Men in Black 3

Release Date: May 25, 2012

Watch Date: July 12, 2025

“Even though agents J and K have been protecting the Earth from alien scum for many years, J still does not know much about his gruff partner. However, J soon gets an unexpected chance to find out what makes K tick when an alien criminal called Boris the Animal escapes, goes back to 1969, and kills K. With the fate of the planet at stake, J goes back in time and teams up with K’s younger self to put things right.”

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I feel like Men in Black is one of those franchises that just consistently get better. Because of the set up, you almost always have two people getting used to being partners, but they’re still familiar characters and the way they evolve and get to know one another simply helps to add to the lore of the world. K becomes more interesting than the aliens he’s fighting, and that’s something pretty impressive.

I think this is probably my favorite villain and mission of the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, the first cockroach villain is iconic, but there’s something about a Tim Curry that can’t be beat. And the 5th dimensional alien creature is just a breath of fresh air, he’s light, he’s happy, he just takes joy in existing – which is pretty impressive considering he can see all of the possible terror of existing and is the last of his species.

I think the only place where it falls somewhat short is the implied relationship between Agent K and Agent O, which is only because Agent K having a wife and a lost love that he harbored for his entire life but chose the MIB as the greater calling was sort of integral to his character for the first two films. And I’m not saying you can’t have more than one relationship in your life, more than one great love, because I believe you can, but his initial romantic interest isn’t mentioned at all, only O, which is weird when the concept is going back in time when that relationship and loss would be fresher, you think.

Still, despite that one omission I do think you need to have seen the first two to properly enjoy this one, I don’t think it’s one you can just jump in to like it’s nothing. Having context into J and K’s relationship really helps, and there’s references to characters from previous films that might not make as much sense if you haven’t seen the first one. They’re more hidden as easter eggs, but still…it adds to it.

All in all, Justice July is off to a slow, but strong start, and I’m hopeful that we’re gonna power through some of this MCU, and maybe even actually interact more with what more people would consider the MCU. One can only hope.