A Performance to Remember

This week I will be mostly disagreeing with the general reviews for "Men in Black III"....
I LOVED IT!

I'm going to be honest and confess that I didn't read any reviews for the aforementioned in detail, however, the general idea which I gather is that most label it a mediocre or poor sequel. MIB I was a masterpiece of cinema, I think we can all agree. MIB II I didn't even bother to watch because I heard it was just bad and the advert held no appeal for me whatsoever. But MIB III, well, what can I say, the advert just called to me!

One thing I believe all reviewers and myself can agree upon is that Josh Brolin achieves the mother of all impersonations in this installment as the young K (Tommy Lee Jones) of 40 years prior to the present day. When I saw the trailer and heard Brolin utter those six uncanny words - "How do you know my name?" - with such perfect intonation, accent and manipulation of features that one could almost believe TLJ was just having a really good skin day, I knew I had to see this film. The whole idea of agent J (Will Smith) having to go back in time and chum up to a young K was enough to get my attention and luckily for the film makers they found the perfect actor to encapsulate a young agent K. They were so lucky to find such a brilliant mimic in such a well-respected actor, I almost wonder whether Brolin didn't first go up to them and go "Look what I can do!", causing the concept to spring into their minds.

J and K (or J-K as I'm sure we all like to affectionately label them) were a great pairing from film one. You have two brilliant actors: Will Smith from the early days of his Hollywood career doing what Will Smith has always done best, a jovial, lovable, sarcastic rogue who's got a sassy quip for everyone he meets; and Tommy Lee Jones, a legend and the perfect man to play the stoic, unreadable, passive-to-the-point-it's-frustrating man of few words. Both characters are incredibly likable, the first film was very funny and you have the great pleasure of watching men shoot at weird-looking aliens with their ridiculous, ginormous guns!

The MIB films should be sweet and heart-warming and I believe MIB III maintains this essence from MIB I. It's all about backstory, naturally considering the concept: Why is K so serious and uncommunicative? This question is at the heart of the film as we compare the K we know and love with Brolin's young, jolly K, full of life and happy to shoot the breeze. I warmed to him immediately, as I think any audience member would. His developing relationship with J as J gets to know his partner's younger self is very moving as far as I'm concerned. As always, Smith produces a stellar performance. I literally don't think he's ever fallen short of a good performance. No matter what people may think of some of his films, he can never be criticised for his acting, especially his comic skills. I've already sung Brolin's praises and, to add to this, I found Jemaine Clement to be a pretty great baddy!

Jemaine (from "Flight of the Conchords" of course) is an evil Bogladite assassin called Boris the Animal, locked up in a prison on the moon these past 40 years, but freed by Nicole Scherzinger (yep) and now on the run with a taste for blood! 40 years ago agent K took his arm and put him away and Boris wants revenge. With horrible creatures crawling out of him, gross wrinkly eyes and giant clawed feet, Jemaine, already a large, bear-like human, makes for a relatively fearful villain, but I believe that MIB tends to aim for a bad guy that will make us laugh and who better to chose than one of New Zealand's greatest comic double act?!

I really enjoyed this third installment from MIB. I believe Brolin's performance was a stroke of genius and if the film goes down in history as a dud or not at all, his performance will be remembered and praised for years to come, be it in Empire and Total Film in lists of top characters or one of those Channel 4 list programmes where actors talk about films.