First Hit: Excellent third installment of a 15 year old franchise. This film starts a little slow with conversations between Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) which seemed to be on purpose, or is it Jones getting older?
This is the question I had in mind while I watched the beginning one way dialogue. Although there is some intrigue with Agent O (Emma Thompson) and K, it never really realizes itself and then when O speaks a lengthy squeaky alien language segment, it ruins her presence as an austere and intelligent agent.
I started to think that MB III wasn’t going to be interesting, that it was going to be worse than MB II, but then J jumps into the past and Bingo!!! - the whole film takes on a new and exciting story line.
The venue is a memorable time in my life – 1969. It focuses around our first moon launch, I was in Vietnam when we sent a rocket to, and landed on, the moon. What boosts the excitement for the film is the repartee between a young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and J. There is the back and forth that J doesn't have from old K, and this becomes the running joke.
J has gone back in time to kill Boris The Animal (played by Jemaine Clement). In current time Boris has escaped the high security moon prison and is bent on destroying earth and he is also really angry at K for shooting off his arm back in 1969. Boris also decides to go back in time to help his earlier self and get his arm back. J's mission is to change Earth's future by fixing the past.
What makes this film fulfill the audience's emotional aspect is the ending. J sees why he and K are connected. The item to note is that Brolin was dead on great at channeling the energy and clarity of Jones as a young K. By the end of the film, everyone was in full gear and it was definitely a joy to watch.
The 3D is excellent as it is used to enhance the film.
Smith is great and the maturity he’s gained as a person over the last 15 years shows up with more subtle and deeper characterization of his role. Jones has a more minor role here but as the well-grounded senior agent he is very good as the film ends. Thompson is OK and I’m not sure why the scriptwriter and director minimized her involvement. Brolin was the star in that he had to channel a young K but with a challenge to give us the reason why the older K acts the way he acts in the future. Clement was strong as the enemy. Lowell Cunningham wrote a wonderfully full script. Barry Sonnenfeld directed this film with clarity and focus to create a really enjoyable adventure.
Overall: Sequels are hard because they can never match the freshness of the original but here you have a really good and worthwhile film.