manages to secure a time traveling device. Missing his arm lost back in 1969, he plans to go back in time and killing Agent K but also allowing the Boglodite race invade the planet Earth.
But Agent J wants to know why his partner is so concerned and when the two go to a Chinese restaurant, they are attacked by several aliens and they get into a brief fight with Boris. Both nearly are killed after falling off a building but they were able to break their fall. Boris leaves agent K a message to not worry because he is already dead.
Unable to get answers from Agent K, K suspends his partner from taking part in anything related to Boris and reminds him once again to not go searching for answers.
But being the curious person that he is, Agent J heads back to the MIB headquarters and learns that something significant had happened back in 1969 that changed Agent K forever. He learns that after Agent K’s encounter with Boris, that K was responsible for creating the ArcNet which protected the Earth from the Boglodites and literally leading to the predatory alien race’s demise.
As he tries to access the files for more answers, despite his MIB level, the file is classified and Agent O, the new chief at MIB, tells him the same thing that Agent K told him and to not go searching for answers.
Upset that no one is explaining to him of what is happening, Agent J receives a call late one night from his partner. But K is still unable to give him any details and J hangs up on him.
We see Agent K dressed up, pulling out a weapon and then suddenly disappearing. Immediately Agent J starts feeling weird and wanting to drink a lot of chocolate milk.
When he goes to pick up his partner at his apartment, Agent K is not there but a woman and her family reside in the space. When he goes to MIB headquarters, no one knows who Agent K is and this begins to freak Agent J out. He goes to Agent O, the one person who knew Agent K very well, but Agent O explains that Agent K died 40-years ago after being killed by Boris the Animal.
Agent J explains to her that it’s not possible because he saw him the day before, but Agent O has a hard time believing him. That is until Agent J is able to bring out details that only O knows about. And Agent O realizes that there are two scenarios that could happen. J has been bitten by a bug or Boris has went back in time to kill Agent K. Immediately, the Planet Earth is attacked by the Boglodites, because without Agent K having activated the ArcNet, there is no protection in the planet.
Agent O tells J he must go back in time and try to save K before he is killed and also save the human race.
Immediately, Agent J goes to meet with the person responsible for sending Boris back in time and he is given a device that will send him back in time and back home and given special instructions. But to accomplish this, he must go high up to a high rise building and time jump. As the Boglodites are attacking Earth and try to get Agent J, J manages to go back in time to 1969 and his goal is to save Agent K, but also kill Boris before he gets to his first victim.
But can Agent J manage to defeat Boris and will he be able to save a younger Agent K (portrayed by Josh Brolin).
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Men in Black 3” is presented in 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and in English, French, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital with English – Audio Descriptive Track. For those wanting the best picture and audio quality, I highly recommend going for the Blu-ray release of “Men in Black 3”. Also, it’s important to note that there is also a Blu-ray 3D version of the film that will be available on release day.
As for the DVD, picture quality is good as expected on DVD. Many outdoor scenes are vibrant and colorful, skin tones are natural, black levels are very good. And for the most part, I was quite amazed of how things looked when it came to balancing the sci-fi visual effects and also the monster/alien beings. As for audio, good use of surround channels and LFE, but I would imagine with the lossless track on Blu-ray would sound much more immersive. Still, for a DVD release, “Men in Black 3” looks and sounds great on DVD!
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Men in Black 3” comes with the following special features:
- Partners in Time: The Making of MIB 3 – (26:24) Featuring interviews with the cast and crew about their experience working on “Men in Black 3”.
- Gag-Reel – (3:54) Bloopers from “Men in Black 3”.
- “Back in Time” Music Video – (3:34)
Note: The Blu-ray release of “Men in Black 3” has more special features than the DVD release.
EXTRAS:
“Men in Black 3” comes with an UltraViolet code which allows you to download the film to your computer and select Apple and Android devices and stream to computers, tablets or smartphones.
The best “Men in Black” film!
I have to admit that after “Men in Black 2”, which left me incredibly disappointed, I didn’t know if I wanted to watch this film. And even actor Will Smith had reservations of working with filmmaker Barry Sonnefeld again, but Sonnefeld was persistent that he had something special with the third film.
And while on paper, the whole time-travel storyline may seem too banal for audiences, the way it was handled and its big surprise at the end of the film, made me a believer and a fan of the “Men in Black” series once again.
“Men in Black 3” works, thanks to the ongoing chemistry of these unlikely partners, Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) but despite how dry Agent K is and quiet around his curious partner, the two have made a great duo in taking on these high level alien cases.
But when it comes to his private and personal life, it’s one thing that Agent K doesn’t want to get into. And being the curious partner, Agent J wants to know why his partner acts the way he does. And it peaks his interest even more when he meets a younger Agent K (Josh Brolin). The performance by Josh Brolin was fantastic! His performance made you feel like he is Agent K, but much looser and is able to communicate much more. And makes J wonder, what happened in 1969 that changed Agent K’s life forever?
And while the film is pretty much a cat and mouse game of trying to prevent Agent K’s death and trying to save the world, the visual effects were well-done, the balance of both sci-fi elements, the costume design and the vehicles found in order to make 1969 look believable and its storyline was effective and it helps to have veteran talent involved in the film and knowing how to deliver with their overall performance.
The film looks incredible and while I am reviewing the DVD edition, while the DVD looks very good and sounds very good, there is no doubt in my mind that a film like this would look even more incredible on Blu-ray and also sound much better via lossless. Also, the Blu-ray release has more special features than this DVD release as well. So, I really recommend going for the Blu-ray release of “Men in Black 3” or the 3D version if you have the hardware capable of watching films in 3D.
Overall, “Men in Black 3” was a surprise. Not only was it an awesome film but it literally made me forget how bad the second film was. “Men in Black 3” featured great performances, great visual effects, costume design and more of everything. But most importantly, it’s the story that captivates you. Especially with an ending that you never saw coming… I really enjoyed this film a lot!
“Men in Black 3” is the best film in the trilogy! Highly recommended!
