The Men in Black are back

As you read often here on TG, everyone loves to be an armchair quarterback when it comes to genre movies. 



Yes, many predicted doom for John Carter and Battleship, and in both cases, the dire warnings came came true.





There’s also been a lot of rumors and reports of trouble on the third Men In Black movie, which opens May 25, along with a lot of people wondering if the franchise could come back considering the last one hit theaters ten years ago, and Will Smith hasn’t starred in a movie in several years.

 

So the first reviews are in, and apparently the franchise is back in a big way. Both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter liked it, and judging by the comments from readers here on TG, there should also be a decent audience waiting for the third Men in Black this Friday as well.

 
Variety writes that that MiB 3 “survives with the original’s spirit largely intact,” and added, “Perhaps the best that can be said for the years-in-the works Men in Black 3 is that its prolonged, difficult development rarely leaves visible scars on the finished product.”

Yes, the film “does betray a few saggy, sloppy edges, and reigniting interest in the property may be a difficult task, but overseas B.O. and franchise newcomer Josh Brolin’s quietly hilarious performance should give it a decent shot.”

 
The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “A decade after Part Two, the MiB franchise recovers the original’s magic,” and if this is indeed the case, it should go a long way to bringing fans of the original and newcomers to theaters this weekend.

“Finding smart ways to bring novelty to the franchise without forsaking what made the original so much fun (and in fact doubling down on some of those qualities), [the] third Men in Black easily erases the second installment’s vague but unpleasant memory, and paves the way for future installments. It’s hard to imagine it won’t be a hit, and hard to begrudge that success, no matter how saturated we are with comic-book properties and sequels.”