Review: "Men in Black 3" takes the franchise to emotional new heights
www.jonathanlack.com
Film Rating: B+ I walked into “Men in Black 3” with a fair amount of trepidation. Following a ten-year gap since the disappointing sequel, I worried that director Barry Sonnenfeld and company would have trouble recapturing the magic of the 1997 original. That film was a genuine surprise, a blockbuster that delighted audiences with reckless creative abandon at every turn (not at all incomparable to contemporary reaction to “The Avengers”). It was funny, it was exciting, and thanks to the chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, it was even a little bit touching. Most importantly, it felt like something that had never been done before, and that, more than anything else, makes “Men in Black 3” a creative uphill battle. The things that made the original a breath of fresh air haven’t just been repeated within this franchise, but time and time again within blockbuster cinema of the 2000s. The idea of mixing big laughs and even bigger effects isn’t quite the novelty it was back in 1997, and science-fiction is no longer underserved at the multiplex. Could “Men in Black 3” possibly justify its existence so far past the series’ prime?
Review: "Men in Black 3" takes the franchise to emotional new heights
Review: "Men in Black 3" takes the franchise…
Review: "Men in Black 3" takes the franchise to emotional new heights
Film Rating: B+ I walked into “Men in Black 3” with a fair amount of trepidation. Following a ten-year gap since the disappointing sequel, I worried that director Barry Sonnenfeld and company would have trouble recapturing the magic of the 1997 original. That film was a genuine surprise, a blockbuster that delighted audiences with reckless creative abandon at every turn (not at all incomparable to contemporary reaction to “The Avengers”). It was funny, it was exciting, and thanks to the chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, it was even a little bit touching. Most importantly, it felt like something that had never been done before, and that, more than anything else, makes “Men in Black 3” a creative uphill battle. The things that made the original a breath of fresh air haven’t just been repeated within this franchise, but time and time again within blockbuster cinema of the 2000s. The idea of mixing big laughs and even bigger effects isn’t quite the novelty it was back in 1997, and science-fiction is no longer underserved at the multiplex. Could “Men in Black 3” possibly justify its existence so far past the series’ prime?