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Friday, November 23, 2012

'Men in Black (Alias Smith and Jones) III;" A Sequel that Hits a Trifecta

"Men in Black III" (MIB III), which is being released on November 30, 2012, has everything that one could dream for in a sequel; the primary behind-the-scenes and on-screen talent returned, we learned more about the main characters, and the effects were amped up. It is also one of the few TV shows or movies on DVD that I plan to watch again soon.
 
It is worthy noting as well that Blu-ray seemed made for the bright colors and other sharp images that director Barry Sonnenfeld, who also did an awesome job bringing "The Addams Family" to the big screen, created.

In addition to providing a star vehicle for Will Smith, the premise behind the MIB series is that a ultra-top-secret government agency monitors and controls aliens from all corners of the universe who secretly live among us. Each film in the franchise has hip young sassy Fresh Prince of New York Agent J, played by Smith, and older much more stoic Agent K, played by Tommy Lee Jones, take on a particularly onerous threat from a visitor from another planet.

The tagline for "MIB III" could well have been "This Time It's Personal." Boris the Animal, whose race conquers worlds more brutally than any Borg, Dalek, or Ori, breaks out of prison in the opening sequence with the goal of traveling back to 1969 to kill Agent K before K can foil Boris' plot to conquer earth. 

Saying more about this scheme would ruin great surprises for those who have not seen the film or for others like me who forgot a significant amount about it in the past six months.

J learning of the plot prompts him to travel back to 1969 to put right what once went wrong. Rather than teaming up with a tackily dressed horn dog hologram, J joins forces with the Agent K of 1969. The enormous praise that Josh Brolin received for his portrayal of that character is well deserved.

As stated above, the sequel delivers new and larger effects than the prior very good films. The prison break sequence gets things off to an excellent start that continues through use of jet packs and the closing sequence that had was very well done and had enough Saturday morning kids' show elements to prompt thoughts of "I said lunch, not launch."

The visualization alone makes getting this one on Blu-ray a no-brainer. Our friends at Sony make this easier by augmenting the gag reel and 'making of ' features with other exceptional extras that include a comparison between the MIB of the '60s and today and a really fun Spot the Alien game; I did respectably but not well enough to have K recruit me.

Sony also went beyond include a code for an UltraViolet copy to provide access to the brand-new cool MovieTouch app that allows transferring the film to an iPad. I only have an iPod Touch, but this makes me want to get an iPad.

Anyone with questions or thoughts regarding any MIB film is welcome to email me.




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