The filming of MIB3 (I might as well use the official stylized abbreviation) was marred by well-publicized production halts, emergency rewrites and egos run amok. This, when combined with the tired, high-concept time travel plotline, almost certainly promised a disastrous final product. And while this could still be true, the producers have managed to cobble together a pretty good first trailer.
It's been 10 years since we last touched base with Agents J and K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively) in the utterly mediocre MIB2. But based on this preview, the only thing that's changed in a decade is Jones' hairline.
The first third of the trailer cruises along nicely, catching us up on the franchise's basic conceit. The planet's status as an alien neutral zone continues to be enforced by J and K, two hilariously mismatched partners. Yes, J is still doing his smart-mouthed punk shtick and K is still a hardass. (Don't you see? Together, they're the perfect agent!)
Suddenly, J discovers that, somehow (the less you think about this, the more you'll enjoy the remaining 50 seconds), he has become unstuck in time and his partner has been dead for 40 years. (Don't you hate when that happens?) Obviously, J has to get to the bottom of this — or, as the trailer tells us, "find the answers…in time."
Then, there's some silliness about time-jumping. J leaps off a skyscraper and wakes up in 1969, where he's greeted by young Agent K (played by Josh Brolin doing a kickass Tommy Lee Jones imitation).
I'm extremely skeptical about this installment of the MIB series, but I liked the beginning and end of this trailer. Smith's motor mouth routine might be getting old, but he still does it well enough to make me smile (at least, in limited exposure). Also, Brolin as Jones should be awesome. And though I always have a hard time with time travel movies, I'm curious to see director Barry Sonnenfeld's take on the '60s.
Aside from Rip Torn, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson and Alice Eve (man, she's everywhere lately), the cast list includes the always welcome Bill Hader as Andy Warhol, which should be a hoot. But will all the possible positives make this ostensibly flawed flick worth the price of admission? I doubt it, but we'll find out for sure on Memorial Day 2012.
I've successfully blocked out MIB2 like a childhood beating. This trailer looks pretty good and there's no sign of that talking pug, so that's a bonus.
The filming of MIB3 (I might as well use the official stylized abbreviation) was marred by 
I've successfully blocked out MIB2 like a childhood beating. This trailer looks pretty good and there's no sign of that talking pug, so that's a bonus.