Alien criminal Boris the Animal has escaped his maximum security prison on the moon, intent on taking revenge on the man who imprisoned him and cost him his arm 43 years ago; Agent K of the Men in Black. He intends to do this through the means of time travel, and it falls upon the duty of Agent J, K's longtime partner, to travel back to 1969 himself and prevent history from being altered for the much, much worse.
I love the very first Men in Black. It's a perfect blend of action, comedy, and general sci-fi geekiness that rubs me just the right way. Okay, I admit that sounded a bit bizarre, but bare with me throughout these reviews today. I'm not quite sure what happened with the sequel though, as I thought it felt lazy, boring, and was just all around uninteresting, with nothing to offer except for a pug in a tuxedo and Lara Flynn Boyle in her underwear (admittedly, both not bad things, but when they're the ONLY good parts of your movie, you might have messed up). I was quite nervous when the news of a new MIB film being written, directed and filmed made the way to the internet and assorted movie news sites, as I'm sure most were.
Thankfully, this installment does everything right that the second film did wrong, and even brings things full circle in a way that I didn't think was possible. If you missed the great interactions between Agents J & K from the first film, you'll get your fill here with two equally great performances from Josh Brolin (the younger K) and Tommy Lee Jones (the older K). Brolin's impression of Jones isn't a complete impression, seeing as how this also may provide an insight as to how and why K acts so stoic and serious post-1969, but it is certainly one of the best things to take away at the end of the day. Will Smith looks like he's having a blast too, which I can't say was too surprising seeing as how the original film helped make him into the mega star he is today and he hasn't acted in anything for nearly 3 years prior to this film's release. The rest of the cast is pretty solid too, with Emma Thompson as new head chief Agent O being an absolutely wonderful addition to the franchise. Rip Torn's Zed is sadly deceased according to the film's opening 10 minutes, which I assume is due to Torn himself either turning down the role or not being well enough for filming. Sadly, there are a few other familiar faces that are absent from the film as well, like Jeebs the Alien and Frank the Pug (the latter's actor is deceased, so that may be understandable), but you'll quickly get over it. As for the main villain, I felt a bit conflicted. I like Jemaine Clement, but I thought Boris could have been funnier and been given a little bit of better dialogue. Casting Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls as his "girlfriend" also seemed to serve as more of an excuse to say "Hey! Look who we got to make out with this ugly guy!" That being said, the cameos that you do spot in here ARE pretty darn amusing.
The film's also got some very well done special effects (courtesy of the usually bad ass Rick Baker) and cinematography, though it gets a tad bit messy midway through it's running time. It's a minor complaint though, and it certainly isn't as headache-inducing as something like the Transformers films can be. The work done on Boris is pretty darn impressive too, considering it apparently took over 4 hours to apply Clement's makeup. He was damn near unrecognizable, save for his voice, which was eerily reminiscent of Tim Curry this time around. Danny Elfman's catchy and memorable score returns as well, albeit slightly tweaked, but still reminding you of the strange and fun universe that you're stuck in.
Overall, this sequel is about as much fun as you would hope it'd be, and will mercifully erase most of your bad memories caused by the second film. Seriously, that movie was just....weak. Men in Black 3 though, is anything but weak or bad in my mind. I had a fantastic time.
Unlike the NEXT film I have to review though....
In 1818, a young Abraham Lincoln witnesses his mother being attacked in the night by Jack Barts, the plantation owner who employs his father. When his mother dies from the attack days later, and his father confesses that Barts poisoned her, Abraham waits nine years to plot and exact his revenge, but is overpowered by the supernatural Barts, who is revealed to be a vampire. Thankfully, Lincoln is saved by a mysterious stranger named Henry Sturgess, who convinces the soon-to-be president to train in the art of hunting the foul beasts, and ridding the earth of them.
I'll just start off this review with one simple sentence:
If you heard of the concept for this, be it the film or the novel that it is based off of, and scoffed at it or scorned it, then I can not convince you to see it.
Me? Well...I really dug it.
Okay, so I lied above. But then again, so does the title character throughout a decent portion of the movie. Kind of goes against the whole "Honest Abe" part of history that so many know about doesn't it? That's the beauty of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter though, a film that knows it is completely absurd and completely historically inaccurate, but plays it with such a serious face and good nature that it was hard to dislike for this unabashed geek and lover of B-cinema.
Firstly, I must give praise to the action sequences, especially in the film's first half. This contained some of the very best fight scenes I've witnessed in an American film in quite some time, with the highlight undoubtably being a chase and battle sequence that is stuck in the middle of a stampede (horse lovers might cringe a bit though. Sorry mom). While I thought some of the camera work seemed disorienting at times, the sheer amount of good thought and creativity put into the fights themselves makes it all worthwhile. There is a good atmosphere set throughout the film too, with good use of lighting and fog.
The cast is all fairly solid, with Dominic Cooper (from last year's Captain America and The Devil's Double) and Benjamin Walker (Kinsey) being the highlights for me. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Mary Todd Lincoln, and does a respectable job, though part of me wonders if she knows she's just giving us nerds even more of an excuse to worship the ground she walks on. Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Jimmi Simpson (Liam McPoyle from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia!), and Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Dodgeball, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) also show up in the supporting cast and deliver rather fun performances. I'd say the weaker aspects of the film fall upon it's main villains though, who were more unremarkable than they were terrible. It's a shame too considering how much I liked Rufus Sewell in Dark City, but that film came out fourteen years ago. In addition to some rather vanilla villains, the film does lose a bit of luster after Lincoln is elected President, but it thankfully picks up steam after that particular lull in the script. Finally, there are some minor plot holes that the most "nitpicky" of folks will no doubt have a field day with, but may I remind you, you ARE paying money for/downloading a film called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
And that's just it, I knew what to expect. I will reiterate what I stated above: if you rolled your eyes at this film's existence, or said anything along the lines of "That looks fucking DUMB," you are not the target audience for this film. If you're not afraid to let your geek flag fly, or just kick back and have a good old fashioned cheesy time, you should be willing to dedicate some of your free time to this undead-hating Republican. As for Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, well, I might have to get back to you on that one.
Okay, in actuality, I don't think I'll ever get to you on that one. I despise the Asylum.
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