Men in Black III
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: May 25, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
14
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMay 23, 2012
MIB3 is one giant leap for mankind because Josh Brolin shows up to play the younger Agent K. And he just nails the feat, triumphantly creating a riff on/homage to the Tommy Lee Jones-ness of K that goes much deeper (and funnier) than a simple imitation of drawl and speech patterns. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 24, 2012
It manages, in the end, to be touching as well as hectic and whimsical, and to send a few interesting thematic bubbles into the air, having to do with lost fathers, obscure regrets and racial reconciliation. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 22, 2012
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), Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black 3 easily erases the second installment's vague but unpleasant memory and -- though we might hope producers will quit while they're ahead -- paves the way for future installments. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 22, 2012
You do sense, though, that the people behind MIB3 (mainly veteran producer Walter F. Parkes and script doctor David Koepp) were smart enough to let the audience grow up a bit, enough to get the Andy Warhol jokes and one brilliantly weird creation, a delicate alien who can see every outcome at once. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 25, 2012
The aliens are as gloppy and gross as ever. I especially liked the joke about Andy Warhol being an alien – except didn't we know that already? Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 24, 2012
While this third go-round may not seem necessary amid summer's blockbusters, it's an entertaining jaunt back in time with the likably mismatched duo. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliMay 24, 2012
If you're looking for cinema verite, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a fun, fizzy sequel in a franchise left for dead 10 years ago, have at it. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMay 24, 2012
So did the world need another "Men in Black"? No, not at all. But if there had to be one, then it's certainly a relief that it should be one as agreeable as this. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMay 24, 2012
Delight, a modest yet palpable measure of the stuff, is restored. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinMay 23, 2012
The film is largely redeemed by an unexpected emotional resonance befitting a Steven Spielberg production. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 23, 2012
Although I liked the first "MiB" movie, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this belated sequel. But I had fun. It has an ingenious plot, bizarre monsters, audacious cliff-hanging, and you know what? A closing scene that adds a new and sort of touching dimension to the characters of J and K. Read full review
70
NPRScott TobiasMay 29, 2012
Sonnenfeld's best movies function like elaborate Rube Goldberg contraptions, with visual gags popping out on a precise calibration of gears and springs, and Cohen's script, however derivative, is a stable apparatus. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 24, 2012
Good trippy fun. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerMay 22, 2012
It's clear the filmmakers aren't simply expecting to coast on audience goodwill...Men in Black 3 is at its best when it simply owns its own absurdity. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMay 24, 2012
It's a brisk but restful breeze blowing through our heads, requiring no thought whatsoever – in fact, thoughts are an impediment to enjoying it – and touching us just a bit in unexpected ways. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 24, 2012
The effects are cheese-whizzy fun, but it's the unexpected spark between Smith and Brolin that makes MiB3 primo summer fun. Way cool. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 24, 2012
It still has cool creatures and 1960s set design, and the 3-D is the best of the season, but if you try to remember the story or jokes, you'll find that you've been hit by a neuralyzer beam. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 23, 2012
Brolin's performance is funny, masterful, confident, and more than a little unsettling. If one human being can sample another, that's what's going on here. The rest of Men in Black 3 is about as good as one could hope for from an unnecessary sequel that's a decade late to the party. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickMay 22, 2012
This only mildly bloated and convoluted action comedy has enough inspired moments to wipe out memories of the abysmal 2002 first sequel as surely as one of the black-suited heroes' neutralizer. Read full review
60
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMay 24, 2012
Most wonderful of all is Josh Brolin as the young Agent K. It's so easy to believe that Brolin could turn into Jones, given a couple of decades. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesMay 24, 2012
The comedy sci-fi franchise returns after a ten-year hiatus, with the same formula of respectably funny wisecracks and obsessively detailed space monsters. Read full review
60
The GuardianSteve RoseMay 24, 2012
It's by no means a triumph, but one of the enjoyable things about Men in Black has always been the malleable nature of its reality. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 24, 2012
A solidly entertaining summer movie is always welcome, even if it can't quite claim to be out of this world. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 23, 2012
The good news is that it's better than the second "Men in Black." The bad news is: not all that much. There are a couple of clever ideas, a few funny moments, a wealth of computer-generated special effects. But it's hollow at its core, and the asides have lost some of their spark. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovMay 22, 2012
Men in Black 3 is exactly what you'd expect: amiable mediocrity and nicely laid-back performances with pricy special effects plugging in the gaps where jokes should be. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 23, 2012
If this movie truly cost $375 million to produce and market (as the L.A. Times reported), the biggest chunk isn't on the screen. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 25, 2012
What we're left with is a thoroughly mediocre, shrug-generating disappointment -- and one that certainly doesn't feel like it should have cost more than a third of a billion dollars to make and market. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 24, 2012
The finished product is in a different league than the whompingly terrible Men in Black II - it hits its marks. But it's not inventive enough to overcome the overarching inertia, the palpable absence of passion. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 24, 2012
The younger man's personality is all the more startling for the skill and generosity with which Mr. Brolin creates a persuasively vital K while foreshadowing the grump to come. The script explains the change in elaborate detail, but the performance defies explanation; it's mysteriously marvelous. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJohn SemleyMay 23, 2012
More like an attempt to reenergize a franchise than rebottle the lightning that electrified the original. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonMay 22, 2012
Despite such ubiquitous timidity, one can pluck out a few pleasing distractions here. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithMay 18, 2012
In a summer hardly starved of comic-book properties, this redundant extension of a series that ran out of gas a decade ago doesn't need a neuralyzer to be forgettable. Read full review
40
EmpireWilliam ThomasMay 18, 2012
Despite some good moments, Agents J, O and K are missing an E. Read full review
38
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 25, 2012
This third outing climaxes with a dark and melodramatic twist that, while adding a layer of nuance and back story that the previous two films never had, also feels wildly out of sync with its audience's expectations. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 24, 2012
Those who don't understand what it means for an actor to "sleepwalk" through a performance need only watch Men in Black III; there's no shortage of examples. Read full review
30
TimeMary PolsMay 24, 2012
So creaky and out of touch it inspires pity. Its opening sequences are a near marvel of confusion, mayhem and embarrassments for its actors. If it was a person, you'd worry it had dementia. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMay 23, 2012
Less extraordinary and considerably more banal, given the sci-fi/comedy subject matter, is Men in Black 3's story, which jumps the ectomorphic shark in high style but with a deficit of actual belly laughs. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 24, 2012
Men in Black 3 is so dull and empty, it's the first movie that has ever made me think "Thank God this is in 3D." Read full review
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