Brolin Channels His Inner Tommy Lee Jones for Men in Black III

It’s hard to tell by this new trailer whether or not Sonnenfeld’s treatment of time travel in the third Men In Black outing will fall as flat as most that deal with the subject do, but for the time being, Josh Brolin’s impression of Tommy Lee Jones is more than enough to get me into the theater. The new theatrical trailer still doesn’t explain why K’s gone missing, through time, but J (Will Smith) takes it upon himself to risk the space/time continuum to rescue his partner.

I’ll be the first to tell you how much time-travel based plots have a way of sucking. There are only a handful of films that pull it off well and I consider only a fraction of those to be excellent, Back to the Future being at the top. I’ve got high hopes for MiB 3 because it previous outings have never taken themselves too seriously, so I won’t hold it accountable for too many continuity faux pas. Still, the trailer contradicts itself pretty quickly; 60’s K offers future J a revolver after asking for his gun suggesting that the tech at the time wasn’t exactly up to the speed the previous two films had established. Then, a few seconds later, the two agents are seen riding single wheel motorcycles (resembling the McLean V-8 Monocycle) as K asks J if he has these in the future.

I’ll hold out judgement though. Brolin’s channeling of Jones as agent K is a blast to watch, and even if it isn’t enough to carry an hour and half by itself, it might just fill the seats with sheer curiosity.

Men in Black III invades theaters May 25, 2012