MOVIE OF THE WEEK (5/25/12): MEN IN BLACK 3

"We're waiting on the third star of this scene to show up ... Who's this guy in the green jacket?!" Agent K (Josh Brolin, playing the younger version of the character also portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones), Griff (Michael Sthulbarg, center) and Agent J (Will Smith) look towards the sky in a scene from director Barry Sonnenfeld's alien-inducted family comedy MEN IN BLACK 3. Credit: Wilson Webb © 2011 Screen Columbia Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Emma Thompson, Michael Stuhlbar, Jermaine Clement, Michael Chernus, Alice Eve ... And about 5 minutes of Nicole Scherzinger

WRITER(S): Ethan Cohen (screenplay); Lowell Cunningham (comic on which the film is based) 

DIRECTOR: Barry Sonnenfeld 

WEB SITE: http://www.meninblack.com/ 

THE PLOT: Not picking up where the last film left off, Men in Black 3 instead begins on the moon where the Lunar Max prison houses the biggest, baddest aliens throughout the galaxy. That's where Bruno (Jermaine Clement), "The Animal," has been living for the last 40 years and needless to say, he's not happy about it. That's why when Bruno escapes, he has one thing and one thing only on his mind: Taking out the man responsible for his incarceration and the reason his left arm is missing – Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones).

But he doesn't plan on killing K now ... Instead, he plans paying a visit to a man in New York City who can help him go back to 1969 and stop him from ever going to jail by killing K at Cape Canaveral where it all went down.

Fast forward a bit and Agent J (Will Smith) wakes up to discover no one has seen his partner in years ... 40 years, to be exact. That prompts him to take matters into his own hands and find the same man (Michael Chernus) who helped Boris go back in time and stop him before he can take out K.

Then Agent J arrives and does the one thing he's not supposed to do: Run into the younger version of his partner (Josh Brolin), then just 29. After a rocky start, J convinces the younger K that they have to stop Boris ... Who, further complicating matters, also has the younger version of himself running around. 

So the question remains – Can Agents J and K work together, defeat Boris and save the world? Only time will truly tell ...

THE TAKE: Remember what made the first two MIB movies fun? It was the chemistry between Jones and Smith, taking every single angle of the buddy cop movie and making them feel fresh, delivering good jokes and generally being likable guys.

Well, MIB3 has the exact same thing, except this time it's Brolin taking the majority of the camera time ... And the chemistry he shares with Smith is just as good if not better.  

Owning a resume most actors would kill for, Smith is fairly smart when it comes to picking his projects. Likewise, he knows when to lead a movie and when to defer to another actor just as well as he knows how to be the suave, in control star he usually is in just about every role. But Smith isn't the actor you'll likely be talking about the most as Brolin does a great job so that his portrayal of Agent K isn't just an imitation, but instead becomes his own. 

The film's lesser known stars aren't to be outdone, however. While Thompson really isn't given too much to do – save for one very funny scene I would love to known how many takes it took her to get through without busting out laughing given its ridiculous nature – Clement does a solid job as Boris. A villain with a cartoonish nature but deadly serious about his self-appointed task, Boris is everything the film needs him to be. Likewise, the relatively unknown Michael Sthulbarg (Boardwalk Empire) does a great job as the film's subtle heart Griffin a.k.a. Griff, providing the childlike yet sincere sensibility that ties everything together in regards to Agent K and Agent Js relationship. Throw in some well done, creative alien special effects and you get a film that, while it likely won't hit Avengers level fandom (or box office receipts), is a solid film longstanding fans of the series will enjoy just as much as new ones.

PARTING SHOT: A rare sequel that helps move its characters' forward – by going back in time nonetheless – Men in Black 3 is a near four star film ... Or in this case, nearly four buckets of popcorn.

RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):