Men in Black 3

''Men in Black 3'' (stylized as ''MIB³'') is a 2012 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin. It is the third installment in the ''Men in Black'' film series and the final film in the original trilogy which is loosely based on the comic book series '' The Men in Black'' by Lowell Cunningham. It was released fifteen years after the original ''Men in Black'' (1997) and ten years after the first sequel, ''Men in Black II'' (2002). Sonnenfeld and Steven Spielberg returned as director and executive producer, respectively. In the film, Boris the Animal, an old enemy of Agent K, escapes from prison and travels back in time to kill the younger K in order to allow his species, a ruthless alien race known as Boglodites, to attack Earth. This forces Agent J to go back in time and team up with K's younger self to save his partner and the world. With a budget of over US $215 million, it is not only one of the most expensive films ever made but also the most expensive comedy film made as of 2012.

''Men in Black 3'' was released on May 25, 2012 by Columbia Pictures and grossed over $624 million worldwide, making it the 10th highest-grossing film of 2012. Unadjusted for inflation, it is the highest-grossing film in the series. The film also received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised it as an improvement over its predecessor. A standalone sequel in the series, '' Men in Black: International'', was released on June 14, 2019.

Plot

In 2012, alien criminal Boris the Animal, the last Boglodite, escapes from a maximum-security prison on the Moon to take revenge on Agent K, who shot off his left arm and captured him in 1969. He confronts K and his partner Agent J, telling the former he is "already dead". K attempts to prevent J from pursuing Boris and refuses to give any exact details about the events of his arrest. Back at MiB Headquarters, J discovers K was responsible not only for capturing Boris but for deploying the "ArcNet", a shield that prevented the Boglodites from conquering Earth, leading to their extinction.

Boris travels back in time to July 16, 1969 to kill the young Agent K, altering history. With only J's memory somehow unaffected, no one else at the Agency understands his inquiries and knowledge regarding K until Agent O, the new Chief of MIB following Zed's death, eventually pieces together J's erratic actions as signs of a fracture in the space-time continuum. With K gone, the ArcNet was never deployed, and present-day Earth is defenseless from a Boglodite invasion.

Knowing from the Agency's records Boris will commit murder at Coney Island on July 15, 1969, J time travels to said date to kill Young Boris. However, he is arrested by young K, who takes him to MiB Headquarters and prepares to neuralyze him, but decides at the last minute to investigate his claims that he traveled from the future to stop Boris. They follow clues, leading them to a bowling alley, and then The Factory, where undercover MiB agent Andy Warhol directs them to Griffin, the last Archanan after the Boglodites destroyed his planet.

Griffin, who can see all possible future timelines and outcomes, senses Boris' coming attack on The Factory, but tells J and K where to meet him so he can give them the ArcNet before he flees. They meet Griffin at Shea Stadium, after which he is captured by Boris. J and K pursue and rescue Griffin, acquiring the ArcNet. Young Boris escapes and Old Boris arrives on the early morning of July 16 and they team up.

After K initially badly takes the news of what Old Boris will do to him, he, J, and Griffin use jetpacks to fly to Cape Canaveral to attach the ArcNet onto the Apollo 11 rocket to deploy it in space, but end up getting arrested by the military. Griffin shows a skeptical colonel the future, revealing to him the importance of their mission, and he assists them in getting to the launch site.

As the agents climb up the rocket's launch tower, they are attacked by both Borises. J uses his time-travel device to evade Old Boris' attacks and knocks him off the launch tower. K shoots off Young Boris' left arm, knocking him off of the tower while also restoring the timeline. K attaches the ArcNet to the rocket and it is deployed successfully when the rocket launches, with Old Boris incinerated by the rocket exhaust.

Young Boris attacks K on the beach leading to the launch site, but the colonel saves K by sacrificing himself. Boris tries to goad K into arresting him so history will repeat itself, but K kills him instead, breaking the cycle. The colonel's young son James arrives and when he inquires about his father, K neuralyzes him and tells him only that his father is a hero. Observing from afar, J realizes that ''he'' is James and that K has been watching over him his whole life, and that J being there was why the space-time fracture did not alter his memory.

With his mission complete, J returns to 2012, where he reconciles with K, who tells him the Boglodites have been extinct for forty years while J implies his new knowledge of the secret K has been hiding to protect him and thanks him. The un-aged Griffin observes this, and breaking the fourth wall, says it is his new favorite moment in human history.

Cast

* Will Smith as James Darrell Edwards III / Agent J: An MIB agent and longtime friend and partner of K.
** Cayen Martin portrays J as a child in 1969.
* Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin as Kevin Brown / Agent K: A veteran MIB agent and J's longtime partner. Jones portrays K in the present and Brolin portrays K in 1969.
* Jemaine Clement as Boris the Animal: A ruthless alien with a vendetta against K. Hates being called "the animal" and insists "it's just Boris."
* Emma Thompson and Alice Eve as Agent O: The head of MIB, succeeding Zed. Thompson portrays O in the present and Eve portrays O in 1969.
* Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin: An alien with clairvoyant abilities.
* Mike Colter as James Darrell Edwards Jr: A military colonel and J's father.
* Nicole Scherzinger as Lilly Poison: Boris' girlfriend.
* Michael Chernus as Jeffrey Price: An electronics store clerk in possession of time travel technology.
* David Rasche as Agent X: The head of MIB in 1969.
* Keone Young as Mr. Wu: An alien who owns a Chinese restaurant.
* Bill Hader as Andy Warhol / Agent W: An artist who is secretly an MIB agent.
* Lenny Venito as Bowling Ball Head: An unnamed alien with a detachable head who works at a bowling alley.
* David Pittu as Roman the Fabulist: An alien posing as a fortune teller.
* Lanny Flaherty as Obadiah Price: The inventor of the time travel technology and Jeffrey's father.

Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Yao Ming, and Tim Burton make uncredited cameo appearances as aliens on the TV monitors. Will Arnett plays Agent J's new partner Agent AA in an uncredited role. Make-up artist Rick Baker has a cameo as the Brain Alien. Chloe Sonnenfeld, the daughter of director Barry Sonnenfeld, plays the flower child who encounters Boris at the carnival.

Production

The film's premise was first proposed to director Barry Sonnenfeld by Will Smith during the filming of ''Men in Black II'' in 2002, with Smith suggesting that his character, Agent J, travel back in time to save his partner, Agent K, while at the same time exploring Agent K's backstory. Sonnenfeld said the idea "turned out to be a very long process of development, mainly because of the knotting issues of time travel." It was reported that Smith and executives were leery about bringing back Sonnenfeld because of conflicts on the set of ''Men in Black II''. In a lawsuit filed against his former agents over commissions, Sonnenfeld alleged that Sony considered other directors for ''Men in Black 3''. Sonnenfeld ultimately convinced all involved that he had a strong vision for the film.

The film was first announced on April 1, 2009, by Sony Pictures Entertainment president Rory Bruer during a Sony ShoWest presentation. By October 2009, Etan Cohen had been hired to write the screenplay. Sonnenfeld read the script and started working on it in January 2010. As of March 2010, Will Smith remained undecided whether to join the film or another, ''The City That Sailed''. Sonnenfeld in May 2010 confirmed the return of Tommy Lee Jones and Smith. Both had expressed interest in 2008 in reprising their roles. The filmmakers also included Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald as producers, with Steven Spielberg as executive producer; all were producers of the two previous films.

In June 2010, writer David Koepp was hired to rewrite the Cohen script. A third writer, Jeff Nathanson, was hired in November 2010 to rewrite the segment of the script that takes place in 1969. Nathanson and Koepp, along with producer Spielberg, had previously worked together on the 2008 film ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', which Spielberg directed.

Special effects artist Rick Baker created the practical aliens and prosthetic makeup for the film, reprising his role from the previous two ''Men in Black'' films. In designing the look for the alien creatures, Baker used the time travel plot device as a reason to design "retro" looking aliens reminiscent of science fiction B movies of the era, saying, "In 2012 the aliens should look like ''Men in Black'' aliens and in 1969 they should be retro aliens. Fishbowl space helmets, guys with space suits with ribbed things on it, exposed brains, ndbug eyes."

Principal photography began on November 16, 2010, even though, "We knew starting the movie that we didn't have a finished second or third act," director Sonnenfeld said in 2012. "Was it responsible? The answer is, if this movie does as well as I think it will, it was genius. If it's a total failure, then it was a really stupid idea." Filming was originally slated to commence on October 18, 2010, and continue until May 2011, in New York City, with shooting starting in 2010 partly in order to take advantage of a New York tax break in which the state rebates 30 percent of production costs incurred there. Filming was ultimately split into two parts, the first taking place from November until about Christmas 2010; the filmmakers announced shooting would begin again in mid-February, but it was delayed until April. Sonnenfeld initially stated he would be shooting in 3D, but later decided to film in 2D and convert to 3D during post-production.

Set photos for the film appeared online on November 17, 2010, showing Smith, Jones, Emma Thompson, and Nicole Scherzinger. Filming was done in April 2011 in the Morris Park section of The Bronx. Parts of Coney Island, in Brooklyn, had parking and filming permits posted for April 24 and May 2–4, 2011, production dates for what the permits titled ''MIB³''. Shooting also took place in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, and was scheduled to wrap in June.

For the film, the Ford Taurus SHO was selected as the MIB's official car, replacing the Ford LTD Crown Victoria and Mercedes-Benz E-Class from the first two films. For the 1969 scenes, a 1964 Ford Galaxie was used as the MIB's official car.

This is the first time Frank the Pug was absent in a ''Men in Black'' movie, as well as Chief Zed, Jack Jeebs, and actor David Cross. Instead Zed is written in the story as having died and been immortalized at MIB Headquarters, and a portrait of Frank can be seen in J's apartment. An advertisement for 'The Incredible Speaking Pug' can be seen as Agent J enters Coney Island during his time in 1969.

Release

Video game

Activision released '' MIB: Alien Crisis'' on May 22, 2012, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, featuring a never-before-seen MIB agent rather than Agent J or Agent K. Gameloft also developed a mobile phone video game based on the film, released on May 17, 2012, for iOS and Android.

Theatrical

Under distribution by Sony's Columbia Pictures division, the film was theatrically released on May 25, 2012.

Home media

The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on November 30, 2012, and additionally as part of a ''Men in Black'' trilogy box set on Blu-ray. The trilogy was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on December 5, 2017.

Music

The soundtrack for the film was composed by Danny Elfman and was released on May 29, 2012, four days after the film.

The song " Back in Time" by rapper Pitbull, which was not included on the film's soundtrack album but accompanies the end credits of the film, was released as a single on March 26, 2012. It is the first lead single released to accompany a ''Men in Black'' film not to be performed by Will Smith.

There were also many songs from the 1960s that feature, including; "2000 Light Years From Home" by The Rolling Stones; " I'm Waiting For The Man" by The Velvet Underground; " Strange Brew" by Cream; and "Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo.

Reception

Box office

''MIB 3'' grossed $179 million in the US and Canada, and $445 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $624 million. It had a worldwide opening weekend of $189.9 million, and had the biggest worldwide IMAX Memorial-Day weekend ($12.7 million from 474 theaters), surpassing the previous year's record of '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides''.

In North America, ''MIB 3'' earned $1.55 million during its midnight run from 2,233 locations. On its opening day, the film debuted at the top of the box office, grossing $17.7 million (including midnight grosses). This was slightly lower than the opening days of its predecessors. During its three-day opening weekend, it topped the box office with $54.6 million, which was higher than the opening weekends of the two previous films. The movie then earned an additional $14.7 million on Memorial Day, bringing its four-day weekend total to $69.3 million. The opening weekend audience was 54 percent male and 56 percent over the age of 25. The film received a B+ at CinemaScore. It remained in first place at the North American box office for one week.

Outside North America, ''MIB 3'' is the highest-grossing film of the ''Men In Black'' franchise and the tenth highest-grossing 2012 film. It made $135.3 million on its opening weekend from 85 territories. Its highest-grossing openings were recorded in China ($21.7 million), and Russia and the CIS ($16.9 million). It was in first place at the box office outside North America for two consecutive weekends.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 251 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It isn't exactly a persuasive argument for the continuation of the franchisebut ''Men in Black III'' is better than its predecessor and manages to exceed expectations." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by the first two films.

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, in particular praising Brolin's role as the young Agent K, which he cited as an excellent example of good casting. Ebert also praised the "ingenious plot, bizarre monsters, audacious cliff-hanging" and the "virtuoso final sequence." Richard Roeper gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars while saying, "It's that rare threequel that doesn't suck. Great special effects, surprising amount of heart." A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'' also gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and commented, "''Men in Black 3'' arrives in the multiplexes of the world with no particular agenda. Which may be part of the reason that it turns out to be so much fun." Lisa Schwarzbaum of ''Entertainment Weekly'' noted, "Sonnenfeld and Cohen move their baby along with an integrity and gait that ought to serve as a blueprint for other filmmakers faced with the particular challenges of reviving big-ticket and time-dated hunks of pop culture." Rafer Guzman of ''Newsday'' wrote, "the franchise is no longer the zenith of blockbusterism, and the gooey effects from Hollywood veteran Rick Baker look overly familiar, but ''Men in Black 3'' remains an amiable comedy with some fondly familiar faces."

Director Paul Thomas Anderson praised the film, saying, "It was xpletivegreat. ... The time-travel stuff ade mecry my eyes out. I'm a sucker for that stuff."

Rene Rodriguez of ''The Miami Herald

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