MIB's slam-bang thrills (From Southend Standard)

MIB's slam-bang thrills

6:50pm Thursday 24th May 2012 in Features

Third time’s a charm for the sharp-suited Men In Black, who rediscover their swagger ten years after the lacklustre second instalment.

Set largely in July 1969, this is is a hare-brained, time-travelling caper which ties up loose threads, suggesting this could be the end of the Smith and Jones double-act.

It would be an entertaining swansong for a franchise, which burst on to the big screen in 1997 and became one of the year’s biggest hits behind Titanic and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Working in 3D for the first time, director Barry Sonnenfeld imbues each breathlessly orchestrated scene with impish humour, from a protracted kiss that churns stomachs to a slime-slathered skirmish with a giant fish.

The film opens in the Lunar Max prison where a Boglodite assassin called Boris The Animal engineers a daring escape with help from his sexy girlfriend. The supervillain plans to travel back in time and kill the man who put him behind bars – Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones).

Having ascertained the past has been altered, Agent J (Will Smith) also travels back to 1969, where he meets the young Agent K (Josh Brolin).

The film largely ignores race issues of the era to concentrate on slam-bang thrills, which is a shame but it would have bloated the running time, which already feels long at 105 minutes.